Dismayed by lack of a public option

Regarding “Senate Finance Committee approves healthcare reform bill”:

I am very happy that this passed, but I am extremely concerned that there is not going to be a public option—with all of the same rules and regulations that every insurance company has to follow—to keep the insurance companies honest. To me if there is no public option, the insurance companies are now going to get millions of new customers guaranteed! That does not make sense!

Do the government leaders in Washington not understand the costs and ramifications of the Senate Finance Committee's reform bill or is leadership manipulating the data to deceive the public? Is the ruse intentional or a lack of comprehension?

Supposedly, reform will be partially paid by eliminating dollars from Medicare. Will that really happen? If so, at whose cost? Will Medicare enrollees lose some of their current coverage? Will the new technologies and treatment agents of future years be denied to Medicare enrollees? Medicaid and Medicare already are the lowest payers to all types of providers including physicians and hospitals. In many instances, Medicaid and Medicare payments are less than the costs providers pay to offer these services. On the other hand, if the government backs off and fails to implement the reductions in payments to providers, the mythical savings will evaporate eliminating the source of cost savings. Who is kidding who here?

Robert V. Cummings, M.D.

God help us all.

Peggy Zlatkin, R.N.

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