As a 72-year-old Medicare recipient, I want to commend the thoroughly researched Aug. 15 front-page story, “Provider predicament: Medicare muddles search for a physician.” I also want to add my own observations:
The annual reality is that far more of our nation’s population is living significantly beyond 65.
Graduating medical school students are steering away from a geriatric specialty — there’s not enough money in it.
The medical and pharmaceutical industry’s over-emphasis is on profit before service and compassion.
While not denying the stress and time it takes for physicians to handle Medicare’s administrative claim process, at the same time, there is urgent need for Medicare to more closely monitor the vast number of unnecessary tests and procedures prescribed by too many doctors — often with the motive of their own financial stability. (See “Newsweek,” Aug. 22 and 29.)
