Government role at fault

Michael C. Jessup was wrong three times in his letter of Aug. 22 (“Wrong twice on health care”) when he criticized Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers for her health care reform concerns. He quoted her saying it will “interfere with the doctor/patient relationship, and cut millions from Medicare.” She was correct on both statements.

Every insurance plan in the country, government or private, interferes with the doctor-patient relationship. The proposed reform does nothing to reduce interference or to address major contributors to government interference – failure to adequately reimburse providers’ cost of doing business while adding more mandates.

President Obama proposed to pay for his health care proposals by cutting millions of dollars in “waste, fraud and abuse” out of Medicare and using those millions of dollars to cover a new government public option program. Rep. McMorris Rodgers accurately said the proposal would cut millions from Medicare, a program that is not pulling its own weight today.

Mr. Jessup also failed to tell the whole story about the privately scheduled meeting and the public rally outside. The public rally protesters were invited in and had over an hour of the congresswoman’s time to express their opinions. I’m glad we have a representative who listens and also thinks for herself.

Sue Lani W. Madsen

Edwall, Wash.