LETTERS
July 1, 2010
Finger-Pointing Doesn't Provide Care
The financial disaster that will befall doctors and the corresponding lack of access to care that will befall seniors if Congress fails to address scheduled cuts in Medicare ("Doctors Chafe as Medicare Cuts Loom," U.S. News, June 16) isn't a new problem. In fact, the president was only able to claim that his health-reform plan didn't add "one dime to our deficit" by ignoring $371 billion in spending needed to fix Medicare reimbursement rates.
Congressional Democrats claimed that the cost of fixing the Medicare payment formula shouldn't count as part of their health-care reform package because it was a problem they inherited. But now isn't the time to assign blame. Now is the time to solve the problem, for which we all will have to pay.
Peter Pitts
President
Center for Medicine in the Public Interest
New York City
(Mr. Pitts is a former associate commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration.)
