Real Life of an MSW

I love the Op-Ed section of the paper. I believe we all need to write at least one letter on something we’re passionate about in our lifetime. In saying that, I applaud this reader

Re: “How recent WA legislative changes could save you money on health care” [Jan. 26, Local News]:

The article is good as far as it goes, but we need more real changes if we are going to have affordable health care for all of us. Yes, insulin is cheaper, hearing aids are covered, and cancer screening is more available and covered. But the “62%” of people in the state — my patients — who have trouble affording health insurance, prescriptions and care still cannot afford the insurance they want and the out-of-pocket expenses now required.

We are being treated as fools if the health industry enriches its investors, administrators and certain high-paid employees — but not the low-paid employees who do most of the work — while saying repeatedly that they can’t cut costs, improve quality and be even half as efficient as every other country in the developed world.

Yes, they need to work with policymakers to ensure they all make needed changes together. Yes, they need to compete on quality and cost — and not buying up competitors and providers. And, yes they need to work on solving problems and not being barriers to improvement.

Bob Crittenden, MD, MPH, Seattle