Thank you, DispatchHealth
Shout out to Dispatch Health! Sponsored by the Vashon Health Care District, Dispatch Health has been a life saver for me.
I have had to call them 3 times in the past 6 months (including Christmas weekend). Each time a team of practitioners responded in a timely manor providing quality care in our home.
They were attentive to my needs and followed up with a treatment plan, making sure the visit was recorded with Sea Mar (their affiliate).
This service is provided 7 days a week from 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. (including holidays) and can provide same day service. They also accept most insurances and additional insurances are being added. I couldn’t be more grateful.
Lornie Walker
Call legislators about so-called “Beautiful Bill”
It was simple and factual to say the House of Representatives passed the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (“Federal funding cuts cause financial unease for island nonprofits,” June 5 Beachcomber). It would have added clarity to state that it passed because all but two Republicans voted yes, and Republicans currently hold a slim majority. Every Democrat representative voted no.
Politico recently reported that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office developed an early estimate that 10.3 million people would lose Medicaid coverage if the House bill as passed becomes law.
As I write this, the bill is now in the U.S. Senate. Because the bill also addresses continuation of the temporary 2017 federal income tax rates, which are set to sunset to Obama era levels, Senate consideration of deep Medicaid cuts is moving at an extremely fast pace. Republicans also run the Senate with a slim margin.
The current bill also targets “able-bodied” recipients (whatever that means). Having worked in the nonprofit sector providing employment support for people with disabilities (including mental disabilities as determined by Social Security / Medicaid) I encourage people to call our senators and our representative and urge them to demand increased spending for employment support for anyone affected by this ram-rodded legislation.
It is said that “laws are like sausages: It is best not to see them being made.” I say citizens should follow this bill closely to see who is likely to go through the grinder and why. One place to start is taxfoundation.org.
Carrie Sikorski
Five hundred to one
As I watch the news, I reflect on how Vashon continues to be a bellwether for our country. (As we go, so goes the USA).
Last Saturday, over 500 Vashonites attended the nonviolent “No Kings” protest. One Trump supporter came out to respond to them. Five hundred to one.
Five million Americans hit the streets for the No Kings protest nationwide. Ten thousand Trump supporters attended the Military Parade in Washington, D.C. Again, five hundred to one. Non-violently.
That parade is reported to have damaged the streets of Washington, D.C. Tanks crushed streets that were not built to support that much tonnage, at an estimated price of $60 million.
Maybe, just maybe, our people are not quite as gullible as some folks think we are? This gives me hope for the spirit of our nation.
I am a longtime supporter of our military. Anyone who has served, active duty or veteran gets a 10% discount on any food item I sell at “All Things Rich” at the Ruston Waterfront Market. It’s my small way of saying “Thank you for protecting us.”
But when our Commander-in-Chief uses our best and brightest for cheap political theater, that irks me.
I pray for him. Every day, I pray for wisdom for him and for J.D. Vance.
We’ll see what happens. But for now, I am hopeful.
Rich Osborne
