Medicare Surtax

It is amazing to 32 million senior taxpayers--of every income level--why The Times would publish so deceptive an editorial as “No Time To Tinker” (Dec. 13) with the fraudulently named Medicare Catastrophic Extension Act of 1988.

Amazing because only a few days ago your Washington bureau revealed the backlash Reps. Pete Stark (D-Oakland), Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and their PAC-dominated accomplices are encountering--not from 91,600 deca-millionaires and 110 Wall Street billionaires, but from 32 million outraged mainstream middle-income seniors receiving Social Security benefits.

This backlash has not been inspired by James Roosevelt, as American Assn. of Retired Persons knows, but spontaneously from seniors all over the United States.

Amazing because your editors didn’t query the greedy politicians trying to get away with this unjust Medicare tax; that if they truly believed their catastrophic act was such “a hell of a bargain,” why did they kill in committee Sen. Pete Wilson’s (R-Calif.) fair provision that such coverages be made available to seniors on a volunteer option basis?

We do have creative ideas for solving today’s problems and have learned how to use the ballot box to fight those permitted to sabotage Medicare and Social Security.

ALFRED L. GOLDEN

DOROTHY GOLDEN

Sherman Oaks