Dear Editor:

The Boothbay Region Ambulance Service asks the taxpayers each year for many thousands of dollars. It is forced to do so because the federal government (Medicare and Medicaid) dictates what it can charge patients to cover its costs of operation. This year the demand is for more than one third of a million dollars ($350,726).

The problem is not in our communities but in Washington, where socialized medicine began creeping in 50 years ago when Medicare started. The only way the federal government can make it work is to force homeowners and businesses to pay the difference between federal limits on service and the actual cost of those services.

A good example of the devious behavior of Medicare is its refusal to pay any money to the Veterans Healthcare Administration. Medicare coverage is automatically deducted from Social Security monthly benefits and 80 percent of many medical costs are covered, unless the person is a veteran being cared for under the Veterans Healthcare Administration. The VHA gets nothing from Medicare and must "eat" that 80 percent. VHA is not an "entitlement" agency. It fights for its budget each year. Due to underfunding by Congress, it is understaffed and slow in processing claims and applications. This is only one example of Medicare failure.

BRAS is being asked to change its board of directors, to launch a more aggressive fundraising effort to solve its budget shortfall. The problem is not BRAS, it is the politicians Americans have sent to Congress.

Since President Lyndon Johnson created Medicare half a century ago, and under every president and Congress of both major political parties since then, the federal government domination of medical and health services (Medicare, Medicaid) has failed.

Doctors tell us the cause of a disease must be determined before a cure is attempted. It's sensible to take the same approach to paying for the cure.

Palmer Payne
Boothbay Harbor