This morning will be my last day at work. I've spent the past six months learning what I do and do not like about state government here in Texas. The people at my workplace were great, but I felt unfulfilled in terms of what I was doing. In my time there, I've learned more about myself and what I really would LIKE to do with my career. And it's because of Dailykos, and the wonderful online community here that has given me plenty of insights into my career.
I know that it would be a dream come true for me to run issue advocacy campaigns online, talk to you guys across the progressive blogosphere, and see where we can come together to fight the important battles in Washington, D.C., and all over the country. I'm going to do my best to find jobs along these lines, so it's back to polishing up my resume, networking, and applying to jobs where I know I will have a positive impact on people's lives.
I'll also be filing for unemployment, and I'm glad I have some savings in the bank to last me for two or three months. It's scary though. I still have my COBRA health insurance to pay. I chose to keep my COBRA insurance after I left the U.S. House of Representatives last year because the health insurance benefit offered by my state employer wasn't adequate. It quickly got expensive for me when I moved to Texas.
My monthly insurance premium in the U.S. House of Representatives under Blue Cross Blue Shield was $89 a month, with the rest of the premium fully subsidized by my employer. I was only denied once by Blue Cross Blue Shield in the three years I was in Congress.
However, when I left the U.S. House of Representatives to work in Texas, I had to bear the full cost of my monthly premium under COBRA. It was now $379 a month instead of the $89 a month. On my state employee salary, it required a lot of belt-tightening and making sure that I always had money left over to pay COBRA. You know what the funny part is?
I don't even use COBRA because I'm afraid they'll deny me if I go to the hospital or visit a doctor since they've done it before. I had food poisoning on New Year's Eve, missed the family party in South Texas, and had to be taken to the hospital. Blue Cross Blue Shield denied the ambulance transport claim, which was $500 dollars.
I couldn't afford to pay $500 dollars, and the cost from their denial of another claim to pay for the removal of a pre-cancerous cyst. My mother had to end up paying these bills since Blue Cross Blue Shield refused to pay these bills.
I learned that just having insurance doesn't mean they'll pay.
I was lucky to work in Congress for the past three years because they very rarely deny the claims of congressional staffers and their bosses under their health plans.
Since these private insurance plans under FEHB very rarely deny claims to Members of Congress and their staff, it explains why some of these Members of Congress are out of touch and indifferent to the very REAL pain and suffering of millions of Americans under these private insurers.
It's why I've been advocating for a strong, robust Medicare-like public option in the past month. The public option is the LINE in the sand for me in health care reform.
Is it the line in the sand for YOU as well?
PLEASE CALL these Senators on the Senate Finance Committee today to demand a strong, robust affordable Medicare-like public option. Here's a list of talking points below:
Tell Senator [Name] that you DO NOT want the 7-year trigger for the public option and take it off the table, and that you want him to support an affordable strong, robust Medicare-like public option. We NEED a strong, robust Medicare-like public option NOW OPEN TO ALL AMERICANS AND AFFORDABLE, not more of the SAME broken system that's given us unaffordable premiums, little private insurance coverage, and rising co-pays. Also, DON'T TAX OUR EMPLOYER HEALTH BENEFITS. Instead, follow the proposal by President Obama to tax the wealthy above $250,000, eliminate the overpayments in Medicare Advantage, and put tax capital gains to help fund health care reform.
Please CALL Senator Max Baucus at (202) 224-2651
Please CALL Senator Charles Schumer at 202-224-6542
Please CALL Senator Edward Kennedy at (202) 224-4543
Please CALL Senator John Rockefeller at (202) 224-6472
Please CALL Senator Ron Wyden at (202) 224-5244
Please CALL Senator Kent Conrad at (202) 224-2043
Please CALL Senator Jeff Bingaman at (202) 224-5521
Please CALL Senator John Kerry at (202) 224-2742
Please CALL Senator Blanche Lincoln at 202-224-4843
Please CALL Senator Debbie Stabenow at (202) 224-4822
Please CALL Senator Maria Cantwell at 202-224-3441
Please CALL Senator Bill Nelson at 202-224-5274
Please CALL Senator Robert Menendez at 202-224-4744
Please CALL Senator Thomas Carper at (202) 224-2441
It's really important that we CALL these Senators on the Senate Finance Committee because some of them are SERIOUSLY considering the 7-year trigger for the public option in case private insurance fails. Well, here's a frickin' news alert--private insurance ALREADY has failed us. We have to get them to stop considering the public option as a "fall-back trigger" seven years from now, because we NEED a Medicare-like public option NOW that is affordable and OPEN TO ALL Americans.
CALL the White House at: 202-456-1111 and E-MAIL them as well!
Also, can you please CALL these THREE chairmen in the House of Representatives, especially Rep. Waxman who's leading the charge on health care reform below?
Ways and Means Committee Chair Charlie Rangel (202) 225-3625)
Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (202) 225-2927)
Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller (202) 225-3725)
So, PLEASE CALL and let them KNOW that you want a Medicare-like public option in health care reform! Ask them not to pass a bill out of the House that does NOT include a strong, robust Medicare-like public option that is AFFORDABLE AND OPEN TO ALL AMERICANS.
A Medicare-like public option is the line in the sand for me. Is it the line in the sand for you as well? If so, then CALL, and please help keep this on the rec list so others can see the phone numbers, call today, and help fight against the swiftboating of the public option in health care reform.
UPDATE: Here's more from Think Progressabout what the Kennedy Medicare-like public plan proposal would look like:
But what would the public option look like? The new public option could start using Medicare-based rates and Medicare leverage to negotiate better prices (this is what Kennedy is considering). Or, beyond the public option, Congress could establish Medicare-based rates throughout the market, allow all private insurers to pay Medicare rates and require all providers serving Medicare patients to accept those rates as full payments. Or Congress could task a commission with the task of adjusting health spending to achieve fiscal balance.
But it’s unclear why we’re bending over backwards to give private insurers the benefit of the doubt...yet again. Why shouldn’t we require private industry to deliver on their promise to contain costs? Health reform isn’t about protecting private industry; it’s about adopting policies that are most likely to lower health care costs. A robust public option — the Kennedy proposal — is likely to score well even with a conservative CBO because it will be able to use its inherent advantages (lower administrative spending) and Medicare leverage to negotiate lower prices with providers and lower health care spending.
And I also hear that President Obama wants the Senate Democrats to get their act together and agree on health care reform, especially on the public plan, and there are signs that the White House aides don't think it's important to have a Medicare-like public option, and any old public option would do for them.