Bee Opinionated: Finally Feinstein + Hospitals in danger + High Speed Rail must succeed | OPINION
We send Bee Opinionated to newsletter subscribers first. Get it in your inbox before it publishes online: Sign up here.
Hello again! It’s your favorite Robin Epley (do you know any others?) with The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board. I hope you didn’t miss me too much last week — I was off on a great vacation in Seattle and even got to go up on the Space Needle.
But it’s back to work now, and our team’s first matter of business on Monday morning was a weighty one:
We think it’s time for Sen. Dianne Feinstein to step down.
The growing calls for the resignation of the U.S. Senate’s oldest member now includes The Bee’s editorial board, which wrote that: “For the good of the people and for the sake of the important work frozen in her absence, Feinstein should retire now.”
“In her heyday, Feinstein’s brand of bipartisan deal-making was celebrated, but that is no longer the case. She is now largely viewed by progressives as being too accommodating to Senate Republicans.”
During Feinstein’s health-related absence from the Judiciary Committee, the vote has been divided among 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats, effectively stalling President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations. As of last week, Feinstein had missed 60 of 82 Senate votes. In addition, Republicans say they would block Democratic efforts to replace Feinstein temporarily.
Has the senator left it too late to script her own exit?
“If she retired now, Feinstein’s final political act would preserve her legacy as a leader who remained faithful to her duties to the end,” the editorial board wrote. “She could preserve and strengthen her rightful place not just in California history, but American history.”
Not What The Doctor Ordered
“In January, the Madera Community Hospital — the only hospital in all of Madera County, where I live — was forced to close its doors due to financial loss. Now, our nearest emergency healthcare facilities are at least 30 miles away, in neighboring counties. A lot can happen in the time it takes to travel 30 miles, especially when someone’s health is on the line.”
Robert Poythress, a Madera County supervisor and board delegate of the Rural County Representatives of California, wrote a devastating guest essay last week on the closure of his county’s own closest hospital, as well as dozens like it across the state.
A study of California hospital closures found the mortality rate increased in rural communities by 5.9% upon the closure of a hospital, Poythress wrote. More than half of California’s 337 hospitals are operating at a financial loss.
Hospitals such as these are forced to rely on alternative sources of income, such as grants or subsidies, but with rising costs it is difficult to keep up and many are falling behind.
“This is due, in large part, to the low reimbursement rates of Medi-Cal and Medicare,” he wrote. “These government programs reimburse at less than the cost of care, which forces hospitals to rely on private insurance patients to cover the gap. The hospitals that serve majority Medi-Cal and Medicare recipients are therefore at a severe fiscal disadvantage.”
Coupled with the significant costs of responding to the COVID pandemic and capital expenses like seismic requirements, many hospitals are now out of time.
“It is time for California to declare that hospital closures are not okay, and that residents losing access to health care is not OK,” Poythress wrote. “Swift and immediate action is needed to preserve hospitals and protect the lives of all California residents. This will require state intervention to prevent mass closure, especially in rural locations where there is no alternative for emergency care.”
Off The Rails
California’s High-Speed Rail project has faced some tough circumstances and bad news recently. Storms and inflation are causing delays and higher costs. It is easy for detractors, like Republicans in the Legislature, to whine about the project. But now is not the time to give up, says The Fresno Bee Editorial Board.
“There is no doubt that high-speed rail is taking longer to build and costing more than anyone expected. But (Senate Republican Minority Leader Brian W.) Jones and (U.S. House Speaker Kevin) McCarthy ignore the fact that the first 119 miles of the rail route from Madera to northern Kern County are well underway.”
Imagine if the international airports in Los Angeles or San Francisco were being built today, and if they were costing more and taking longer, would lawmakers try to end those projects? Of course not, wrote the board. But that’s because Californians know the value of transportation hubs in Southern California and the Bay Area.
“If the project is stopped dead in its tracks (pun intended), it would be an epic failure that future generations would just shake their heads over.”
Republicans in the Legislature should stop their posturing and instead demand the best project possible, wrote the board.
“Stop using high-speed rail as a sound bite and get on with supporting it for the greater good of clean transportation in the future.”
Opinion of the Week
“So forgive my vacant smile, Sacramento, when you excitedly discuss it all. I’m with you. I’m into it. I’m into Sacramento as a concept, too. But don’t ask me anything difficult.” — Jack Ohman, on being part “of a secret cadre of Kings fans who are well-intentioned, excited, and supportive”... but who know absolutely nothing about basketball.
Got thoughts? What would you like to see in this newsletter every week? Got a story tip or an opinion to tell the world? Let us know what you think about this email and our work in general by emailing us at any time via opinion@sacbee.com.
Stay classy Sacramento,
Robin Epley
