Safety net needs stimulus

I truly appreciated your editorial “Don’t divert stimulus money meant for safety net” on Feb. 21 in support of Washington’s health care safety net. It is extremely important that the federal money designated for health care be used to maintain the essential services that are there for all of us in times of crisis or need.

It is disconcerting to me that our state leaders could take some of these dollars and use them to fill budget gaps – not bolster state health care as our president intended.

With insurance rates skyrocketing and increasing layoffs, more and more people are finding themselves on the rolls of the uninsured. Programs such as the Basic Health Plan and General Assistance Unemployable are the last bastion of relief for many of our state’s most vulnerable. And this is one word we can all relate to right now, because tomorrow any one of us could be in that position – vulnerable, exposed, at risk.

Thank you and please keep urging our lawmakers to support our state’s health care safety net. Now more than ever this is of paramount importance.

Randy Hartman

Clinic administrator, Spokane Falls Family Clinic

Spokane