It will take more than a Band-Aid to fix health care in SLO County | Opinion
Expensive health care
I’m glad that Congressmembers Salud Carbajal and Jimmy Panetta are working to bring more physicians to the Central Coast (Tribune, Aug. 22). But I doubt that throwing more money at the problem is going to accomplish much.
We Americans already spend twice as much money on healthcare as other developed nations, and yet on average we live shorter lives than any of them. We have fewer physicians and hospital beds per person than almost all other first world countries. We have the same life expectancy as China, and yet pay 20 times what China pays for healthcare.
Case in point: I recently had to pay a visit to French Hospital ER. I was evaluated by a physician’s assistant, had a few lab tests and a CT scan, and then sent home. Two weeks later, I got a bill for almost $16,000.
It’s not that SLO county doctors aren’t making enough money to survive. It’s just that they can make significantly more money in other areas, so why come here?
The congressmembers are right — something is definitely out of whack here. But just spending more money is like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound.
Jennifer Martin
San Luis Obispo
Correct lapse in PG&E payments
As a parent of children at San Luis Coastal Unified School District (SLCUSD), I am disappointed that our students are caught in a political and economic struggle over extended operations at Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP).
Between 2016 and 2018, local organizations partnered with PG&E to acknowledge DCPP’s unique impact on our community. The result was a fund providing over $4 million annually to SLCUSD until DCPP’s (intended) closure in August 2025.
DCPP has not closed. In 2022, legislation was passed loaning PG&E $1.4 billion, financed by taxpayers, to keep DCPP running. It also gave PG&E shareholders $100 million annually, plus a yearly “volumetric” payment of over $250 million, taken from our electricity bills.
Meanwhile, payments to SLCUSD were allowed to expire after this year. That lapse must be corrected, with school funding restored immediately and kept in place so long as DCPP is operating.
PG&E and local officials must act in good faith to explore any funding sources that protect the vital resources our students deserve.
This community bears the risks and benefits of hosting DCPP. Our kids shouldn’t be collateral damage in corporate or political negotiations, and cannot be used as leverage to influence whether DCPP stays open.
Ben Lippert
San Luis Obispo
Who’s the bully?
A few of your misguided contributors seem to believe that if a bully is stealing my lunch money daily, and I fight back, I’m guilty of bullying also.
This makes no sense to me. The “Stop Newsom’s Power Grab” folks should simply take a look at what’s going on in Louisiana, Indiana, Utah, Texas and soon, Florida.
Gerrymandering, now under its less emotional new title of “redistricting,” is going to sweep through the red states because why not? Lastly, California is asking the voters to decide on the new maps.
Help me out here: Which of the above named red states put their redistricting plan to a popular vote? (Crickets)
Thomas Bringle
Grover Beach
Who’s behind it?
Well, it’s started. Our mailbox has been inundated with glossy flyers telling us “GERRYMANDERING IS WRONG-NO MATTER WHO DOES IT.”
After numerous attempts, we have not been able to figure out who is behind ‘ProtectFairElections’ but, as the flyers point out, they are funded by ‘Right Path California’ and — surprise! — the CEO is none other than the current chairman of the California GOP, Jessica Patterson.
We wonder how supportive she was of the folks in Texas who opposed Donald Trump’s interference and Gov. Abbott’s acquiescence to gerrymandering their Congressional districts. We admit, we agree with the sentiment that gerrymandering is wrong, but given the current authoritarian tendencies of what used to be the GOP and Trump’s blatant disregard for Democracy, we will be voting yes on the redistricting plan. Richard and Carol Mortensen
San Luis Obispo
Pondering Pinder
Clive Pinder’s objection to California’s redistricting effort, while admirable, is detached from political reality. Swaying the electorate with high-minded ideals is an anachronism, and adherence to this “Jimmy Stewart goes to Washington” fantasy is the core failure that plagues the Democratic party. Donald Trump is giving a master class on leadership in the age of social media; meanwhile, the Democratic leadership muddles through unmemorable nine-hour floor speeches. Mr. Pinder now advocates for further failure with the same dry, restrained approach.
The notion that calmly articulating high-minded principles will foster constructive political discourse is fallacious. There is no profit in deliberative discourse when 54% of Americans get their news from social media. The “Kennedy/Nixon debate” view of politics is at odds with modern realities, and those who hold to these illusions risk irrelevance.
Mr. Pinder unfortunately creates a false dichotomy between redistricting and democracy. California’s redistricting is not about choosing between democracy and gerrymandering. California’s obligation is about implementing redistricting to preserve democracy.
Derrik Williams
Cambria
What he should have said
Clive Pinder’s article, “Fair redistricting, not power grabs: SLO voters must draw the line,” published on Aug. 24, might have been convincing had he told us in the very first line that what Trump did, and Texas Republicans agreed to, was wrong.
The next sentence should have been, “I already sent them this same article saying how power grabs were wrong.”
He didn’t. Scolding Texas at the end was pointless. Did Texas let the voters decide? No. California voters will decide. I’m definitely voting yes.
Lynette Tornatzky
Los Osos
This story was originally published August 31, 2025 at 10:00 AM.