We can’t stop now
Health care reform is not a done deal. Even though two-thirds of Americans want a single-payer plan, it’s really not even being considered.
This plan is NOT a government takeover. It’s is you and me going to the doctors we want and the government paying the bill. The rules would be clear and our treatments would be up to us and our doctors to decide. There would be no insurance executives with business degrees to deny coverage. As I said, the rules would be clear.
Still, Congress has no stomach for this solution. The insurance companies certainly have no stomach for this solution, so it probably won’t happen.
I can live with that, as long as there’s an option other than the corporate insurance one. I want the option for a government plan because I think it will be more efficient than private insurance. There will be no CEO making $35 million a year while the company denies lifesaving chemoptherapy to a child.
I know some people don’t want government involved. but the insurance companies have promised to fix things before and it hasn’t happened.
Think about this: The postal service — the public plan of letter and package delivery — competes with Federal Express and UPS. The public plan for protection — the police departments — don’t drive private security companies out of business.
The insurance companies won’t be driven out of business by a public plan option, but they will have to give up some of their overly abundant power and obscene profits, and that’s the real reason they’re fighting against it.
We NEED that public plan and not some watered-down version of it.
We the people deserve a better system. The more than 52 million uninsured deserve a better system
Mike deserved a better system — one that would have given him the colonoscopy he needed; one that would have covered him while he was in college trying to make a better life for himself. He would have more than repaid the price of care he got in taxes after he finished school — it he had survived.
The 30,000 people who die every year and the loved ones who grieve them deserve a better system.
Congress works for us — or at least that’s how the Constitution says it’s supposed to be.
Write to your members of congress — your representative and both senators. Do it today, so they know we want real reform, not legislation written by big business.
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a new peer support program for people newly diagnosed with chronic or serious illness or with a new disability and their caregivers.
Patient Pals are people who have experience with various illnesses and disabilities, who can help someone newly diagnosed or with a new disability work through the fear, frustration, confusion and grief often experienced in the first few months.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
People with new illness or disability fare better when they have a role model -- someone who can help them negotiate their new path in life.
We need volunteers, who are asked to donate a minimum of one hour a week. Training is free and includes information on active listening, ways to help and when to know more help is needed.
And of course, we need funding.
To learn more, call Leslie Boyd at 828-243-6712 or e-mail lifeomike@gmail.com.
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