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.
Have a beer in May
Stop into Altamont Brewing, 1042 Haywood Road, West Asheville, any time in May and ask for their "charity" beer of the day. Buy one and Life o' Mike gets $1. In fact, we get a buck for each one sold. So go in every day and have one to support Life o' Mike.
Thanks, Altamont!
Patient Pals & Family Friends
Life o' Mike has a peer support program for people with one or more serious or chronic medical issues or disabilities.
We aim to reduce isolation and fear among people who have conditions, including psychiatric illness, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mild dementia or other cognitive disorder or disability, thereby reducing depression and complications as people learn to improve self-management of their medical conditions.
Patient Pals help alleviate feelings of isolation and frustration. They can help people develop a list of questions to ask the doctor and then accompany the person to the doctor to make sure all the questions are answered, taking notes to be sure the person understands the doctor’s answers.
Our trained volunteers also accompany their “Pals” to art exhibits, movies and walks outdoors, meet for coffee, call to check in and more.
Our Pals have experienced weight loss, improvement in diabetes, HIV, psoriasis, depression and more, just because they have someone who cares about them. Some relationships develop into longer-term friendships; other Pals move on to more independent lives.
Family Friends are there to help caregivers and other family members grow into their new role.
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.
Start From Seed
Life o' Mike has a new program- Start from Seed (SFS).
SFS is a volunteer doula program aimed at providing non-medical, comprehensive support to low income, high-risk women and families of Buncombe County focusing on three areas:
1. We help new doulas with certification and training in return for their participation as a volunteer doula for SFS
2. We mentor volunteer doulas with their first few clients
3. Our volunteer doulas provide birth and postpartum doula services to low income, high risk moms, providing support and tools to empower them as a new parent.
A birth doula is a trained and experienced professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support to the mother before, during and just after birth; a postpartum doula provides emotional and practical support during the postpartum period.
Start from Seed clients are referred to us from the Buncombe County Department of Health’s Nurse-Family Partnership Program, Western North Carolina Community Health Services, and Mission Hospital. The Program is intended and designed for growing clients’ inner strength and helping them gain empowerment to help them cope with the emotional, physical and mental challenges of childbirth, labor, and motherhood.
Our new moms and their infants have many needs. If you would like to help them get off to a good start, please visit our Start from Seed web site: Start from Seed, or call Program Director Chelsea Kouns at 804-814-9946.
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