Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Huckleberries Online

More people have health care, but …

It’s a Puyallup-sized ripple effect. As Obamacare enters its third full year – with new penalties looming and the repeal arguments still sputtering along – it has had an unmistakably major impact in Spokane County. Around 37,000 more people had health insurance in 2014 than in 2013. It’s like Puyallup picked up and moved here, poised to start seeking doctors’ appointments. But a bunch of new docs did not pick up and move here in 2014, and local health care officials say the system is struggling to absorb new patients. “I think it’s going to be pretty painful over the next couple of years,” said Alison Carl White, the executive director of Better Health Together. “There are fundamentally not enough providers out there”/Shawn Vestal, SR. More here.

Thoughts?



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

Follow Dave online: