What health care reform means to us
April 27, 2010
A lot of talk has surrounded the recently signed health care bill, and as it waits finalization by the U.S. Senate, the bill has raised as many questions as it has answered. But the basic need for a plan — and the effect of it on teens today — is relatively unambiguous.
The need for health care over the past decade has become apparent as prices of basic health care climb and the costs of dealing with disease become unreal. New and expensive asthma medications can cost $50 per prescription. For youths with diabetes, the annual cost of medications has doubled from 2001 to 2007, while the number of children with diabetes has been steadily increasing.
According to the American Diabetes Association, treating the disease cost the average patient $6,649 in 2007. As said by Time magazine, such things as growth hormone deficiencies have staggeringly high costs and the annual bill for parents can exceed $20,000 — doctor’s visits, tests and hospitalizations not included.
Tea Party activists and opponents rally in downtown Issaquah
April 20, 2010
Tea Party activists came to downtown Issaquah on a cloudy afternoon last week to brew discontent with the policies of Congress and the Obama administration.
Issaquah and Eastside residents gathered for about 90 minutes for the Tea Party rally and a smaller counter-rally organized by the 5th District Democrats. The dueling events attracted about 120 people — about 100 for the Tea Party rally and about 20 Democrats.
Participants held aloft colorful signs at the corner of Front Street and Sunset Way to cacophony of honks as drivers passed the intersection. Others carried U.S. and “Don’t Tread on Me” flags — a yellow banner with a coiled snake and a symbol of anti-government protest.
Issaquah resident Tim Ooyman said he attended the Tea Party rally to protest federal spending and the way President Obama and lawmakers handled the healthcare-reform bill.
“The silent majority needs to stop being silent,” he said.
Ooyman and other activists picked April 15 — the federal deadline for filing income-tax returns — for the rally. Local activists also held events in Bellevue and Seattle. Washington State Patrol officials estimated the Tea Party crowd at the state Capitol in Olympia at 3,000 people. Read more
Issaquah Tea Party rally and response / April 15, 2010
April 16, 2010
Governor signs health bill sponsored by Issaquah rep
April 6, 2010
State Sen. Cheryl Pflug, a registered nurse who represents Issaquah in Olympia, sponsored a bill to establish a pair of pilot projects intended to make healthcare more affordable. Gov. Chris Gregoire signed the legislation March 25.
The measure sponsored by Pflug, a Maple Valley Republican, promotes a team approach to healthcare. The law encourages public and private healthcare systems to coordinate patient care and pay for results rather than treatments.
The measure establishes at least two accountable-care organization pilot projects — collaborations between physicians and hospitals designed to allow a team approach to coordinating patient care. The legislation requires the projects to be established by Jan. 1, 2012.
“Accountable-care organizations change today’s patient care model,” Pflug said in a news release. “Instead of paying doctors a set amount per patient visit or treatment, primary physicians in accountable-care organizations receive additional compensation when they help improve a patient’s health such that it saves money by preventing hospital visits and preventable complications of chronic illness.”
John Rittenhouse is proud of human services impact
January 5, 2010
John Rittenhouse
During a single City Council term, John Rittenhouse advanced watershed legislation to reshape city elections and establish a human services campus in Issaquah.
The former councilman led the effort to cap city campaign contributions at $500 for cash and in-kind donations from a single party — a measure the council overwhelmingly approved in May.
Rittenhouse led the push to open a proposed human services campus, a clearinghouse where needy people can receive food, healthcare and employment. The council OK’d the first steps toward a campus — location scouting and business planning — in a unanimous vote last month.
Before Rittenhouse left the council last week, colleagues praised him as affable and effective. Read more
Council OKs human services campus study
December 20, 2009
NEW — 6 a.m. Dec. 20, 2009
A clearinghouse where people in need can receive food, healthcare and employment is a step closer to reality for Issaquah.
Officials hired nonprofit Family Resource Center, of Redmond, to locate a suitable site for a human services campus, engage in business planning and provide legal assistance. City Council members approved the $35,000 pact in a unanimous vote Dec. 7.
Governor, dignitaries break ground on Swedish Medical Center campus
October 13, 2009
Leaders including Gov. Chris Gregoire; Mayor Ava Frisinger; Judd Kirk, of Port Blakely Communities; Swedish CEO Rod Hochman; Swedish Senior Vice President Kevin Brown; Swedish/Issaquah Medical Director John Milne; and Swedish Board of Trustees Chairman Martin Siegel turn dirt Oct. 12 at the groundbreaking ceremony. By Greg Farrar
Gov. Chris Gregoire called for national health care reform at the Oct. 12 groundbreaking of a new Swedish Medical Center campus in the Issaquah Highlands, as she praised the planned hospital as a model program. The governor, a second-term Democrat, called for Congress to set aside partisanship and deliver “affordable, accessible high-quality health care.”
Gregoire praised Swedish Medical Center executives for taking steps to bring additional medical services to Issaquah. The campus, set to open in phases in 2011 and 2012, will become the first new hospital in King County to open in 25 years.
Physicians will offer inpatient and outpatient services such as cardiac care, obstetrics and neurosciences at the high-tech campus. The project is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs in health care and hospital-related fields. Crews began excavation work at the 18-acre site in mid-August. Read more
Swedish Medical Center Issaquah groundbreaking / Oct. 12, 2009
October 13, 2009
Swedish hospital to create 1,000 jobs
October 6, 2009
A Swedish Medical Center campus under construction in the Issaquah Highlands will create more than 1,000 jobs, from architects to construction workers to neurologists. Read more
City Council will consider spending $20,000 to study feasibility of human services campus
July 21, 2009
Before city officials take steps to establish a human services campus, they will consider spending up to $20,000 next month to partner with a Redmond social services center to plan for a similar facility in Issaquah. Read more
