I am a county retiree and the increase for my health coverage for my spouse was 63-plus percent, and the actual increase for letter writer Jerry Whetstine and his family was 102 percent (“Insurance costs: County hits retirees with very big bills,” April 12).

Every April we see an increase in our health insurance costs. They usually run a reasonable percentage increase that we are able to absorb; this is expected. After all, the cost to the county goes up every year also. But to hit a group of people that are on fixed incomes with such a large increase all at once is absolutely terrible. And then to tell them that no other county active employee received that kind of an increase because they are represented by a union, well it is hard to accept.

I guess when you get old and retire and can no longer be represented you just get the shaft! I started my law enforcement career with the county at a salary of $425 per month – no paid overtime, minimal benefits other than LEOFF 1 retirement benefits, and those benefits were paid for right off the top of my gross salary at the same rate as Social Security. I read The Herald every day, and every day I see another tax increase or utility increase, or that the state government is going to have to raise more money for one thing or another, some of which seem pretty stupid to me. I also see how the government wastes money; now I have to figure out how to survive with the constant cost increases we are all looking at.

Just as Jerry Whetstine left Western Washington to get away from the high prices and taxes, I am taking it one step farther. I will be moving out of the state to an area that has less expensive property taxes, less expensive utilities and where my Washington state retirement dollar will allow me to live without pinching the budget every month. There are other places that seem to be able to run their states without bankrupting their citizens. I can always come back to visit my children and grandchildren.

Marysville