I would like for taxpayers in Island County to be aware of their healthcare options when in need. We can see through recent articles that Whidbey General Hospital, the hospital our taxpayer money provides funds to, has elected to pay their CEO $230,000, plus extraordinary benefits, with our funding.

I am a veteran who chose to live here after falling in love with the Northwest, but please beware that Whidbey General does not for the most part accept Tricare and if you go there for care, you will not receive treatment because they do not accept your insurance or they do not have the specialty you need. To avoid undue relocation fees, please know that there is a very wonderful, highly qualified hospital with double, maybe triple the amount of highly specialized MD’s that accept Tricare and are highly qualified to treat you and your family members in a city very close in proximity to Coupeville.

So please, send a message to this very dysfunctional and un-changing medical facility that our taxpayer dollars fund, that their decision making processes are antiquated and harmful to the majority of their population which feeds their hungry appetite to pay the ridiculous salary of their CEO and go to a neighboring hospital which welcomes and meets your healthcare needs.

If you do end up going to WGH, I’ll bet that you have a high chance of being transferred to this hospital, at your expense, to this very competent and reality based hospital, whose CEO works for much less and has a greater reputation of meeting the needs of our veterans!

Mary Jackson

Oak Harbor