HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA NOW SAYS, "GET YOUR CONGRESSMEN AND SENATORS ON BOARD"- NOW!
By Kevin Stoda
I am 46 years old and I have suffered from chronic illnesses for over two decades. On at least five occasions I have decided to go abroad to live (or have decided to extend a year or two living abroad) to get better health care than what a young single man in America can get, i.e. in terms of health care in America. This has historically been due to the rules permitting insurance companies in the past to not allow for pre-existing conditions.
This is ridiculous! (America needs to take care of its own better.)
This idea of having to go abroad to get health coverage can extend to family members suffering illnesses, too. It is heart rending when you consider how many husbands and wives (or sons or daughters) have joined the military or national guard to support loved ones due to health care issues in their own families.
Specifically, illnesses in the family have put the family on financially shaky grounds and some Americans seek jobs elsewhere on the planet to help pay off family debt or to pay down related costs as extended family falls short of cash due to health care related financial stress and bankruptcies. (I have met an Egyptian national in Kuwait who had served with the U.S. in Iraq and he swore that every American there was working to pay down a mortgage or other debt.)
HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA NOW!
HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA NOW is a non-profit organization concerned with this matter of better health care in the USA today. They wrote me recently and stated: "The insurance industry is pushing for less regulation. They want more leeway to drop people with pre-existing conditions and deny you care. Today, people around the country are standing up and calling Congress to stop them. . . .With health care costs rising and wages falling, causing one bankruptcy every nineteen seconds, it's clear any solution to America's economic crisis has to include health care reform. Even if you've called your Members of Congress before, please do so again."-
According to the HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA NOW advert, "For months now the insurance industry has been on tour, pushing for more industry-friendly policies. And even though massive deregulation is what caused the current financial crisis that threatens our economy, the insurance industry wants more deregulation so they can take more of your money and give you less in return. The industry has said that they are fundamentally against the real solutions we need: A guarantee of quality, affordable health care for everyone in America. So today across America, we're engaging all of our partners and supporters to have thousands of people call Congress and demand real health care reform. The insurance industry has made it clear where they stand, but do your Members of Congress know where you stand?"-
Here is the list of 109 congressmen that HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA NOW claim are supporting their demand--rather, our American demand, isn't it !!!!??
http://blog.healthcareforamericanow.org/congressional-support-for-health-care-for-america-now/
I note that only one Kansas representative and no Kansas Senator has spoken up. So, personally, I have to call on Senator Pat Roberts and others in that state to get on the horn and speak out for us.
As far as I can tell, only Obama supports this initiative directly. I imagine that there are other alternative candidates who support the core idea of universal and no-precondition health care in America. Both Nader and McKinney (Greens) support a single-payer plan in the USA.
Now, I encourage Republicans and others to speak up and make sure that this 2008 election health care is tied to the election results and the peoples needs and desires are acted on NOW.