Dear Senators:
This letter addresses assisted suicide and the windfall profit issue. By this, I mean the situation where people pay for health insurance, but don't use it much. Then, if assisted suicide is legal and they do get sick, the insurer can legally encourage them to kill themselves. If this occurs, there is financial gravy for the insurer.
In the US, the head of the main group promoting assisted suicide is a former "managed care executive." See http://www.margaretdore.com/info/coombs_lee_bio_001.pdf In 2009, she wrote an op-ed defending the Oregon Health Plan after it denied coverage to a patient. Her op-ed also encouraged readers to support a public policy discouraging patients from seeking cures, presumably by reducing coverage options. See here: http://www.margaretdore.com/pdf/Coombs_Lee_against_Wagner.pdf
Here in Washington State, her group was the leading force in a ballot measure campaign that legalized assisted suicide. Our law, like the House Version of S.77, contains coercive provisions, which make it less likely that patients will get their choices. For example, in both laws, there is no oversight when the lethal dose is administered. Even if the patient struggled, who would know?
To view a short analysis of the House Version of S.77, go here: http://www.choiceillusion.org/2013/04/vote-no-on-s77-legal-analysis.html
To view a short article about Washington's law, go here: https://www.kcba.org/newsevents/barbulletin/BView.aspx?Month=05&Year=2009&AID=article5.htm
Do not be fooled.
Please vote No.
Margaret Dore
Law Offices of Margaret K. Dore, P.S.
Choice is an Illusion, a nonprofit corporation
www.margaretdore.com
www.choiceillusion.org
1001 4th Avenue, 44th Floor
Seattle, WA 98154
206 389 1754
206 389 1562
