I read the headline on a recent front page, "Hospital tackles patient returns," and the subhead, which said, "Medicare to reduce payments by $840,000, citing excessive rate of patient readmission" [Oct. 8]. My first reaction was "Aha! So that's how Obama is 'reducing waste and fraud' in Medicare." Upon reading the entire article, my first impression was affirmed. Hospitals are being fined if too many people return to the hospital within 30 days of discharge. Medicare reimbursements are already only a percentage of actual costs, forcing others (insurance companies or individual patients) to make up the loss.

Why are 20 percent of Medicare patients rehospitalized within 30 days? Well, one reason is because Medicare covers only a certain number of days, regardless of what doctors and other health care providers think is necessary for a particular patient. Another reason is that Medicare covers the elderly and disabled, who need more care than younger, healthier patients. Who decides what is best for each patient? Some bureaucrat in Medicare's employ, or the doctor who treats the patient?

I call this "rationed health care," and I see it as a foretaste of what lies ahead if Obamacare is not repealed. Please! Everyone do your part to get rid of this abominable law by voting for the candidates who will repeal it!

Donna L. Edwards

Orange