Letters to the Editor: June 12, 2026

Canary in coal mine

As a former hospital administrator in both non-for-profit and for-profit systems, and senior manager in a major Medicaid program, I read your article on United Healthcare Advantage and the Willamette Valley Medical Center with great interest.

Adequate reimbursement has been an issue in the healthcare system since I entered into it in 1968, but has recently been exacerbated by private equity firms assuming ownership of hospitals, particularly those serving rural areas.

The for-profit, private-equity Willamette Valley Medical Center is a local example of that trend. I refer you to the following:

• https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/how-private-equity-undermines-rural-health-equity/2025-05

• https://pestakeholder.org/news/new-data-reveals-extent-of-pe-ownership-of-rural-hospitals/

A key feature of the private equity approach to hospital ownership is the fundamental requirement to present an outsized return on equity to investors. That makes ROI the first line of expense, with all other categories — such as staffing and payroll, service and equipment, and availability of low-profit but essential services) — taking a distinct back seat.

When a major for-profit insurer like United Health Care signals that the costs at WVMC are 80% higher than peer hospitals, one need look no further than the underlying demands of private equity ownership. It is a major cause, if not the sole cause, of that disparity.

The problem will not be solved by marginally increased reimbursement, staffing or service adjustments, or even Medicare for all. The fundamental flaw is for-profit ownership of healthcare facilities.

I would strongly recommend to our city council that instead of wasting precious long-term time, staffing and financing on questionable real estate projects such as the RB Rubber venture, the multi-million dollar renovation of Third Street or an extravagant recreation facility, that it first look at what can be done to ensure adequate and available health care to the citizens of McMinnville. That includes potential purchase of WVMC, returning it to community ownership.

Patrick Evans

McMinnville

Darkness be gone

Rare and aggressive. Those are, two of the darkest words ever said.

I’ve had four friends in the last couple of years taken by something rare and aggressive. So rare and aggressive no longer feels rare, only aggressive.

The power of those words. I didn’t think I would see four people in my entire lifetime die of cancer, let alone in a couple of years.

It started with our dear Ethan. He made it a year.

What a strong young man to have fought so hard. He was only 18, but couldn’t beat rare and aggressive.

My friend Marlo, who I’d known all my life, was literally the healthiest person I’d ever known. But at only 55, she only made it five months. She could not beat rare and aggressive.

My beautiful friend Treece, a mom to all who worked with her, wouldn’t retire because she couldn’t leave her kids. Only in her mid-60s, she just made it two weeks. Her body could not fight off rare and aggressive.

My beautiful friend Edie, the brightest light I have ever known, made it the longest. But she could not beat rare and aggressive either.

I hate these words. I hope to never speak them again.

I leave them with a strong rebuke. They cannot win in the end, as darkness cannot prevail over hope and faith, mercy and grace, love and being loved.

My friends are in glory now. The one with sacred hands holds them now. They are alive and cured and waiting for all of us to join them one day.

I miss them all. But I will see them again. And we will know rare and aggressive could not and did not win!

I love you forever, Edie, one of the best friends I have ever had.

Michelle Elliott

McMinnville

Role model

If you have aspirations of becoming the president of these United States, here’s a brief qualifications checklist. You must be willing to:

Lie prolifically.

Manipulate markets to benefit you, your family and your friends.

Command a crude vocabulary, enabling you to use profanity when normal people wouldn’t.

Launch foreign wars without congressional approval.

Establish a history of shafting small businesses via the bankruptcy process.

Denigrate war heroes despite the fact that you, yourself, are a draft dodger.

Go out of your way to embrace dictators, thus shaming the country you took an oath to protect.

Surround yourself with ill-equipped advisors and appoint dolts to your cabinet.

Show a strong willingness to ignore the law and make a mockery of justice.

Lavish taxpayer dollars on those who kill police officers during an insurrection you yourself orchestrated.

Maintain a close friendship with someone long accused of exploiting under-age women.

Get yourself indicted on multiple felony charges.

Get your name and picture plastered all over the country for posterity.

Seek revenge on all you perceive as insufficiently loyal to you.

Display an unbelievably large ego.

These are just a few of the tried and true qualifications to be president. They must be, as the person now in office exhibits them all.

John Rickert

McMinnville