So here I am a Texan represented by a Republican, John Carter, who's position papers I've read on Health Care toe the "government is bad" line and whom I am pretty sure is beholden to the insurance industry (biggest contributor according to opensecrets.org). So I ask, what good is it to write to my congressman if he's not open to listening?
Being the stubborn fool I am though I wrote him anyway. Comments welcome to let me know what impact (if any) the outburst over the fold would have.
Dear Representative Carter,
I am a voting member of your representative district, a veteran, and an engineering manager in the local community. I keep up with news and legislative activity occurring in our nation and know that the U.S. House of Representatives will soon begin debating the issue of Health Care Reform. I wish to let you know where I stand on this issue.
I counted myself a Republican from my days in the Army when my first vote was for Ronald Reagan's first term. He treated the military right in my view. However, after I left the Army and entered college to earn my electrical engineering degree, I found myself in the position of living in fear of my future because while attending college, I could not afford health insurance for my family. I was shocked to learn I had to go from the comfort of military health care for my family to a life of fear. For five years I worried that my daughters, my wife, or I would fall ill or be injured and my dream of becoming an engineer would be shattered under the burden of the resulting medical expenses. By the grace of God, we made it through those years without a major medical expense and since we've been blessed with good employment that came with health insurance (of which I fairly pay a part).
However, I cannot shake off the fear I had while in college. I empathize with those who have been laid off and experience the same fear - or worse reality - that someone falls ill in their family and they're left destitute and bankrupt from medical expenses on top of having lost their job. I cannot fathom how we, the richest nation in the world, can put college students, veterans, and in fact, any citizen, in the position of living in fear of their or their children's health. There must be an answer to this problem and our nation is more than capable of finding it. I find it sad that many trot out Canada, or Great Briton, or France, or Germany as examples of how their solutions to health care for all won't work for the United States - but I've lived in Germany and my in-laws are German and they are happy, healthy, and not the least worried about their care. Why should our great nation be second class to the examples that these nations set in caring for their people? Because having 50 million-plus uninsured men, women and children in our country certainly makes our nation second-class.
One of my duties in life is to help care for my mentally disabled mother. She is on medicare including the drug plan enacted by Congress and President Bush. I bring this up because she needs a lot of expensive drugs for her disability and what I have found is that year after year the drug plans we found through private insurers keep changing the rules so that they increase the donut hole or they "loose" her automatic enrollment and we have to re-enroll her (at a cost of paying the full drug price of several hundred dollars a month until the re-enrollment takes affect.) Why am I telling you this? Because the private insurance industry has proven to me to be untrustworthy. Cash is king and they weasel out of agreements and game the system to maximize their profits at the expense of those they're supposed to be serving. Because my experience has soured me to the motives and usefulness of insurance industry, I strongly support the creation of a health care system that takes private greed out of the equation. If we can't completely eliminate health insurers greed factor, we should at least provide a public option plan that sets a baseline for what must be provided to all people. The health insurance industry can then compete by adding value beyond what's in the base plan. This works in Germany - I know because quite a number of my wife's relatives pay extra for insurance that covers that which is beyond the base coverage - a coverage that ensures good health without frills.
Frankly, I fear my words will fall unheeded by you. Your position letter on Health Care Costs in July of last year toes the republican line that "Government hurts". I posit that private health insurance 30% cost overhead, exclusionary "cherry picking" practices, and spreadsheet-based humanity-less care hurts us more now than any government solution ever could. As poorly as my mother's private insurance drug plans have treated her, her medicare plan B hospital and doctor care has been great and worthy of being an example of a good program to apply as a base solution to the nation.
Thank you for listening.