The Daily Citizen, Dalton, GA

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June 26, 2009

Waskul’s letter missing the facts

To the editor:

Regarding the letter to the editor from Whitfield Commissioner Randy Waskul in the June 21 edition, I am troubled by his final conclusion, “It is time that the medical community quit gouging our community.”

Although he may have a beef with his ER charges, wholesale indictment of the entire local medical community as gouging our community is hardly justified unless he has more data to back up his assertion.

As nearly everyone keeping up with the national debate on health care reform is aware, the practice of medicine nationally and locally is very complex from a cost standpoint. The editorial directly above his letter briefly points this out. Nearly all local physicians have their charges constrained by fee schedules — both by Medicare/Medicaid and private insurance plans — so “gouging” doesn’t take place.

As a physician in this community for 32 years, I feel more qualified than Mr. Waskul to give an opinion about how much “gouging” is going on and I see very, very little. I can only hope that when he votes on important issues before the county commission, he does so with factual information rather than his emotions alone.



John H. Poehlman M.D.

Dalton

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Letters to the Editor