Once again, “Doctor” Scroggins is practicing in a field for which he has only imaginary credentials. This time, it’s immunology. Previously, it’s been Political Science, Sociology with a emphasis on Women’s Studies, Anthropology, Geology, Global Studies and countless others. What’s next, Nuclear Physics?

With regard to his current expertise refusing the flu vaccine, he is definitely flirting with malpractice. Certainly no rational physician would suggest than the flu vaccine, like any other, is 100% effective. But rather than stack the percentages in our favor, “Doctor” Scroggins prescribes diet, exercise and a good night’s rest; virtuous in many applications but rarely mentioned as the most effective, sole flu preventative available.

Once and for all, let us put myth and misinformation to rest. The injected flu vaccine is a dead virus. It cannot give you the flu. It programs our own immune system to fight the live virus that lives among us. Side effects are minimal and certainly less dangerous than contracting the flu itself, particularly with regard to infants and the elderly.

For those who may be allergic or otherwise averse to injections, a weakened nasal spray is available which is still preferable to getting the flu.

If you are still reluctant to getting vaccinated, think of the others you may be infecting and endangering; your children, your grandparents, your community.

As for “Doctor” Scroggins, I wonder if he has ever spoken with a survivor of a lost, unvaccinated loved one. I wonder what they would recommend if give a second change.

Sincerely,

Chris Chacona

Susquehanna, PA

Few doubt that the only area where our government's health care system is successful is in its unsuccessfulness; there it shines. But it wasn't always like this.

Not too long ago, in the 1950s, no one gave much thought to health insurance. Doctors made house calls, medicines were inexpensive, declaring bankruptcy because of crushing medical bills was unheard of, and hospital stays were affordable. A common measure of this is the cost of a hospital birth.

In 1950, the cost of a hospital delivery was $85. Astonishing, but even more so when you compare this to the average weekly wage at the time, $55. That's one-and-a half week's pay for a hospital birth.

Compare that to today's cost of a childbirth.

First, there is prenatal care, that's $2,000. Add to that the hospital bill for delivery, $3,500. That's $5,500. And if it's a C-section delivery, add another $1,000. We'll assume it's an uncomplicated delivery and compare the $5,500 birth fee with the average wage of today, $830. That's almost seven week's pay.

Something happened to medical costs between 1950 and today and that something occurred in 1968. It was then that Medicare and Medicaid were added to Social Security. They provided health insurance to persons aged 65 and older as well as needy individuals.

Medicare and Medicaid are the fastest-growing items in the federal budget, costing a total of $733 billion. To get an idea of how outlandishly high that figure is, compare it to the total of all monies collected by the federal government in 2012, $2,449 billion; it's 30 percent of the federal budget.

Add the third big-ticket entitlement of Social Security costing $773 billion to the $733 billion and we're up to 62 percent of the federal budget. If other expenses are included such as paying the military, pensions, and the cost of running the government, then the government's income is exceeded by $1.3 trillion.

Since 2009 the federal government has borrowed $1 trillion a year and is projected to continue at this unsustainable rate for the next six years.

If something isn't done soon, these three entitlements could lead the United States to chapter 11: bankruptcy. But something has been done; Congress has raised the dept ceiling for the 78th time since 1960.

So where does the $1 trillion shortfall come from? The government has a credit card called Treasury bonds. In the past, nations have always been eager to buy our bonds, or I.O.U's; they were the safest investment in the world. Now there are doubts, even fears.

China and Japan, formerly the biggest buyers of Treasuries, are now the biggest sellers accounting for $40 billion of the $66 billion in Treasury outflow last June and they have continued unloading U.S. paper.

Soon the government may have to make radical cuts in entitlement programs or raise the interest paid on its bonds to entice buyers. Let's take a look at both choices. First, cutting entitlements. That is close to impossible and neither party will admit to the gravity of spiraling entitlements costs.

Second, neither party will explain the dire consequences of not addressing them.

And third, most assuredly neither party will spell out the dollar amounts of cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, that must be made.

However, not reigning in the debt spiral of entitlements telegraphs out-of-control spending and could turn a selling spree of Treasuries into a selling panic. What then: Treasuries would be devalued, the buying power of the dollar would be dragged down, and the price of everything would be driven skyward.

Yet the alternative of paying a higher interest rate is equally unpalatable. Just a 1 percent increase would add a cost of $170 billion to the debt.

All right, if Congress won't cut entitlements and can't increase the interest paid on bonds, what will it do?

They will quibble over Obamacare, bicker about the debt ceiling, and turn a blind eye to a looming financial crash for the U.S. and for the world.

And all this for Obamacare, a government solution to a problem that the government made in 1968, a “solution” that will add more bureaucrats, increase inefficiency, and be rife with fraud.

Human beings stand alone in the annals of nature as the only creatures capable of ignorance, stupidity, and greed. Government, being as it is a reflection of the people it purports to represent, is the prime example of this trinity of woes.

Heaven help us. Have we gotten the government we deserve and the fate we earned?

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA