Drawing a big fat target on myself
Okay - with the vote coming up on health care reform, I have something to say to my congresscritters, but I am also posting it here for, I don't know, posterity. And maybe some feedback. I will be sending this off late tonight (and I hope the cut tag works) and will include any valid points I may have missed. It is meant to be grim. I also believe much of it is true - at least about my prognosis.
Concerning the Health Care initiative
I am going to preface this by stating that I fully expect it to be discarded unread into the trash. However, since I am also fully expecting to die within the next year due to medical issues I cannot afford to address, I figure it might be worth putting my opinion out there for some person to read. In addition, since I cannot afford basic health care I have been unable to find suitable employment for the past five years.
I am posting a copy in my blog for people to read if they care. I am also sending copies of this letter to the local news channels.
I am merely one of many thousands of American Citizens who is unable to afford not only insurance but basic medical care. In the eyes of the rest of the world this reflects very badly on the government of our once great country. For when the least of its citizens is ignored and trod upon by those who consider themselves superior, the entire society sinks into the muck of decay.
I hear from the anti-health care backers that it is bad because it will create abuse of the system. Every system is abused to some degree. But the majority of people will benefit from it. Insurance companies fear they will lose their profit margins. Well, that will happen when people are too ill and broken to work and pay for basic necessities. Private insurance does not need to be scrapped, but it does need to stop calling the health shots on people it knows nothing about. We need to put medical care back into the hands, and hearts, of medical professionals and take it out of the hands of people who only care about lining their own pockets. Make insurance return to what it was originally meant to be - a supplement to basic health care.
In the first paragraph of this missive I stated that I expect to die within a year. I have just been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. That means that when I can no longer afford what little medical intervention I can scrape up, I will be drowning in the fluids that will build up in my lungs. I think I would prefer water-boarding as there is some respite from that. There will be no respite for me. My husband will be forced to sit by and watch this happen as we cannot afford to have someone come in from a hospice to give him some basic relief. As he is not in the best of health himself, and his request for a raise in his his VA benefits have consistently been refused in spite of the recommendations of his medical team and advocates, he will probably not survive me by more than a year.
If you have read this through, I hope you will consider passing the Health Reform that President Obama has proposed and not damage the basics that are needed by those who cannot afford them.
Sincerely
So, if anyone has some constructive criticism, please comment.
Crossposted from my DW account.
ETA to add some pertinent information.
Concerning the Health Care initiative
I am going to preface this by stating that I fully expect it to be discarded unread into the trash. However, since I am also fully expecting to die within the next year due to medical issues I cannot afford to address, I figure it might be worth putting my opinion out there for some person to read. In addition, since I cannot afford basic health care I have been unable to find suitable employment for the past five years.
I am posting a copy in my blog for people to read if they care. I am also sending copies of this letter to the local news channels.
I am merely one of many thousands of American Citizens who is unable to afford not only insurance but basic medical care. In the eyes of the rest of the world this reflects very badly on the government of our once great country. For when the least of its citizens is ignored and trod upon by those who consider themselves superior, the entire society sinks into the muck of decay.
I hear from the anti-health care backers that it is bad because it will create abuse of the system. Every system is abused to some degree. But the majority of people will benefit from it. Insurance companies fear they will lose their profit margins. Well, that will happen when people are too ill and broken to work and pay for basic necessities. Private insurance does not need to be scrapped, but it does need to stop calling the health shots on people it knows nothing about. We need to put medical care back into the hands, and hearts, of medical professionals and take it out of the hands of people who only care about lining their own pockets. Make insurance return to what it was originally meant to be - a supplement to basic health care.
In the first paragraph of this missive I stated that I expect to die within a year. I have just been diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure. That means that when I can no longer afford what little medical intervention I can scrape up, I will be drowning in the fluids that will build up in my lungs. I think I would prefer water-boarding as there is some respite from that. There will be no respite for me. My husband will be forced to sit by and watch this happen as we cannot afford to have someone come in from a hospice to give him some basic relief. As he is not in the best of health himself, and his request for a raise in his his VA benefits have consistently been refused in spite of the recommendations of his medical team and advocates, he will probably not survive me by more than a year.
If you have read this through, I hope you will consider passing the Health Reform that President Obama has proposed and not damage the basics that are needed by those who cannot afford them.
Sincerely
So, if anyone has some constructive criticism, please comment.
Crossposted from my DW account.
ETA to add some pertinent information.