I phoned ahead for my 1:00 appointment at the Senator's San Diego Office, scheduled through OFA. Her office is in the downtown Symphony Towers -- I was lucky enough to find nearby street parking.
I was asked to fill out the universal form, which at the top says "health insurance reform." So I crossed out the word "insurance" and wrote "care" above it, using arrows market "Yes" and "No." In the space for comments, I wrote that the health insurance industry needs national competition, so that only a robust public option will be effective in creating true health system reform.
I was greeted by a polite and pleasant young woman, Katie...
After 5 minutes in the waiting room, Katie opened the door to the inner sanctum, saying: "It feels a little like a doctor's office." I smiled and said, "Yes, indeed, the system is very sick."
We went to a small office where she took notes on my opinions. She asked me for a couple of stories, and I was happy to supply her with this one:
My sister-in-law worked for a big company and had excellent health insurance. When she was laid off, the family (2 kids) paid for the COBRA extension. Then it ran out. She had a new job starting in a month, so they didn't buy insurance for the bap -- without a check, the choice was to pay rent or health insurance.
Wouldn't you know...3 weeks after the end of COBRA, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It turned out not to be cancer -- it was a cluster of small veins that had become entangled, still classified as a tumor that required brain surgery. A year later, she has recovered completely (thank God!), but the family has $400,000 in medical bills.
We agreed that this was disgusting and horrible, an event that decimates too many American families. I repeated my opinion about the need for a robust public option to bring competition to the health care insurance industry and also noted that "health insurance reform" was good but not sufficient. She said she would convey my story and opinion to the Senator, and that she would note I took off work to come to the office
I told her I would email the Senator that she was a pleasure to meet. I have no real hope that it will do any good, but at least one constituent went out of her way to speak up. And whle it wasn't very eventful, at least I did one thing today for health care reform. Tomorrow and the next day and the next -- at least one more thing.