— from David Turnoy —
Both Friday Harbor and Lopez Island have public hospital districts. They have realized that the only way to financially support rural medical care is through a tax. Here on Orcas, many forward-thinking people have organized a plan for a public hospital district as well. For too long our medical practices have been dependent on philanthropic gifts or a selfless doctor; this is not a sustainable model. It is clear that the only way we can continue to afford to have health care on Orcas is through a taxing district.
Please don’t confuse the establishing of this district with UW. Since UW took over the Orcas Medical Center, there have been a number of patients dissatisfied with one thing or another. While we hope these problems will be corrected, they have nothing to do with the hospital district. The hospital district is our vehicle for affording medical care, and it does not require us to stick with any particular providers.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] Please don’t confuse the establishing of this district with UW. [/perfectpullquote]
As chair of the San Juan County Democrats, I took the proposed Orcas hospital district to a recent meeting, and we heartily endorsed it. Democrats believe in taking care of people, and we realize that one has to spend money to get a service in return. While no one enjoys paying taxes, Oliver Wendell Holmes once stated, “Taxes are the price we pay for living in a civilized society.
Please vote for the hospital district.
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Personally, I approached the proposed Hospital District with caution. We have heard a lot about the need to support health care on the island and the difficulty in attempting to support it with charitable donations. I understand the need and the difficulty, but was troubled when we found that there was little information to measure performance of the existing practices. Would be be prepared to do a better job of managing the tax district?
To satisfy myself that we would be assured of the commissioners doing a professional job of managing taxpayer money to not only assure the survival of medical care, but to also provide the public with a clear picture of how their money was being spent, I posed a set of five questions on metrics to the candidates.
To their credit, seven responded with their understanding of the issue and of these, I was pleased to see that five had given considerable thought to their answers. There were differences of opinion, of course, but I was encouraged to see their thoughts. I have confidence that they can come together with the public to do a responsible job of managing the Hospital District.
For those who would like to see the questions and their responses, they are posted on the Coalition website at:
https://tinyurl.com/Metrics-Questions