It’s time to reform the payment system
Regarding the Truth-O-Meter “Polls mostly support Price’s Medicare claim” (Metro, Jan. 24), the bottom line is pretty clear and convincing: the Medicare payment system for physicians in the U.S. is flawed and unsustainable. It is also evident that the 27 percent cut in physician pay for Medicare scheduled to go into effect this year would have disastrous effects on physicians and patients. The Medicaid program in Georgia is in even more dismal shape — something that will be exacerbated when more than 600,000 new patients come into the system as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It’s important to distinguish between having a health insurance card and actually having access to medical care. We need to come to grips with that — and reform the medical payment system to ensure we have enough physicians to care for our neediest patients.
Dr. Sandra B. Reed, President, Medical Association of Georgia
Solutions to problems not being considered
What should be surprising (but unfortunately is not) is the fact that the Republican presidential debates have been — and the president’s State of the Union address was — virtually devoid of discussion of our nation’s financial problems. While discussions about Cuba and Colombia are interesting, their significance regarding our nation’s overall set of problems is peanuts. Social Security is not breaking even on a cash-flow basis and is never expected to break even in the future. Unfunded liabilities of Medicare and Medicaid are expected to dwarf the unfunded liabilities of Social Security. The nation’s credit status was recently downgraded, accumulated debt exceeds GDP, and real solutions to problems are not considered. The situation is baffling.
Allen Buckley, Smyrna
Not one apology worth paper it’s written on
Regarding “Publisher sorry for Obama column” (Metro, Jan. 21), not one of Andrew Adler’s apologies (and resignation) are worth the paper they’re written on. He got what he wanted: his hate message published to entice the crazies. Now, he feigns to wipe the slate clean with his empty apology.
Peggy Roney, Avondale Estates
Save Our Climate Act would get the job done
In his State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama spoke of the need for a “clean-energy standard” to help manufacturers eliminate energy waste. There is not nearly enough trust in his administration to do this. Fortunately, there is another path to this goal: the Save Our Climate Act. It would focus on the problem of our undefended atmosphere and put a fee on fossil carbon dumped there. No, it doesn’t have a big corporate lobby — but it would get the job done.
Peter Peteet, Atlanta
