David Collins' column, “Connecticut Dems conspire against better health care” (July 29) is wrong. He claims unions are orchestrating our opposition, suggesting we're just stooges and makes a ridiculous assumption that if something is labeled "Yale" it must be a no-brainer. When did naivete replace investigative journalism?

Everybody involved understands the challenges facing health care, including private insurance companies squeezing hospitals with lower reimbursements. Hospitals are not factories that can be shipped overseas. They exist to provide medical care, and we risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Wing Hospital in Palmer, Mass. had a cooperative association with the University of Massachusetts, but that expired and hospital executives took a golden parachute approach associating with Baystate, surrendering control much as Lawrence + Memorial Hospital executives are proposing to surrender control to Yale-New Haven. The result at Wing: reduced services, no oncology, limited labs, mass firings, a shift to lower paid, less professionally developed staff, and higher prices! That's why I oppose just believing what people with a financial interest are selling. We have a responsibility to get into this fight and ensure a good outcome regardless of party affiliation. Good outcomes don't just happen.

Conrad Heede

Groton