More than 1.2 million of our North Carolina seniors could be put at risk if the Bush-Cheney administration goes forward with its plan to slash payments to local doctors providing medical care for the elderly. Not only does this policy increase the cost of Medicare for patients and taxpayers, but it undermines the physicians on whom the system depends.

It’s a pretty simple equation: Elizabeth Dole’s political allies are proposing a cut of more than 10 percent in Medicare payments next year and an additional five percent cut in 2009. These cuts will cost North Carolina physicians who care for our seniors and disabled citizens $460 million over the next two years. That’s about one-seventh of what the White House is spending each week on its misadventure in Iraq.

As a businessman and a citizen of this state, I can tell you that this is yet another instance of wanton, reckless allocation of our taxpayers’ dollars by Washington politicians who are oblivious to the needs of the regular people they represent and more beholden to demands of special interest groups. Companies like Aetna, UnitedHealthCare, Humana, and other big insurance corporations are falling all over themselves to get their hands on taxpayer dollars while giving campaign contributions to Senator Dole and other Republicans who profess to want smaller government.