I read, with some astonishment the editorial in The Recorder titled “AWOL Neal Lets down our towns.” I’m not entirely certain to which towns the editorial writer is referring; from my perspective, they are most assuredly not located in the 1st Congressional District of Massachusetts.
Congressman Richard Neal is one of the hardest-working, most visible members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation. Even as I write this, he is working diligently to protect Massachusetts hospitals — including Baystate Franklin Medical Center — from a devastating, unforeseen $160 million cut in Medicare reimbursement due to an error in the program’s payment formula affecting hospitals. Thanks to Mr. Neal’s clout and his prestigious committee assignment, the bureaucrats in Washington took him seriously when he called attention to this error. As an attorney representing Massachusetts hospitals, and as a constituent of Congressman Neal’s, I appreciate how seriously he has taken this problem, including leading a meeting of the entire Massachusetts congressional delegation with senior Medicare officials that asked these officials to fix the error in the payment formula. We do not yet know how the hospital payment formula will be remedied. What I do know is that it would not have been fixed at all were it not for the hard work of Congressman Neal.
In a time when it seems to be fashionable to celebrate a lack of political experience as a prerequisite for elected public office, I for one am thankful for the many years of calm experience that Congressman Neal brings to the table. He does not pound the table and yell and scream. he is not constantly seeking the limelight. Rather, he tries to find solutions to problems that will benefit all of his constituents — from Pittsfield to Shelburne Falls to Greenfield to Springfield.
Thomas R. Barker
Pittsfield