Re: “Letter to the editor: Congress should cure ‘surprise’ medical billing” (Aug. 17):

I can vouch for the fact that games are being played. My insurance company, for a recent family member’s major surgery, has been billed $128,000 so far. My insurance company only approved $43,686 and my share was $2,070. My share is in addition to a lifetime of payroll taxes and monthly payments in retirement.

I have also been told that my out-of-pocket cost will probably reach $8,000. My insurance company is called Medicare. The low pay for the medical providers seems as if it would drive them out of business, yet numerous opinion columns from the medical world seem to favor “Medicare for All.”

I would prefer “Medicaid for All,” as it has no payroll tax or monthly premiums. So, moving in one direction or the other, do we enact a law that Medicaid, not Medicare, can no longer be denied by any provider?

My concern is that Social Security is facing bumps along the road. Portland has already erased 25 percent of my implemented federal tax of up to 15 percent.
Gov. John Baldacci’s administration tried, for eight years, to implement a state tax on Social Security.

As Gov. Mills quickly runs out of surplus funds, watch your retirement wallet!

Simply put, Social Security should not be a funding source, as the average check is below the poverty level. It is a lifeline.

Art Sears

Portland