I read The Northern Star editorial page Oct. 29 and feel I must comment on the editorial about the extension of Medicare benefits. Medicare beneficiaries are currently protected from the vast majority of hospital expense in a bill that has really become catastrophic for the health delivery system.

The hospital is currently paid on the DRG (Diagnostic Related Group) basis. For example, the government may choose to pay $5,000 for a particular hospitalization according to the DRG even though the cost for the hospital is $12,000. The patient is currently at risk for the first $520 for which some have a supplemental insurance coverage. The short fall of over $6,000 is not allowed to be billed to the patient, is not paid by Medicare, and cannot by law be paid by the supplemental insurance that a Medicare patient may have. Essentially, the hospital has to write off over $6,000 in relation to that particular hospital admission.

The above illustration is quite common and this leaves the hospitals with hundreds of thousands of dollars per year that must be written off in the name of Medicare underpayment. This is making the rest of the paying population pick up sufficient extra to allow the hospitals to continue operation. If a hospital only had Medicare patients, you can see that they would soon be out of business being paid less than 50 cents on the dollar. If they went out of business, there would be no care available.

The way the law is currently written, all Medicare recipients are considered indigent as far as medical care is concerned. Even if a patient is a millionaire, it would be illegal for him to pay the hospital bill and he would be told that Medicare is taking care of the expense. Certainly, there are many people in the Medicare age group who are not well-to-do, but considering them all indigent is far from correct.

If 50 percent of the operating funds for printing your newspaper were immediately subtracted and no way provided for recovery of funds, the newspaper also would soon be out of business.

Please write an editorial about Medicare again after you visit the Administrator or Comptroller of the hospital or a physician knowledgeable in this area.

Stanley D. Brandon, M.D.

DeKalb