Try making a reasoned argument instead of an enemy

To The Daily Sun,

As I’ve said before, if you have a different opinion than does another person, try making an argument not an enemy. Recently, a couple of letter writers took issue with my column about the “Coming Crisis” in Social Security and Medicare. They have a right to disagree. However, some of their charges really need to be addressed.

One writer stated that I vilified Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for growing the national debt while ignoring the massive tax cuts . . . etc., etc. First, I never mentioned Medicaid in my column. Second, I never said that either Social Medicare or Medicare were responsible for “growing the national debt”. The issue I wrote about is the enormous “unfunded liabilities” of those two systems that will be passed on for our children and grandchildren to pay.

The writer also bewailed the “massive tax cuts to corporations and the wealthy and the increased spending on the military”. I did not write about those items two items but I think the writer might want to do a little simple research. If he does, he will find that those corporate tax cuts have stimulated job growth at a record pace, have allowed people in virtually every segment of the population to gain employment, in some cases to historic records. And, by the way, as those millions of people have become employed, they and their employers have been contributing to both Social Security and Medicare and have been paying income taxes, all increasing government revenues. In addition, a variety of costs for unemployment, food stamps, and other benefits have decreased as people became employed.

Another writer seemed to go well overboard with his comments, making assumptions well beyond what I had written. One of them that really sticks out is his contention that “. . . corporate hospitals that are gouging the public for gross profits under the guise of “nonprofit” can go on their merry way. "In Laconia, for god sake, you cannot have a baby at the private hospital. It is not profitable.” Now I don’t know where he got his information that hospitals are gouging people for profits. Just think about these few things for a moment. First, Belknap Country has a median age of 46. That means that half the population is older than that, and half are younger. That median age is considered to be exceedingly high, meaning that our local hospital deals more with the elderly than with the young. And that means that the hospital’s income is largely dictated by Medicare. Medicare determines what can be charged for every single medical service or treatment, it only reimburses 80 percent of what they authorize to be charged, the hospital cannot render a bill to the patient until Medicare has processed the claim and sends it on to the patient’s secondary insurance, and the hospital cannot render a bill to the patient until the secondary insurance processes the claim. Only then can the hospital render a bill for its services. However while it waits for the government and the secondary insurance providers to complete their processing, the hospital cannot delay paying their employees, service providers and suppliers. The writer should identify how any hospital can “gouge” when the government sets all the prices and the billing process.

As to his comment about not providing maternity service, please think about the median age because it also indicates a high probability that there are not enough young people having babies to be able to warrant the staffing and other resources that would be required. And, by the way, obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) is one of the more litigious specialties in the medical field. While some states have malpractice insurance plans that run in the $12,000 to $14,000 range annually, in some of the more litigious states, basic malpractice insurance for an OBGYN can exceed $200,000 per year. Obviously, the cost of serving a few can be beyond the reach of a fairly small hospital. (On a personal note, over the years I have had a number of serious surgeries at LRGH and they have been exceptional in their treatment.)

Please, if you disagree with someone, try making a reasoned argument, not an enemy.

Bob Meade

Laconia