From a friend of mine. Posted with permission.

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Here's a growing list to highlight the services some people likely use on a regular (or as-needed) basis, but want to deny other people:

So, you say you don't like socialism? You don't want the government running anything? Wellll....

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Got that? Keep this list handy in case you encounter anti-socialist nutjobs. I have gotten tired of all the rants I hear from people that fail to engage their brain before running their mouths. Feel encouraged to spread the love when necessary.

Dear Senator Cardin,

I have emailed you before about health care reform. Please continue to stand firm on enacting the eight health insurance consumer protections as outlined by the President (http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/). Please stand firm on the inclusion of a public option, with the ultimate goal being single-payer insurance coverage.

I would suggest you announce at the start of your next town meeting on health care reform that the purpose is discussion and civilized discourse. Those who attend for the sole purpose of disrupting the meeting with disorderly or dangerous conduct should be warned and then removed from the premises if they do not desist. Please don't be intimidated by a bunch of naysayers and idiots.* These "plants" bussed in by right-wingers and the health care industry aren't your constituents who vote for you. Real health care reform should benefit all the people, not health care CEOs. A country as rich as ours should be able to spend money and compassion on the less fortunate. In the end we all benefit.

*In a word: L.O.S.E.R.S. (this part not sent to Cardin).

It amazes me that the people who will most benefit from health care reform (the poor, the elderly, those with no, lousy, or too expensive health insurance) are the ones fighting against their own best interest.

Another message to Congressman Paul Sarbanes.

Please vote to retain the Kucinich amendment to H.R. 3200 that would allow states to establish their own single-payer health care plans.

I am a supporter of the National Organization for Women which, since 1993, has supported a single-payer health care plan as the best way to meet women's health needs, while covering everyone in the U.S. at affordable rates. States must be allowed to adopt single-payer plans to bring down spiraling health care costs and to meet the needs of all their residents.
This would ensure coverage for all Americans. No one should be denied coverage for preexisting conditions or be forced into bankruptcy due to insurmountable medical bills. It would stop the insurance industry from putting profits before people. It would bring down costs and help the economy. Health insurance is a right, not a privilege.

I will be watching your vote on this critically-important issue and hope that you will support this amendment.

More info here.

Latest message to my Maryland Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, and Congressman John Sarbanes:

On health care reform legislation, I would urge you and your Senate colleagues to stand firm on enacting the eight health insurance consumer protections as outlined by the President (http://www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections/). Please stand firm on the inclusion of a public option, with the ultimate goal being single-payer insurance coverage. To help pay for it, repeal the Bush tax cuts, and tax the wealthiest Americans in the top 1 and 2 percent income bracket. Why not also fund it through a "sin tax" on cigarettes, soda, and alcohol? Or through the inclusion of sales tax on internet sales (such as Amazon.com)?

Thank you for all your hard work on this and other issues.

Reply from Congressman Sarbanes:

 

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The American people are demanding a public option. What's so wrong about taxing the wealthiest 2 percent to help pay for it? What's so wrong about levying a "sin tax" on soda, booze, and cigarettes? Aren't those options better than raising taxes on those who can least afford it? How about a little karmic justice on the brokers, bankers, CEOs and politicians whose greed wreaked havoc on the economy in the first place? It's Main Street, not Wall Street, who is paying the price. 

In the "I can't believe my ears" department... Pat Buchanan on MSNBC was busy trashing Sonia Sotomayor being helped by affirmative action, implying that she didn't pull herself up by her own bootstraps like Sarah Palin. In addition to hard work and sacrifice, affirmative action gave an equally-qualified poor Latina woman the opportunity to compete on a level playing field. The woman has a solid, impeccable legal resume. A white male nominee for the Supreme Court would not be treated the same way (they would be treated more respectfully).

And I would not hold Sarah Palin up as a model of intelligence, industriousness, and integrity. Her continued popularity rather baffles me, but I guess she (and Rod Blagoevich) are considered by some to be outwardly charismatic and attractive no matter what they say, and are entertaining in a Paris-Hilton-sort-of-way.

