Letters - Aug. 20, 2009

Smoke & mirrors

The current health care debate hits my “hot button” when I hear it will be paid for, in part, through “Medicare savings.” As a retired hospital administrator, I’ve “been there and done that.”

How quickly we forget the Budget Deficit Reconciliation Act of 1997 was funded through a five year “cut” in payments to Medicare service providers.

Like today’s smoke and mirrors, the Deficit Reduction Plan was sold to the public as “painless.” The administration would simply and quietly cut payments to health care providers while avoiding cuts or services to the 37 million on Medicare at...