I like sending emails to elected officials from States other than my own. I understand that because of not being a resident they are probably never read. But it is cathartic and then when I post the emails it is empowering.
The email today reminds the Senator that there are many people that are being ignored in the heath care system because the Health Cartel has a lot of money and money talks in this country especially. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.
An Email to Senator Conrad;
First I want to point out that me and my wife are partial owners of the XXX Farm in XXX N.D. We have extended Family throughout North Dakota, My wife and I were married in Bottineau and I was discharged from the USAF at Minot AFB 1968.
Healthcare has always been important to my wife and I. I am a disabled vet with a service connected disability. When my wife was just 30 years old, she had a cerebral hemorrhage that left her with seizures. There were several times during our marriage where I was between jobs or had taken a job. When I was between jobs we couldn't afford the medical insurance nor the medicine that my wife required. I once had to call the rescue squad due to her having a seizure and she was taken to a local hospital.
On one job, she was denied health care benefits for the first year of my employment because of a previously existing condition. Just a little over two years ago she became totally disabled because her seizures led her to putting her hand into a hot skillet burning it severely. She is still a month away from Medicare and has a low cost insurance plan that has terrible drug coverage. Just one of her medications costs $598/ mon even at WalMart.
I looked at the Medicare formulary and over the course of a year her out of pocket costs would be over $5000, you know because of the Drug Cartel that won't allow Medicare to bargain for the best price. When she was employed and had employer based insurance the same drug was $20 for 3 months. We now are forced to purchase her medication from overseas at a price of $175 for 100 days.
I am ashamed at the United States of America for the way our health care is handled. Why are we 37th in health care behind some very small and backwards countries? Why do I have pay the highest cost for prescription medications that are required to sustain life? This is especially true when government gives money to pharmaceutical companies and universities for research into new drugs that are then patented and taken to market with no benefit to the government. The real Drug Cartel is not in Columbia or Mexico but rather in the US Corporations that rake in billions of dollars per year while people are literally dying for lack of their product.
You have the ability to change the condition that our health care is in. But a Co op is not the answer. The Co op might work for farmers in the collection of their grain or in the distribution of electricity. It is not the answer for Health Care. I as well as millions of other Americans can not put our trust and welfare in any Corporation be it for profit or not for profit corporation.
My personal choice to resolve the problem is a single payer system with a strong public option. Now I realize that some people claim that this would be socialism. My first response is, so what. There are many socialized programs that Americans don't complain about. Fire and Police Departments, the Military, public schools and Universities, the post office are just a few. These were formed this way because this is the most logical and cost effective way to run these programs. North Dakota has its own State Bank that makes loans to farmers and others. Is that not a Socialized banking system? Is it an uneven playing field for the private banks in North Dakota or just a good way to protect the Citizens of the State should their be a meltdown in the global economic system?
Why, I ask you, can't you support at least a public option in health care? Why should we have to worry about losing our health care if we lose our jobs? We are not asking for any more than the coverage that you and your family enjoy. We are not asking for free health care only a more trustworthy system of delivery.
We want a system that we have some control over. It would be accountable to us the citizens of this country not to some board of directors that may not have our best interests in mind when making decisions.
I asked the question but alas I already know the real answer and it is truly a sad comment on just how corrupt our political system has become. When the voices of corporations become stronger than real live people there is something very wrong. The very fact that person-hood has been granted to corporations and that has led to the practice of lobbying which has corrupted the political process in this country. In most every other country in the industrialized world our politicians would be jailed for accepting bribes from these corporations.
While I no longer live in North Dakota I have family throughout the State and we will be watching your voting record as well as your press releases. When next election comes around our support either monetarily or otherwise will be for either for you or a challenger depending solely on your vote.