Imagine the media reaction if Joe Biden suddenly resigned the vice presidency and went crabbing in Delaware.

Just registered my opinion via email with Senators Cardin and Mikulski:

Dear Senator,

Please continue to support health care reform legislation that includes a public option. Please ensure that this option is not watered down or dropped. Please do your utmost to move our country to single-payer coverage.

Thank you for all your hard work on this and many other issues.

While some of David Letterman's jokes about Sarah Palin's family were no doubt in poor taste and open to misinterpretation (i.e., which daughter he was talking about), he was not the first comedian (or politician) to make such comments. I never thought I would actually feel a little sorry for David Letterman-poor taste or not, we all have an off day and generally he's a pretty funny and entertaining guy. He's apologized twice, and he doesn't deserve to be fired. And I have to admit, I find the sight and sound of Sarah Palin to be a true irritant. I feel sorry for her kids (and Alaskan wildlife) in general.

And for the people who complain that Stephen Colbert was a comedic apologist for our presence in Iraq, LIGHTEN UP! He's an entertainer/comedian, not a politician. When Obama ordered General Odierno to "shave that man's head," it was absolutely hilarious. The basic training sequence was also funny-I don't know how the drill sergeant managed to keep a straight face. I would love to see the outtakes. Colbert has stepped into Bob Hope's shoes-entertaining the troops through the USO. It's not the troops' fault that they are in Iraq-blame BushCheneyCo. for that one. At least Obama appears to be working on getting them home. I honestly don't know if it would be prudent to instantaneously cut off all funding, as some progressives in Congress would like to do, and let the chips fall where they may. I have a feeling that, unfortunately, we have to gradually dig ourselves out of this hole.

Watched a PBS documentary last night about "don't ask, don't tell" (Independent Lens). Seems that Obama could issue an executive order rescinding any prohibition against gays serving openly, much like Truman (I think?) did rescinding the policy of blacks serving separately in the military. The documentary effectively made the point that keeping gays who wish to serve out of the military is a civil rights issue-it is discrimination, plain and simple. The documentary also made the point that, in the last few years, the military has lowered its standards for admission to address a shortage of recruits. (Maybe it wouldn't be such a problem if we weren't at "war" in Iraq and Afghanistan.)

My biggest complaint so far about Obama is that some things are not moving as fast as I would like, but then he has a full plate (health care reform, the economy, the Middle East) and real change takes time. Dick Cheney should shut up and go back to his underground bunker. In an ideal world, the media would not publicize his comments so much (i.e., you had your chance, you blew it, the American people voted for a change). He talks about how the U.S. was kept safe for eight years-hello, who was in charge when 9/11 happened?

I do think that eventually we will have a public option/single payer health care and that equal rights for gays will also happen (marriage equality, serving in the military, etc.) We've started down those paths and I don't think the American people as a majority want to turn back. Congress needs to get its collective head out of its behind, grow a spine, and listen to its constituency (remember us, the people who pay your salary).

As for Iran, it's too bad people didn't take to the streets like that in this country and demand a new election back in 2000.

Both my husband and I threw out our backs the weekend before last lifting too much heavy luggage at once on our way home from Gettysburg, instead of making two trips to the car. Felt kinda miserable for a couple of days, now (a week later) just about back to normal. It was hard to bend down/get up from a sitting position for a day or two. I really have to be careful about that.

When I spell-checked this post, the spellchecker suggested "obscenely" for "BushCheneyCo." How ironically appropriate.

Email sent to The Hon. John Sarbanes, U.S. Congress

8/3/2007

Dear Congressman Sarbanes,

Please support the United States National Health Insurance Act. It is outrageous that a country with our rich resources squanders them on everything but taking care of its own citizens. Our government should be ashamed when our 911 heroes are welcomed more warmly and receive better medical treatment in Cuba than here at home (as documented in the movie SICKO). If our government spent the same amount of money on health care as it did on starting this illegal, immoral Iraqi war, then every citizen would be covered. We need a system of universal health care that puts people before profits.

