This is an amazing editorial from a woman named Spike Dolomite Ward, who learned that, despite what she had been told about Obama failing to reform healthcare, what he accomplished may have saved her life.
I am going to post the entire letter here so that you can read it in from start to finish, but I want to give credit to the source, which was the LA Times. Directly below is the editorial. It is a little long, but I encourage you to read it til the end:
I want to apologize to President Obama. But first, some background.
I found out three weeks ago I have cancer. I'm 49 years old, have been married for almost 20 years and have two kids. My husband has his own small computer business, and I run a small nonprofit in the San Fernando Valley. I am also an artist. Money is tight, and we don't spend it frivolously. We're just ordinary, middle-class people, making an honest living, raising great kids and participating in our community, the kids' schools and church.
We're good people, and we work hard. But we haven't been able to afford health insurance for more than two years. And now I have third-stage breast cancer and am facing months of expensive treatment.
To understand how such a thing could happen to a family like ours, I need to take you back nine years to when my husband got laid off from the entertainment company where he'd worked for 10 years. Until then, we had been insured through his work, with a first-rate plan. After he got laid off, we got to keep that health insurance for 18 months through COBRA, by paying $1,300 a month, which was a huge burden on an unemployed father and his family.
By the time the COBRA ran out, my husband had decided to go into business for himself, so we had to purchase our own insurance. That was fine for a while. Every year his business grew. But insurance premiums were steadily rising too. More than once, we switched carriers for a lower rate, only to have them raise rates significantly after a few months.
With the recession, both of our businesses took a huge hit — my husband's income was cut in half, and the foundations that had supported my small nonprofit were going through their own tough times. We had to start using a home equity line of credit to pay for our health insurance premiums (which by that point cost as much as our monthly mortgage). When the bank capped our home equity line, we were forced to cash in my husband's IRA. The time finally came when we had to make a choice between paying our mortgage or paying for health insurance. We chose to keep our house. We made a nerve-racking gamble, and we lost.
Not having insurance amplifies cancer stress. After the diagnosis, instead of focusing all of my energy on getting well, I was panicked about how we were going to pay for everything. I felt guilty and embarrassed about not being insured. When I went to the diagnostic center to pick up my first reports, I was sent to the financial department, where a woman sat me down to talk about resources for "cash patients" (a polite way of saying "uninsured").
"I'm not a deadbeat," I blurted out. "I'm a good person. I have two kids and a house!" The clerk was sympathetic, telling me how even though she worked in the healthcare field, she could barely afford insurance herself.
Although there have been a few people who judged us harshly, most people have been understanding about how this could happen to us. That's given me the courage to "out" myself and my family in hopes that it will educate people who are still lucky enough to have health insurance and view people like my family as irresponsible. We're not. What I want people to understand is that, if this could happen to us, it could happen to anybody.
If you are fortunate enough to still be employed and have insurance through your employers, you may feel insulated from the sufferings of people like me right now. But things can change abruptly. If you still have a good job with insurance, that doesn't mean that you're better than me, more deserving than me or smarter than me. It just means that you are luckier. And access to healthcare shouldn't depend on luck.
Fortunately for me, I've been saved by the federal government's Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan, something I had never heard of before needing it. It's part of President Obama's healthcare plan, one of the things that has already kicked in, and it guarantees access to insurance for U.S. citizens with preexisting conditions who have been uninsured for at least six months. The application was short, the premiums are affordable, and I have found the people who work in the administration office to be quite compassionate (nothing like the people I have dealt with over the years at other insurance companies.) It's not perfect, of course, and it still leaves many people in need out in the cold. But it's a start, and for me it's been a lifesaver — perhaps literally.
Which brings me to my apology. I was pretty mad at Obama before I learned about this new insurance plan. I had changed my registration from Democrat to Independent, and I had blacked out the top of the "h" on my Obama bumper sticker, so that it read, "Got nope" instead of "got hope." I felt like he had let down the struggling middle class. My son and I had campaigned for him, but since he took office, we felt he had let us down.
So this is my public apology. I'm sorry I didn't do enough of my own research to find out what promises the president has made good on. I'm sorry I didn't realize that he really has stood up for me and my family, and for so many others like us. I'm getting a new bumper sticker to cover the one that says "Got nope." It will say "ObamaCares."
It does not get much more honest, or much more real, than that.
My feeling is that as we get closer and closer to the election in 2012, there will be even more Spike Dolomite Ward's who come to realize that her President is still trying desperately to do the job that they elected him to do.
This could be any of us. Most people have no idea what the health care act actually does. My 25 year daughter has health care because of it. There are no co-pays for mammograms and pap tests.
