I have been a San Mateo County resident for over 40 years. I have served on the Peninsula Health Care District (PHCD) Board and I'm now a member of the Peninsula Hospital Guardians. The Guardians is made up of former PHCD board members, nurses and other concerned citizens. We are dedicated to protecting the public's access to affordable, quality hospital care on the Peninsula. We are concerned that Sutter Health, one of the two private corporations (the other being Mills-Peninsula Health Services) that want to renew their lease with the PHCD for the next 50 years, may not have the best interest of our community at heart.
I was distressed to learn, from reading a December issue of the Wall Street Journal, that a chest x-ray at Mills-Peninsula costs twice as much as one at San Francisco General. High prices negatively affect all Peninsula residents, and have an especially devastating effect on those who may be uninsured or underinsured. Sutter's dominance on the Peninsula is set to grow in the near future with new hospitals in San Carlos and Burlingame.
The PHCD Board will have a draft lease finalized in the near future. I encourage them to include basic safeguards in the new lease protecting the public from high prices and to ensure access to the best care possible.
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Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.