Candidate for
Director; Petaluma Health Care District

We do not enjoy a "health system". There are many weak "systems". The Health Care District is in a great position to bring these HMO's, doctors, hospitals and government agencies together to work out difficult issues facing them and the public in Petaluma. As it is, the numerical penetration of HMO's in Sonoma County, the competition between Kaiser and Health Plan of the Redwoods, and reduced govenment payments for Medicare patients have created a mess.The result is that the doctors are discouraged. The public is confused and angry. The promise that HMO's would improve access to healthcare and bring preventative medicine to the public is a tragic joke. On the other hand, HMO's have squeezed excesses out of the old system, but those saving may be taken up by the cost of all of the new paperwork and profits for the HMO's.

I am not a liberal nor a conservative, but a person who simply wants to make sense out of this healthcare situation so the people in Petaluma of all incomes and insurance categories can find a good doctor and get hospital care when they need it. In most cases, they and their insurance should pay for it.If there are government funds available, we ought to be organized to get them to Petaluma. I want to see people taking care of themselves in the first place, so expensive treatment is not needed.

The Petaluma Health Care District does not tax residents. It leased the Petaluma Valley Hospital to Memorial Hospital in Santa Rosa, a part of the system of the Sisters of St. Joseph, a very large Catholic hospital group. The District created and until recently managed the Petaluma Health Center, which cares for about 14,000 Petalumans. Many of these are uninsured or covered by government programs. These are patients that private physicians have difficulty seeing. Many others who are privately insured choose the Center because of its good access and fine care. Now, the Health Center has been turned over by the District to a new board in order to improve the level of government payments to cover its costs. All of these steps are in reaction to consolidation of healthcare into large insurance pools and management systems.

What will this turn into? I cannot see the future, but it is great that Petaluma citizens have a Health Care District to work for them in these confusing and troubling times for healthcare.