ReplyDeleteMy husband was diagnosed with cancer 4 months after our marriage. I remember him becoming ill and the doctors running all sorts of tests before his diagnosis. Stressed and scared and terrified, all these words are too tame to describe what we were going through. However thank God we were living and working in the UK at the time so we did not have to worry about money or how to pay for his treatment (btw neither one of us are British but our visas allow for NHS use). The NHS hospital was fantastic and my husband was treated by some of the leading specialists in his type of cancer. It literally took us 15 minutes to register him at the hospital before he was given his treatment schedule, a big bag of medicine and books to read about his type of cancer. I cannot thank the NHS enough for all they did for my husband, who is now healthy and cancer free for 3 years. I just cannot imagine the stress of not being able to afford treatment. I really hope this type of health care system is implemented in the US soon because how many people have to die because they can't afford treatment?
ReplyDeleteExcellent letter.
ReplyDeleteForgive this long rant.
The author is like so many people in this country who expected puppies and rainbows AND a perfect society once they had elected this President. They wanted all the ingrained institutional injustices of a century swept away. And they wanted the President to do it himself even when an incredible amount of his supporters sat out of the 2010 elections and let the House go to baggers.
But he did the non-sexy stuff like legislation that insures your kids until they are twenty-six. And he didn't put a cod piece on and a flight suit to announce it.
Some cried because they didn't have a clue what is happening around them-like the author of the letter. Others cried because they know just how many wrongs there are and they are counting them on their fingers and toes and expect this President to make them go all go away. NOW. Or he is shit.
Never have I seen a President so vilified by some of his one time supporters. Never have I seen a man who has gotten more legislation passed than any POTUS in fifty years while having to deal with the howling whines of both parties.
If I hear "where's single payer"? one more time I will fucking scream". Its like these people were not around when our own blue dogs almost killed everything. Even a democratic majority was filled with corporate shills and conservative assholes with agendas. Did these people think the President could just sign a paper ala W and give them what they wanted?
Is the President perfect? Hell no! Are there things I would like to see changed and things that piss me off. Hell yeah!
But we have yet to have a perfect President—ever. Still many who voted for him wanted to ride down hill with their arms up eating cotton candy. But when the car got stuck the other way--were not willing to push it up the incline. They just howled and whined he was the worst because dammit he was supposed to be "different" and make the ride and this society perfect— for them.
Rant, almost over.
As a young African American girl growing up my father told me as I got on in the world I would have to do much better than my white classmates because I would be judged more harshly than them. I had to be four times better because what I did in this society would never be enough for some. Once upon a time If you weren't an entertainer, singing or dancing for people or a sports figure in the black community the general population knew nothing about your life and judged you as a non-entity.
Interesting isn't it. Some still want this President to give them a little dance and remember his place and be four times better than any President they have ever had before.
My Pops was right.
Rant over.
wow, it doesn't get more real then that. I hope and pray this family manages to get through this awful ordeal.
ReplyDeleteAnd for her to take the time to write that letter speaks volumes. I agree with everything she said. I've been frustrated with our prez many times but I cannot deny the truth of what his efforts were all about. God bless her and all of us, including President Barack Obama.
My heart goes out to this lady and her family. With a spirit, and support like she has, she will do well. More people should be made aware. Last year my 45 year old son died, from lack of insurance. He would not go to the doctor because "they will send me for tests and I will end up owing thousands of dollars I can not afford" Compassionate conservativces in the repub. party are useless to average working class people. Maybe the US does have "the best healthcare in the world" IF you can afford it. Other countries have great healthcare, helped by taxpayers so that EVERYONE benefits, not just the wealthy or the "lucky" Just think, our taxes help pay for millionaires like Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, McCain et al to have their government provided healthcare.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that pre-existing condition refusals are removed, but this case is also an example of why there has to be a penalty for people who do not buy insurance. Otherwise what's stopping people from not buying insurance until they need it? The system can't support that. Hence, the penalty is needed.
ReplyDeleteListen Gryphen,
ReplyDeleteI've been a fan of your blog for a while, but I really feel your slobbering over Obama is getting too thick. I was enthusiastic for Al Gore, Howard Dean was the first politician I gave money to, and sarcastically up until a few months ago I used to tweak my friends by telling them "If having Bush gave us Obama, maybe I'll vote for Palin so we can have Kucinich."
Over these three years he's been in office, I've come to the conclusion that Obama at best is a more elegant version of Herman Cain with a better policy agenda. Appointing Geitner, enlarging the war in Afganistan, offering NO LEADERSHIP on the health care debate, but standing on the sidelines like a referee worried about hurting the Republican's collectively callous feelings, and then his cynical fake "Killing" of Bin Laden, a straw dog who had probably been dead for a decade, at the height of the Birther frenzy and Trump attacks, as both a distraction and a way to launch his reelection campaign. Have you noted the united national effort yesterday to dismantle the Occupy movement? Don't you think a President with balls could have prevented such an anti-democracy national policy if he wanted to? Even Nixon went down to meet the war protesters in his day.
