Why try to reform sick addicts?

It never ceases to amaze me how the government can waste our tax dollars.

It has just been announced that Medicare will immediately start covering the cost of counseling for certain beneficiaries who want to quit tobacco. Only those who have an illness caused by tobacco use or complicated by tobacco use will be eligible for the new program.

So, if you are over 65, have lung cancer or emphysema, and are still smoking, we will pay a counselor to suggest that you may want to quit. After 30 years of being inundated with facts that smoking will kill you, a counselor will now try to convince you that smoking is bad? Perhaps if you are 65 or older and have a tobacco-caused illness, it’s too late to quit smoking!

Doug Yarwood

Camano Island