THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 19, 1996 TAG: 9601190026
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
There can be little doubt in anyone's mind these days that Medicare/Medicaid are big factors in making our way to a balanced budget. Cutting the dollars for either program pinches one group of voters. Cutting both programs really raises an uproar.
My wife and I are facing a two-ply Medicare event this year: two cataract operations. The preliminary estimate for doing one eye is $6,400 and there are a carload of weasel words in that estimate.
The things that make me wonder are the time aspects. My wife will be in the hospital for no more than three hours and in the OR about 30 minutes of that three hours. For three hours, the hospital's take is $3,250 and for the half-hour in OR, the doctor's take is $2,500.
What would happen to the costs of Medicare and Medicaid if these costs were controlled in a reasonable manner? Who wouldn't like to do work for $2,500 a half-hour?
I'm suggesting someone examine the extent to which this triumvirate - doctors, lawyers and insurance companies - have the public at their mercy.
DAVID GREEN
Hertford, N.C., Jan. 4, 1996 by CNB