After reading the Sun Journal article regarding job losses at CMHC as a result of unpaid Mainecare debt, I felt I couldn’t, in good conscience, keep quiet on the issue.

It is my opinion that Mainecare is in need of major reform, without delay.

While I feel it is inappropriate to rail against a program as oft-abused as Mainecare, injecting my own personal bias in the process, as an EMS professional, I know what I personally have seen and continue to see every day. The picture is not as rosy nor as equitable as those politically motivated to preserve Mainecare in its current form would have the general public believe.

Mainecare, like many other well-meaning social programs in this state, is the object of rampant abuse and fraud. In place of a long-winded list of specific examples from personal experience, I urge the general public to take action.

I challenge the ever-decreasing number of working people, upon whose shoulders rests the entitlement of those who would not do for themselves, to put personal politics aside and do their homework.

People cannot be content with being angry; they have to figure out for themselves what is really wrong. People need to talk to the staff at the hospital; hit the streets and fix the fraud.

Maine is in trouble. Jobs are at stake, and there is really no one to blame but ourselves and our failure to act.

Kyle Baker, Manchester