Latest news with #Hederman
Irish Independent
7 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
Obituary: Carmencita Hederman, former lord mayor of Dublin, city councillor, senator and environmental campaigner
She was born Carmencita Cruess-Callaghan on October 23, 1939, into a family in Blackrock, Co Dublin, headed by bacteriological chemist Dr George Cruess-Callaghan and his wife Ita. Carmencita later studied at Trinity College Dublin. Archbishop of Dublin John Charles McQuaid had banned members of his Catholic congregation from attending TCD, but gave Carmencita a dispensation to enrol as a student there. French and Italian were among the subjects she took and she went on to acquire a Master's degree in July 1969. Earlier, in St Patrick's Church, Blackrock, on June 26, 1962, she married William (Billy) Hederman, a respected doctor and surgeon from Croom, Co Limerick, who served as president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) in 1990-92. The couple bought a house on Leeson Street while on honeymoon. In April 1968, when a draft city development plan proposed rezoning the area into office blocks, a letter of opposition she wrote to The Irish Times galvanised her neighbours and a group called Upper Leeson Street Area Residents Association was formed, which successfully campaigned to keep the zone for residential-use only. On June 22, 1987, she was elected lord mayor of Dublin, succeeding Bertie Ahern. Hederman garnered support from a 'rainbow coalition' of Fine Gael, Labour, Workers' Party, Progressive Democrats and three Independents, including the late Tony Gregory, and won by a single vote over Fianna Fáil's Ned Brennan, who was tipped as the favourite. The first woman to hold the post in 30 years, during her 12 months in office she played a leading role in Dublin's millennium celebrations of 1988, marking the takeover of the city by the Irish from the Vikings. She was a strong opponent of what she called 'destructive dual carriageways' in the city centre and their effect on inner-city communities. In August 1989, she was elected as an Independent member of Seanad Éireann on the Dublin University Panel along with Shane Ross and David Norris. She found it a difficult place to make significant progress on issues and did not stand in the next general election. Hederman was very interested in running as an Independent candidate for president of Ireland in 1990. Securing a nomination requires the support of at least four local councils or 20 members of the Oireachtas. She discussed the matter at an early stage with then-Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes, who was prepared to consider nominating her if she joined the party and ran as a Fine Gael candidate. 'She would have liked to be a candidate, but she wasn't prepared to adopt the party label,' he said last week. The party later nominated Austin Currie and the successful candidate was Mary Robinson. More recently, in light of events in Gaza, she supported the successful campaign for TCD to divest from Israeli organisations and academic institutions and companies operating in Occupied Palestine and on the United Nations' blacklist. She was a mother of five children and grandmother of nine. Her daughter, Wendy, was elected to Dublin City Council as a Progressive Democrat candidate for the Pembroke area in 2004. She was involved in key local issues, but retired from politics in 2007. Predeceased by her husband Billy in 2016, Carmencita Hederman passed away peacefully at the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook, on May 31.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Ohio lawmakers seek to address medical debt
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Medical debt is the number one reason that people in the United States file for bankruptcy, and for many, like cancer survivor Olivia Hiltbrand, medical bills hit at the most unexpected times. 'I was unprepared for anything like that to happen,' she said. 'I went through chemotherapy, brain radiation, all kinds of medications, pills, just anything you can think of for those three years.' Hiltbrand said she got diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma in 2020, when she was 31 years old. She said she was otherwise healthy, so this came as a shock. Still, she and her husband had insurance, full-time jobs and health savings accounts. Suspect before deputy fatally shot: 'You better … go if you want your family to see you' 'Essentially, we were doing what we thought responsible adults who had income could do,' Hiltbrand said. At the start of her treatment, Hiltbrand said she had a three-week hospital stay. After that, she got a bill for her insurance for $200,000. 'Sticker shock would be a good way to put it,' she said. 'The cost of the treatment was incomprehensible. I didn't understand how it could cost that much just to keep me alive.' Hiltbrand said that when she was not going through chemotherapy, she was on the phone, making sure she had proper payment plans lined up. She said she still owes about $7,000, two years after being cancer-free. Even through that, Hiltbrand said she considers herself one of the lucky ones because her hospitals do not charge interest on her bills. Ohio lawmakers introduce bill that would allow counties to test gas station fuel quality 'It would've been incredibly stressful to me, even more than it already was, to have interest piling up on these bills that I already couldn't pay,' she said. Now, a new bill, known as the Medical Debt Fairness Act, could help alleviate some of that burden. If passed, the bill would do three things: Cap interest rates on medical debt at 3%, Prohibit reporting medical debt to credit agencies, And ban wage garnishment for medical debt. 'This policy overreaches and so the consequence, it could harm some of the very people it's trying to help,' Vice President of Policy at the Buckeye Institute, a conservative-leaning think-tank, Rea Hederman said. Hederman said the bill could result in higher prices for everyone else if interest rates on medical bills are so low that Ohioans feel they can move those payments to the back of the line. City of Columbus asks court to dismiss cyber lawsuits 'You could see co-payments going up, your deductibles going up as companies and healthcare providers don't want to put themselves at financial risk for providing bad debt,' Hederman said. He said this will also open the door for people who can't afford it to get new loans. 'If you don't know if somebody has a large package of debt on their bills, then other areas of financing, from houses to car loans, may become less transparent, so people could be at greater risk of bankruptcy or default,' Hederman said. Hederman added that if providers cannot go after someone's income in order to recuperate costs, then it may have to become more extreme. 'A lot of times, where are you going to be looking? To repossess a car, trying to go to a court case to find out other assets they may have,' Hederman said. 'That's going to make it a lot more expensive to make these loans.' Arrested escapee from Columbus security facility issued bond in court Overall, Hederman agreed that something needs to be done, but said this is bad policy for the state. 'At the end of the day, the question can be, 'How can we make healthcare more affordable for a lot of these people?'' he said. 'You shouldn't have to be fighting for your life and also dealing with the effects of this debt,' Hiltbrand said. As far as hospitals go, two answered a request for their stance on it. The Cleveland Clinic said it has not taken a position 'since it doesn't impact our operations.' Ohio bill would make Superman the state's official superhero, but not until 2033 'Cleveland Clinic offers financial assistance to patients who qualify,' a spokesperson wrote. 'If a patient does not qualify, we offer no-cost payment plans for up to four years. We do not garnish patients' wages, place liens on patients' homes, or report debt to credit agencies.' The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center said it is reviewing the bill and directed comments to the Central Ohio Hospital Association and the Ohio Hospital Association. The bill did just have its first hearing, but sponsors said they have talked with leadership and are confident the bill will gain traction. Nearly one-third of Ohio House members, both Republicans and Democrats, are signed on in support. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
