Letters to the Editor is a periodic KHN feature. We welcome all comments and will publish a selection. We will edit for space, and we require full names.

Among the stories that have drawn comments and responses are Phil Galewitz’ piece about how some migrant health clinics have become flash points in the national immigration debate, as well as Jay Hancock’s article about high-deductible health plans. Here’s a sampling:

The story Migrant Health Clinics Caught In Crossfire Of Immigration Debate (Galewitz, 6/6) drew the following comment:

Gary M. Wiltz, MD, Chair-Elect, National Association of Community Health Centers, Executive Director, Teche Action Clinic, Franklin, La.

Phil Galewitz’s report on migrant health centers, “Fear Keeps Migrants From Getting Health Care,” brings into focus a simple fact: in today’s global world, disease does not discriminate among populations, nor recognize national borders. All providers, whether they are hospitals, private physicians, or Community Health Centers, have an important responsibility — to protect the health of their patients and communities against public health threats such as influenza, tuberculosis, or communicable disease.

When one person is unprotected or goes without health care, it affects us all. To take one clear example, if a child goes unimmunized because the parents fear deportation, it may well put all children on the school playground at risk. 

This becomes especially important for those workers dealing with our nation’s food supply. By granting all people access to low-cost preventive and  primary care services with check-ups, screenings, and routine vaccinations (most especially for communicable diseases) we can better  monitor, screen, and halt the threat of widespread diseases, and thus protect the overall health of all America’s communities. It just makes good common, and economic, sense.

Simply put, we all benefit when there are no barriers to affordable and accessible preventive health care — especially when it comes to our nation’s food service and agricultural workers. The payback for the American public is lower health care costs, shorter lines at hospital emergency rooms, cost-savings for taxpayers, and a healthier, more productive population. 

One reader offered the following response to The New Normal In Health Insurance: High Deductibles (Hancock, 6/3).

Dawn Fuchs, Human Resources Manager at Maranda Enterprises LLC, Mequon, Wis.

I just read your article called The New Normal In Health Insurance: High Deductibles … [and] I wanted to share a perspective that perhaps had not been considered when the article was written. I’m referring to several comments … concerning what “critics” and Prof. Jonathan Oberlander have to say about high deductible health plans and employers. My husband and I own a small entrepreneurial business in Mequon, Wisconsin, and we now employ 7 people. We have not been able to afford health insurance (traditional plans) for our employees. However, as we have started to grow, we have started a HRA (health reimbursement arrangement) offering some reimbursement toward their personal individual high deductible “consumer driven” health plans. … We have steadily increased the HRA for our employees over the last 4 years. … We have often received group health insurance estimates for our team and it continues to be cost prohibitive … sometimes more than tripling what we currently are able to put in the HRA for our employees. My issue with the article is this: I find it insulting and divisive when a professor from a reputable university makes a statement like, “Employers like it because they’re providing less coverage” or “If they (employers) can re-label it as ‘consumer-driven’ then it even sounds good.” These are careless, damaging and divisive comments. We care VERY deeply about our employees and their families. If we as employers could or should provide more, we would….

The story Taking A Risk To Secure Health Insurance (Dotinga, 6/12) drew this comment:

Marjorie Swartz, Principal Consultant of the California State Assembly Health Committee, Sacramento, Calif.

We appreciate your story highlighting the problems people with preexisting conditions have obtaining coverage in the individual market. The California state legislation you reference is AB 1526 authored by Assembly Member Monning (D) from Carmel, California. However, we have one slight correction. It would not have any additional state cost. The existing program is funded with a tobacco tax that is dedicated for that purpose and because of the decreasing enrollment (partially a result of the more attractive federal program as you point out) there is enough funding from the tax to pay for the bill.

A reader also commented on ‘Rest Of The Country Should Take A Good Look At The Situation In Texas’ (Rabin, 6/21):

Mary Jo May, CEO of El Centro de Corazón, Houston

You failed to mention in your article about health care in Texas that one of the major problems with access to care in Houston is that the Harris County Hospital District does not have a history of collaboration. The Federally Qualified Health Centers in Houston have been trying to get HCHD to refer the 400 patients a day that they can’t see to other safety net clinics that do have capacity. The FQHCs have offered to set up a call center so that all HCHD would have to do was transfer the calls and then the call center would see that the patients were referred to the appropriate clinic. But they refuse. The health care system in Houston is broken.