That contemptably cynical Bin Laden operation, which cost the lives of many Navy Seals a month later in an "Accident", showed to me his true colors, that he's the fake liberal "THEY" wanted all along. Watching Obama's passive administration being neutered by the republicans feels like watching championship wrestling. I often feel we would have been much better off if Hillary Clinton got in, and she was rejected because of her vote on Iraq.
I wish we could get someone like Alan Greyson as a real leader instead of going to the polls to vote against a Willard or Newt. Obama's ascent was not some fortuitous fluke, but was an unmerited mercurial rise that strongly reminded me of Bush Jr.'s annointment to the highest office. It would be nice to have someone who can do more than just wear nice suits and speak articulately, but who never seems to find it in him to challenge the dark forces at hand or to inspire us to our better natures. Remember that song by the Who, "WE won't be fooled again."
My husband and I both work and yet, we are dirt broke. I'm not even sure if I will be able to buy Christmas for my twelve year old son. And I've been thinking I might need to go down to the food bank this month. Luckily for us we do have jobs and health insurance.
ReplyDeleteThat said, my husband was raging the other night because our insurance is sooo expensive even with his employer paying half. He was raging that we could have a second house for what we pay every month.
We can blame the so called job creators who have cut their businesses to the bone and we good Americans WHO ARE HARD WORKERS, have simply taken up the slack so they can get more profit out of less jobs.
At the same time that Americans are working longer and harder for less the health industry along with every other thing i.e. utilities, cable, cell phones, basic things that we need to function today are arbitrarily going up and up. And NO these are not luxuries! We need heat and electricity or tell your kids teacher that the internet is a luxury or maybe your wife doesn't need a cell phone when she commutes two hours to work in a 14 year old car.
Just think if every American wasn't paying that extra mortgage to the health industry and was instead using it to maybe buy a second house or a car or remodeling etc. This economy can't recover until wages go up with the cost of living or health insurance comes down in cost.
This woman should be in a campaign commercial.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I think the GOP is ceding 2012. Oh, they will spend millions of dollars and millions of harsh words bashing the President, OWS, and Democrats. But they are working behind the scenes grooming the puppet for 2012.
Why do I think this? Because Susan Lindauer has a book out about the manipulations and illegal activities of the Bush White House. She was a CIA agent, and she knows. the 9-11 truthers are correct...Bush knew and aided the attack with explosives to get the most bang for the buck. He planned to invade Iraq anyway, and knew that with a lot of lives lost in Manhattan, he could blame Saddam and get away with it. It is damning stuff. Read her story on Politicalgates.
I have insurance through my employer. It is considered top of the line and I can barely afford the co-pays. It is outrageous that health care is a privilege in America and that people (Rethuglicans) fight for it to remain a privilege. Health care should be a basic human right for everyone.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a story. I hope that the woman recovers from her illness.
ReplyDeleteOur son, for economic reasons, has the cheapest medical insurance coverage that he can afford. We worry for him and his family but we understand that he has no choice in today's world. We also understand, as does he, that none of this is the fault of President Obama.
I hope that Americans realize that President Obama has done a truly remarkable job in the face of a recalcitrant opposition that has chosen to put the country last. No American president has ever faced opposition like the Republicans who have been in Congress since January 2009. To a person, they are traitors. Having as your number one goal, in fact your only goal, the failure of an Administration, means that you work AGAINST the American people. And that has been the Republican Party since January 2009.
All that President Obama has achieved has been in the face of this vicious and treacherous opposition. I'm very proud of him and I hope the country gives him a resounding re-election with a House and Senate that will work for the American people (that means big Democratic majorities).
I am thrilled she has figured theis the f&*! out. As someone who was diagnosed at 24 with cancer, and then had to pay 12000 for cobra for 18 months, and still had to pay about 15000 for relatively meager cancer treatments (surgeries and monitoring, but no chemo), I know just how fucking expensive healthcare is, and how unfair the market has been for those who could not get insurance through their jobs.
ReplyDeleteIts good that reporters are finally figuring this out, but where were they during the actual debate of the bill? Why were they talking about death panels when they should have been talking about peoples ability to start small businesses because they would no longer be dependent on their job for the only health insurance that would cover their health care needs.
I am THRILLED that this article is making the rounds. But seriously, how hard would it have bee to ask the right questions two years ago, so Obama could have had the public support for an even stronger bill? Seriously. Get off your high horse, Sterling, you should be EMBARRASSED that you formed an opinion of the bill without understanding how important it was. Im embarrassed for you.
