To the editor:

I (and probably many others) recently received a form letter from Rep. Lynn Jenkins containing the following statement: “Current proposals will add $239 billion to the deficit and increase taxes by $818 billion on individuals who cannot afford coverage.”

Those facts are either extremely misleading or downright dishonest.

The $239 billion deficit referenced is the cost of correcting a long-standing problem with the Medicare physicians payment formula, not expense occasioned by health care reform. Addressing this problem has been postponed for years, resulting in not only a lack of compensation for overhead increases of physicians for several years, but a cumulative budgetary deficit which would dictate a 21 percent decrease in physician payments next year, or about two-thirds of the profit margin of the typical family physician, were it not corrected. Given that magnitude of reduction, very few primary care physicians could afford to participate in Medicare.

The representative is also surely aware that the only tax increases in the House bill would be a 1 percent tax surcharge levied on individuals making more than $280,000 per year or $350,000 per couple and a 1.5 percent surcharge on families making more than $500,000. This would exclude 98.8 percent of families and 96 percent of small businesses. No tax is proposed on individuals who cannot afford coverage. They would instead receive a subsidy on their health insurance premiums.

We may not be able to expect our representative to agree with us, but we should be able to expect honesty.