Include managed-care plans
Dr. Ricardo Jimenez, medical director of Sea Mar Community Health Centers, highlights a significant deficiency in the state’s new Health Benefit Exchange. [“Guest column: Falling short of Obamacare’s goals,” Opinion, Aug. 15.]
The exclusion of Medicaid managed-care plans will hurt people currently receiving health care under these plans.
If these plans do not meet the criteria for inclusion in the exchange, I suggest that state Insurance Commissioner Mike Kreidler and his advisers reconsider their criteria, and take into account the consequences of offering only commercial plans on those who can least afford health care.
Is this not in conflict with the goals of the Affordable Care Act, namely, to make affordable, quality health care accessible to all?
Diana Bader, independent board member of the Community Health Plan of Washington, Lynnwood