Letters to the editor

Readers are encouraged to share their opinions on any matter addressed in the Beacon as well as on political and social issues of the day. Mail your Letter to the Editor to The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915, or email to info@thebeaconnewspapers.com. Please include your name, address and telephone number for verification.

IN

Focus For People Over 50

The Beacon is a monthly newspaper dedicated to inform, serve, and entertain the citizens of the Greater Washington DC area, and is privately owned. Other editions serve Greater Baltimore and Howard County, Md. Readership exceeds 400,000.

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Publisher/Editor – Stuart P. Rosenthal

President/Associate Publisher

Judith K. Rosenthal

Executive Vice President – Gordon Hasenei

Managing Editor – Margaret Foster

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Submissions: The Beacon welcomes reader contributions. Deadline for editorial is the 10th of the month preceding the month of publication. Deadline for ads is the 15th of the month preceding the month of publication. See page 39 for classified advertising details. Please mail or email all submissions.

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Dear Editor:

I’ll be 90 in a few months, and I’m grateful for old age. My body is racked with arthritis and I use a walker. Yet the limits placed on me enable me to explore other resources.

Memories, both good and difficult, enlighten my mind and enable healing or insight. So many never reach old age — or spend their years reminiscing about “the good old days” — but I make each day a “good day,” as each one is a gift from God.

I enjoy limited cooking, reading, writing, word find (to keep my mind healthy) and just BEING — activities I never had time for when running a home, working, raising three children and caring for my aging parents.

My children, grandchildren and four great-grandchildren are also a wrapped gift of delight.

Rosemarie LoMonaco Woodbridge, VA

miums, and some also pay a Medicare premium surcharge. Most of us also pay for a Medicare supplement and prescription drug insurance.

Then, on top of that, we have to pay the full cost of doctors who have opted out. As more and more doctors opt out, we will find ourselves in this situation [even more frequently].

Moreover, many retirees are being involuntarily pushed into Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. This just happened to me. Basically, this is the privatization of Medicare. A for-profit health insurance company takes over for Medicare, and decides whether and how to pay my claims.

Lots of MA plans throw up barriers to care (limited network of healthcare providers, pre-authorization requirements, etc.) and lots of docs don’t like them either.

Dear Editor:

My experience is that many primary care doctors in the Washington metro area are opting out of Medicare, meaning they won’t bill and accept payment from Medicare.

This is a serious public policy issue. If we’re 65 or older, we all pay Medicare pre-

As far as I understand, the Biden administration backs MA in spite of their rhetoric supporting Medicare as a public benefit. So does AARP.

In my mind, [these changes] make national health insurance look like a reasonable alternative.

Sharon Simon Silver Spring, MD