Dr. Groopman is right on. My wife visited eight specialists after seeing her primary-care doctor. She spent about an hour waiting for each one. None stayed in the room more than 10 minutes. We're learning that if you mention multiple problems, then you lose the physician's attention totally.
HERMAN ANKENBRUCK
Moneta, Va.
Physicians are responding to flat or declining reimbursements by squeezing more patients into their schedules. Patients are frustrated by longer waits for shorter appointments, which frequently leave no time for education, counseling, or reassurance. A small but growing number of doctors have responded by severing relationships with third-party payers and are working directly for our patients. Since I am paid by my patient, I have a strong incentive to provide care that exceeds expectations.
ALBERT FUCHS, M.D.
Beverly Hills, Calif.
Media Play
Michael Barone's "A Tale of Two Crimes" [March 19] was well done and-unlike other reporting-factual. The absurd amount of coverage that was given Scooter Libby's perjury trial for what was essentially a noncrime versus the likely obstruction of the 9/11 commission's work-clearly in the national interest-by Sandy Berger demonstrates the bias rampant in the mainstream media. Libby was all over the front page of newspapers and on the nightly news countless times over many months. Contrastingly, Berger's case and verdict were poorly covered.
PAUL RICHARDS
Princeton, Mass.
In his column, Barone speculates that Bill Clinton asked Sandy Berger to destroy documents. Then he says Scooter Libby's perjury conviction arose from attempts to refute Joseph Wilson and calls Wilson a liar. Wilson was only another whistle-blower to catch the administration in more lies. Libby's conviction had everything to do with the outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. It could be easy to speculate it was on the orders of the vice president. Barone also says that compared with Libby, Berger got light treatment. Libby has not been sentenced. He could get nothing. And if he does, President Bush can pardon him.
CHARLES E. LIKEN
Lansing, Mich.
In the Red
Edward Lazear, Chairman of President Bush's Council of Economic Advisers, implies that our huge trade deficit with China is a good thing ["A Vision of Steady Growth," March 19]. He said "people want to invest in the United States. In order to invest in the United States, they have to give us something"-namely, their goods. In other words, the driving force behind our huge trade deficit is other countries' desire to invest in the United States. No wonder our economy is eventually headed for trouble, if this is the thinking of our chief economic adviser. The 2006 trade deficit was about $800 billion and is growing each year. The country is like a family selling off furniture to sustain a lifestyle it can't afford. Whatever happened to common sense? Our economists seem to have lost it.
GLENN HANKINS
Arlington Heights, Ill.
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