Sasquatch music fest overwhelms rural hospital

QUINCY, Wash. (AP) — Officials at Quincy Valley Medical Center say they were overwhelmed this past weekend with people from the Sasquatch music festival who overindulged in alcohol and drugs.

The small rural medical clinic lost $400,000 last year in unpaid expenses due to the large numbers of uninsured patients from the music festival.

This year, Washington’s new health care exchange was an event sponsor, in an effort to sign more young people up for insurance in Washington state.

It’s too early to determine how effective that effort will be but it did not keep people out of the hospital over Memorial Day weekend.