Dear Editor:
Robert Pear’s report, “Renewed Worries on Medicare Drug Plans” (December 5), was startling. He complains that the most generous expansion of the welfare state in the past 30 years is a disappointment because it is not generous and comprehensive enough. He waxes on about how some elderly folk might be a little short on their new FREE drugs in January because of changes in the benefits plans and other factors.
Mr. Pear needs to take a deep breath. One can always interview “advocates” and find problems with a new welfare program. One can always exaggerate the poverty of the elderly by talking about their low income. The elderly in most cases in America are very comfortable, even though they don’t have much income, because many do have assets.
Whatever the inadequacies of the latest Medicare expansion, it is a program that is a gift from the taxpayers to the elderly and nothing to complain about.
John Dunn is a policy advisor to The Heartland Institute.
