Hey, crazy people and Congress members, this needs to be fixed:
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Though he'd waited since 3:25 a.m. to see a dentist, a smile graced the face of Arturo Castaneda on Tuesday afternoon as he leaned against his blind man's cane and waited for someone to pull his bothersome tooth.
Like hundreds of others who showed up in the pre-dawn hours for free health care at The Forum in Inglewood, the 50-year-old man was relieved that he would receive the care he needed. Eventually.
Though blind, Castaneda's wasted eyes flitted over the hundreds of doctors and nurses who had volunteered to provide free dentistry, medical exams and vision care to the 1,500 uninsured, underinsured, unemployed and needy patients.
"This is beautiful, very beautiful. A very beautiful service they are doing for these people," he said....
"It's awful, people who say we don't need a national health program," said 61-year-old Paula Cook as she waited for a mammogram. After she lost her job two years ago, she lost her health insurance and hasn't been able to find insurance that will accept her.
"Now, no one will insure me because they say I have a pre-existing condition — a hip replacement!" said Cook.
Not that that's going to make the screamers think twice. They can't see beyond their irrational fear to look at the larger picture of need. Or are just too goddamned selfish to care. But it's something everybody else--particularly Max Baucus and his fellow Blue Dogs--needs to keep at the forefront in this fight.
And as long as I'm asking for the impossible, why in the hell isn't dental coverage included in any of these packages?