Debate Over Medicare

* The cartoon accompanying “Don’t Erase 30 Years of Progress” (Commentary, Nov. 20) implies that all older people are wealthy.

In fact, over 80% of Medicare beneficiaries have incomes under $25,000. Forcing older people to pay a greater share of their income for health care costs will have the greatest economic impact on those in the lower economic strata, especially widows over the age of 75.

As a geriatric social worker for Jewish Family Service, I see clients every day who are being squeezed by the high cost of housing and transportation. These clients, mostly in their 80s and 90s, have worked hard all of their lives. They now find that they have outlived their families and their savings. They are quite literally living on the edge of economic disaster. Even a $5 per month raise in Medicare premiums could mean the difference between a day’s worth of food and fasting for that day.

While it is true that older people in general have fared well from the social programs that have been in place since Social Security was instituted in 1933, there is a large hidden pocket of almost destitute elderly living at risk right here in Los Angeles.

PAULA FERN

Los Angeles

* Robert Ball admits that Medicare costs more than was projected, but blames this on the problems with long-term projections, and notes that private sector insurers also miss the mark. What he fails to do is give the real numbers.

In 1965 it was projected that the total outlay for Medicare in 1990 would be $9 billion. In fact, the actual number was $89 billion-plus. Mr. Ball,that is not missing the mark, that is having no idea what the mark was in the first place. Any private company off by a factor of 10 would be out of business. Any CFO worth having would have seen the trend long before 25 years and would make adjustments. Not Medicare; it has gone on each year seeking a 10% increase (and getting it), based on nothing more than the fact it could be done.

The more serious distortion is his reference to the $270-billion, seven-year “slash” in Medicare spending. There is no slash, there are no cuts, the only thing happening under the Republican plan is to reduce the rate of growth from 10% to 5.6%, still well above the rate of inflation.

DONALD C. BEATTY

Victorville