Letter – How much is wasted?

Talk about it

To the editor:

I would like to call attention to a couple of wasteful practices by government agencies that have been present for years.

I am representative for a person on Minnesota Health Care, better known as Medical Assistance (MA). I received a letter from Douglas County Social Services with first-class postage of 32 cents. The letter stated, “You will get a health care renewal form in the mail in about two weeks. You do not need to do anything right now. Wait until you get your renewal form.”

Is it necessary and cost effective to send a letter telling me I will get another letter? Whether this is a county thing or required by the state of Minnesota makes no difference. It is still a waste of money.

I am also the representative payee for this person’s Supplemental Social Security (SSI) payments. This person works part time, so the earnings are considered in the monthly payment. That is as it should be. After pay stubs are submitted, we are notified of any changes in the monthly payment. I get a copy mailed to me and the individual also gets a copy. We have received as many as four such notices in a month.

We get a notice that the wages were $4 over the limit so the payment will be $2 less than normal. These notices are sometimes eight to 12 pages long and there are two copies sent out separately. The information that is relevant could be contained on one page. This is a waste of paper and postage. This is not fiscal responsibility in my dictionary.

I know these are not huge things individually, but how much are we wasting as a county, state and country? Fiscal responsibility needs to be present at all levels.

Gene Rossum

Brandon, MN

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