San Juan County shares in the huge national problem of the baby boomer generation having contributed to markedly increased numbers of elderly people, many of whom are vulnerable to health problems and/or homelessness. The 85-bed Friday Harbor Life Care Center, which closed in 2017, provided 24-7 health care as well as a place to land for islanders with short-term needs. With that closure, we had a complete absence of any such facility for long-term care of residents of San Juan County.
A group of high profile single payer advocates now say single payer is not enough and are calling for a move toward a Veterans Administration (VA) style universal healthcare system. David Himmelstein In an article in The Nation magazine last week, doctors David U. Himmelstein, Steffie Woolhandler, Adam Gaffney, Don McCanne and John Geyman called…