Washblog

From Suzette Widdison, AIS Volunteer and health care advocate

I'm writing to ask you to write you senators and especially your congressman and ask them to support what I believe to be the most important bill in the U.S. congress in a very, very long time. It is HR 1200, the American Health Security Act.

I work every day with patients who either have no insurance or are on/off Medicaid, or have Medicare. So, I do believe all people should be able to go to the doctor without it costing them hundreds of dollars. But this is about more than that. America spends more than twice the amount of any other country on health
care - and yet thousands of people die every year because they don't get care, and thousands more go bankrupt (and over half of those HAVE insurance). Somebody believed in privatized health insurance (it wasn't me) and as a result we have rising insurance premiums to levels most middle-class families can't pay, people who are refused insurance because they are already sick (no "preexisting conditions"), record profits for health insurance companies. Insurance is about pooling risk, but the way our insurance companies work, risk doesn't get pooled, and everybody loses (exept the CEOs, of course).

And guess what? the government already pays for 60% of healthcare. If you work for the government, or you are or have been military, or you are old or going to be old, my taxes already fund your healthcare. So don't tell me you don't want taxes paying for healthcare!

There are other bills out there like HR 676, but I have read HR 1200 and it is a very well-written bill. It preserves the ability for each state to come up with their own system - very important in our big country - and then submit their plan to the feds for reimbursement (Medicaid works like this already). It preserves choice of providers. It has plans for what would happen to the VA system, military system, Indian Health Service, etc. (to find out, read it!) And they've already had the OMB crunch numbers on it, and they look very good.

The thing is, the health insurance industry is very profitable and powerful and they will try to scare Americans just like they did 15 years ago (when the Clintons had a plan) to squelch this thing. So PLEASE, learn the facts, talk to your friends, and call/write your congressperson!!! I'm sick of watching my patients with signs of
cancer not be able to get tests or see a specialist, and I'm sick of hearing stories of bankruptcy from colleagues who have insurance, and I'm sick of paying $467 a month for insurance for JUST ME!!! And I don't even use it!

Please take five minutes and write your Congressman or call them at 1-800-862-5530 and ask them to support HR 1200.

Widdison is a PA-C with a community health care clinic in Bremerton, WA.

Over the past three months, our organization has held monthly forums on health care. Almost everyone in attendence is for some kind of plan...HR 676 or HR 1200.