Archive for February, 2009

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Rock on!

Our Rock for Health Care concert went really well Saturday night. I loved all the bands — from the quiet ballads and folk songs of Wayne Robbins to the mesmerizing guitar work and vocals of Night’s Bright Colors, the way-cool rockabilly sound of The Humbuckers, the pounding beat of 37 Special and the upbeat fun [...]

Our talk with the congressman

Carolyn Comeau and I met with Rep. Heath Shuler today to talk about health care. Now, I’ve met the congressman a number of times and I like him personally, although I don’t always agree with him. But the times I’ve talked to him have been at public gatherings or as a reporter. I get the [...]

What about the grownups?

I attended a legislative-nonprofit forum this morning and one of the topics was health care. Naturally, the talk turned to children’s health care and how we need to increase coverage to families who make up to three times the national poverty level.
I am not against this. In fact, I think it’s a great idea.
Talk also [...]

Lost job, lost access to health care

A new study from Families USA shows that only one out of five low- and moderate-income workers who have lost their jobs has been able to maintain health coverage.
Most don’t have COBRA protections, so they can’t even choose to continue their coverage. Those who are eligible for COBRA — well, it eats up an average of [...]

Help Life o' Mike

We need your help now more than ever. Your tax-deductible donation will help us get Patient Pals and Family Friends off the ground. Please consider a gift in honor or in memory of a loved one.

Patient Pals & Family Friends volunteer training

Our Feb. 27 training had to be postponed, but we have rescheduled. Join us 10 days, as we train our next group of volunteers for Patient Pals & Family Friends. The four-hour training will run 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and will include lunch. Patient Pals are people who have experience with an illness or disability. After training, they will be paired with someone who is newly diagnosed or disabled. Family Friends will be volunteers who are paired with family members of people who are ill or disabled, and will have been through the expeience of having a loved one with illness or disability.

In Loving Memory

Life o' Mike has participated two memorial services to remember those who have died from our broken health care system, one in Asheville and one in Raleigh. If you would like to organize more of these services, please contact lifeomike@gmail.com and we will help put it together. The services include stories, prayers and information on how people of faith can make a difference. About 45,000 people die each year because they don’t have health insurance, according to a recent study by Harvard Medical School and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That breaks down to one American every 12 minutes. Those people can be honored in the service by a bell chime and a moment of silence every 12 minutes in the service. For more information, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712.

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