In 1987 my husband T. was diagnosed with Cushing’s Syndrome. In January 1988 he successfully underwent a relatively new surgical procedure to correct it. In May 1989 we were still fighting with the insurance company to cover medical bills that were supposed to be covered 100%, less the deductible. For example:

• the insurance company repeatedly misplaced paperwork and mailed checks to the wrong address

• the insurance company didn’t maintain up-to-date records of invoices paid and invoices outstanding

• the insurance company and/or hospital invoiced us after telling us our account was paid in full, claimed not to know what the invoice was for, and twice sent us to collection

After a year and a half of frustration, stonewalling, bureaucracy, and high phone bills, I wrote a letter to the Maryland Insurance Division, attn: Life and Health Complaints. As a result of their intervention, our insurance problems were resolved within a few months.

In December 2003 I came home from a friend’s and found my husband sitting on the floor of our bathroom, incoherent and not in control of his motor functions. Afraid that he’d had a stroke, I called 911. When I spoke to T., he seemed to understand one moment but not the next, and couldn’t express himself clearly. Paramedics arrived shortly and examined him, and the lead EMT asked his permission to take him to the hospital. He said “no” and she said to me, “I’m sorry, he’s refusing treatment, we can’t take him.” She did not listen to my explanation that he was not rational or coherent—even when I said I would take responsibility. I knew he needed medical attention, even though they wouldn’t take him.

By the time the paramedics left it was 3 a.m. I called a close friend for help. Between the two of us, we got my husband dressed. He was still incoherent and having muscle contortions, but we got him downstairs to the lobby; unfortunately, we couldn’t make him understand that he needed to bend his knees and sit in the car. If the situation had not been so serious, it would have reminded one of a Three Stooges episode. Out of options, my friend and I sat in the lobby with T. and my friend said, “let’s call the paramedics again, that’s the only way we’re going to get him to the hospital.” To our chagrin, the same ambulance crew who had refused to take him the first time responded. My friend and I kept repeating to T. “we need to take you to the hospital,” and it must have sunk in, because this time when the lead EMT asked if he would go, he said “yes.” Once at the hospital, I did not appreciate the lead EMT snidely commenting that maybe he was irrational because he was taking illicit drugs.

In the end, it turned out my husband had a saline imbalance. After his electrolytes were stabilized, he was his normal self. Evidently, as a result of the Cushing’s Syndrome and surgery, his endocrine system functions but is still impaired (no doctor ever told us that until the 2003 hospital admission).

In 2005 my stepfather died after spending several months in hospice care. When my mother wasn't with him, she was navigating a morass of bureaucracy and paperwork, trying to figure out what was covered by Medicare or other insurance, and what wasn't. The so-called Medicare reforms instituted under the Bush administration have made it more confusing and more expensive for seniors than before.

In 2007 I am paying insurance premiums of $900+/month through COBRA, which will end in a year unless I find a job that pays insurance coverage. This is not paying a premium; it is racketeering.

In 1989 I ended my letter to the insurance commission with the following words:

It seems that in the end the patient is the one who suffers at the hands of the insurance companies and hospital bureaucracies. Surgery itself is almost preferable to the runaround, discourtesy, and even harassment one receives at the hands of the medical insurance companies and billing offices! Their trademark seems to be bureaucracy, incompetence, and an unfeeling or downright rude attitude. It is a sad commentary on the age we live in when medical institutions are more concerned with fleecing the sick than healing them. One cannot afford to be ill!

Unfortunately, those words are still relevant 20 years later.

cc:michael@michaelmoore.com (web: www.michaelmoore.com)

Email Congressman Sarbanes

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Email Response from Congressman Sarbanes:

August 15, 2007

Dear Ms. Kinlock:

Thank you for contacting me about healthcare in America. I appreciate hearing from you on this very important matter and I welcome the opportunity to respond.

I believe that all Americans should have access to affordable health care.  It is unacceptable that in a country boasting the most advanced health care in the world, approximately 47 million Americans have no health coverage. These individuals are just one serious illness or injury away from bankruptcy or a slide into poverty. Rest assured, during my time in Congress I will make the issue of access to healthcare for all Americans one of my top priorities.

Again, thank you for your input on this important issue. If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

John Sarbanes

Member of Congress

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