I am aghast that people who pay high premiums for their health insurance don’t see a need for an alternative to a community hospital or a county facility.

The public consensus doesn’t like the idea of socialized health care, but that is basically what it has become.

I am a registered nurse with more than 20 years of acute care experience (hospital). I recently first-handedly experienced what it is like for a patient who has supplemental Medicare-provided health insurance.

I spent day and night at my father’s bedside, sleeping in a chair in his semiprivate room, which was occupied by a patient with a respiratory infection (pneumonia). I personally cleaned the toilet. I changed the bed linens. I assisted my father to the common shower to clean it, and I provided enough towels and toiletries for a shower.

I cherish the innovation of “boutique hospitals.” God forbid I end up at a county facility without a personal assistant to care for me.

As a registered nurse, I was personally reprimanded for giving care of a patient who was bedridden for months, and I was subsequently terminated.

— Philomena Simonella, Oxnard