14 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY july 4-10, 2024 www.montereycountynow.com HEALTH Check Just a note of heartfelt appreciation for the insightful and easy-to-digest article on why medical costs are so high in this county (“Hospitals in Monterey County are some of the most expensive in the state. Why?,” June 20-26). Monterey County Weekly continues to be a beacon in the journalism world as local reporting is disappearing throughout the country. Lorraine Yglesias | Carmel Valley Your article on the high cost of Monterey County hospitals was excellent. It was informative, well-researched, well written, and fact-driven. Thank you! Lauren Thomsen | via email It takes money to sponsor a soccer team. It takes money to run an aggressive marketing campaign against other area hospitals with constant ads, including full-page ads, and build more and more facilities. It takes money to sponsor a “feel-good” nonprofit that fails to address local health hazards and cancer risks, but will give your facility a stamp of approval. It takes money to constantly recruit to replace exiting employees. There is no safety net for people against huge medical costs. Those under 65 are most at risk of being financially destroyed by one accident or illness. A robust Medicare for all is a necessity as well as hospital boards of trustees interested in health care instead of building empires. Nina Beety | Monterey Having been diagnosed with cancer in 2022 and completed 12 rounds of chemotherapy at Salinas Valley Health, I am familiar with the economics of treatment that can exact a crushing financial burden on those ineligible for government insurance. Had my own diagnosis come a few years later, I would have been on Medicare. Financially that would have made a difference since my private insurance had a high deductible and treatment spanned three calendar years. But I don’t look at it that way. I received excellent care at SVH, where everyone was completely invested in my health. I also found it much more convenient than the Bay Area, where I started out my treatment at a large hospital. Routine labs took a lot longer there, which is draining for someone battling a major illness. I wouldn’t wish cancer on anyone, but I would recommend the Salinas Valley Cancer Center to everyone. Elizabeth Bowditch | Seaside Out and Proud Big shout-out to Merideth CanhamNelson for bringing this story to the attention of the general public as well as Monterey Peninsula Pride and Salinas Valley Pride, two organizations that participated in Monterey Bay Football Club’s Pride Night (“Derogatory chants at Cardinale Stadium turn Pride Night sour for fans of Monterey Bay F.C.,” June 20-26). MBFC claims they are doing what they can to stop these homophobic chants but are they really? General announcements about the code of conduct before the game are clearly not enough. The specific chants must be addressed in public as an ongoing issue, with fans clearly told this will not be tolerated until it stops. That the club would promote “Pride Night” to LGBTQ+ organizations and allow this to happen during Pride Month when this has been addressed with them on numerous occasions is simply not acceptable. Steven Goings | Seaside Zero tolerance. Identify, remove, and ban. It will stop real quick. Greg Hamer | Salinas Bridges Of the County It’s a classic and an icon (“Officials at odds about how to fix a bridge while preserving iconic Big Sur,” June 20-26; “Supervisors uphold the denial of Garrapata Creek Bridge railing replacements,” posted June 26). It would be like if you took the Eiffel Tower and took all of the beautiful work off and made it into a modern look. Just no. Jeanne Porter | via email I feel the arguments over the degree to which the new, safer, replacement rails will hide the view are misplaced. I have traveled Highway 1 many dozens of times and seldom, if ever, have taken in the view through a bridge railing. The views are better on either end of the bridge. That’s not to say that the bridges themselves are not beautiful and iconic, but the view of the bridge is better from either side. Stop wasting our tax dollars having Caltrans jump through hoops designing rails with incrementally wider gaps. Bryan Syverson | Carmel Booking It I would also add Big Sur and the Oranges of Hieronymus Bosch by Henry Miller (“Monterey County’s beauty serves as the inspiration for a large number of books and poems,” June 27-July 3). Published in 1957, it’s still relevant to Big Sur. One of the most comically funny books I’ve ever read about Monterey County or Big Sur. Barry Amundsen | Salinas Bill Pay As a property owner and bill payer I am disappointed to see this change not go through (“In a stunning vote, two cities nix Monterey One Water’s billing process one week before it begins,” posted June 26). I was looking forward to no longer writing checks and finding an envelope and stamp to pay my sewer bill every other month. I am shocked and disappointed that this upgrade to their antiquated billing system did not get passed. Thank you for reporting on this. Margaux Gibbons | via email Thank you, thank you to Seaside and Salinas for torpedoing Monterey One Water’s slick move to place sewer bills on our property taxes! Even though I adamantly voiced my opposition, I felt like it was already a done deal. I’m very happy to be proven wrong! Inge Lorentzen Daumer | Pacific Grove CORRECTION A story about Red Rake Rescue (“A horse rescue in Salinas is a place where its denizens—human and animal—care for each other,” June 6-12), incorrectly spelled the name of the rescue. The story also incorrectly identified the owner of the Icelandic pony, which was placed in residence at the rescue, not owned by the rescue. Letters • CommentsOPINION Submit letters to the editor to letters@montereycountynow.com. Please keep your letter to 150 words or less; subject to editing for space. Please include your full name, contact information and city you live in.
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