Another Letter to the (Sun) Editor - gone unpublished

Dear Editor,

Three short thoughts from today’s (Aug 20th, 2009) issue. First, from the “He grows ’em, he smokes ’em” picture, how will the tax people collect our (Maryland’s) fair portion? Second, from the “Dealers to be paid, LaHood declares,” I say to the dealers “welcome to the world of government contracting.” The government is a frustrating customer for which I vowed never to work when I was in the private sector. If there is some way to hold up your check, costing you constant financing issues, they will find it (or of course, lose it.) Third and most importantly, from the “4 Fixes for health care,” Mr. Fleet missed one of the most important fixes, that of medical malpractice (tort) containment. While it is not something that sits on the top of the list, perhaps because of all of the lawyers involved, it should be! It adds significantly to the medical costs being bantered about today. I have read that on a yearly basis, there are about $100 BILLION dollars worth of extra tests, scans, and medications provided or conducted to minimize the threats of various lawsuits. These are not provided to improve the health of the patients involved! (see http://polifilogic.com) Eliminate those, multiply by ten years and you have the $1 TRILLION dollars that President Obama is looking for.