I am planning to send this as a letter to my local newspaper in advance of the State of the Union address. Any suggestions as to how to tighten it up before I submit it? I am a primary care physician/endocrinologist in Upstate NY.
The draft letter is below the fold - grammatical mistakes and all....
It is widely predicted by pundits that the State of the Union speech will focus on healthcare this year. This is the standard posture of the Bush regime when faced with a political disaster. Instead of trying to fix it, or admit there is a problem, they lie as loud as possible and then they lie some more. My staff and I spend hours each day with patients bewildered by the new Medicare Part D. New York State has more than 30 different plans. Many seniors don't know which plan they have be assigned to by default. Of course, we have those who prefer to pay out of pocket because it is all too complicated, or go without altogether when medication is truly needed. In the meantime the pharmaceutical companies get away like bandits and the Executive's cronies can attack the whole principle of "government handouts". Small primary care medical offices can no longer afford to have the healthcare insurance industry outsource its administration for these incomprehensible plans. We are past the breaking point. And that is why George Bush is going to tell us this week we have "The best healthcare system in the world".