My story is very similar. Long story...short. I didn't have insurance for 5 years. I was unemployed and covered by Medicaid. It just started in January 2011. I had a mammogram...my first since 2004. I had just gotten a job on March 1!!! It paid me $10/hour. And, most important, I loved it! Then, in May, I found out I had breast cancer. Medicaid dropped me because I made too much money. I got the letter the day after my mastectomy. Then I found out I was Stage III. I called every organization I could think of for help. They'll help with transportation, lodging, etc., but not treatment. I was facing chemo followed by radiation (I'm about to start radiation now). The first thing the financial folks asked me was if I had life insurance. No. Sorry, we can't help you. My employer was willing to limit my work hours so I could qualify for Medicaid until my treatment is finished. After a lot of phone calls Medicaid is covering me. I live in a rural area. I travel 100 miles EACH way for treatment. This could happen to you or someone you love. I never thought I would be on Medicaid...I went to college, I've worked my entire life (I'm 55). I'm hoping I'll live long enough to get to Medicare!
ReplyDeleteblah blah blah -- been there, done that...
ReplyDeleteI am so sick of these shallow, impatient people.. Why would she be mad at President Obama, when he has done something NO other president in US history has done. Giving ALL Americans health care. The Democratic electorate is really pitiful. This is why the ems are always losing power to the Repubs. Her switching from Dem to Independent, is cutting off her nose to spite her face. When our president has done so much for ALL Americans to have health care.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful, very moving letter. Thank you for posting it.
ReplyDeleteIt's always nice to see someone take the time and admit their error - believing something left them but in fact they themselves left.
ReplyDeleteJust think how many students are still covered under their parent's plan because of President Obama extending the age just to name one.
Unfortunately you know there will be many on the right that will have benefited from the same issue of pre-existing coverage as this letter, or their university/college attending sons/daughters have been covered -- but will never admit it. I call it use and abuse of the system when they stand up and spew their hatred for it and President Obama.
I think when the history of this period is written we will finally get a good summary of the enormous accomplishments of this president despite nearly impossible obstacles--many of them presented by members of his own party. What is intolerable, at this point, is the steady drone of negative and downright dishonest tripe coming from some on the left--Jane Hamsher,Glenn Greenwald and their ilk--who are willing to take this president down because they did not get all of their progressive demands met immediately. What this demonstrates is how childish and politically naive they are--not how ineffective the president is. We don't need to compete with Fox News in the disingenuous outrage category. It's possible to disagree with policy without calling for an overthrow of the president and a little more balanced positioning on the part of lefty pundits would be much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, we all wanted an immediate Anti-Bush right out of the gate. We didn't get it and it frustrated us. But as armchair critics, we don't know all of what was going on behind the scenes. Plus, this president is in the unfortunate position of having to prove/quantify success through negatives. We didn't end up in a depression, we didn't devolve into all out race war, we didn't increase our military footprint in the Middle East or Africa despite conflicts there. These are all wins that the public is unable to quantify, so they don't get counted as wins for this president. Sadly, I think it is only the historical perspective that will vindicate him.
I am going to serously date myself on this comment but I just wanted to say to Angela @ 3:22AM.....RIGHT ON!
ReplyDeleteRobert Schoen is an idiot and needs to stop sniffing the conspiracy glue.
ReplyDelete4:04am
ReplyDeleteYou gave yourself away with the Hillary comment and not knowing how to spell Grayson....beat it Firebagger!
Excellent post, Gryphen, and a powerful narrative! The key to our president's re-election is growing numbers of voters coming to realize that President Obama is NOT the "lesser of two evils". He is an experienced, mature, focused, pragmatic leader who deserves re-election based upon his performance.
ReplyDeleteIs he perfect? Hell, no. But it's not 'slobbering' to conclude that we need him to be our president for 4 more years.
4:04 Robert Schoen
ReplyDeleteRobert, you have extreme viewpoints and extreme thinking. Presidents are not the sole power of our government You filter Obama through a lens of a dictator weighing he aline failed.
Angela 3:22 A.M. Excellent comment! You said everything that is on my mind. I too, am a Black woman.
ReplyDeleteMy 5:04 A.M. comment should "Dems", NOT "ems"..
ReplyDeleteThe immaturity of Dems is why we are in the mess we are in now. When Dems don't get EVERYTHING they want when they want it. They sit-out elections, and change their party to Independent, like this lady who wrote the letter.
ReplyDeleteThen the Repubs take over and take the coutnry down even more. So Dems, you can fool and don't vote all you want, BUT don't complain, when the Repubs reverse everything President Obama has achieved for the masses.
When will people get it? When will they look at their own lives first about agreeing with everything say your mother or father does? Do you agree with them 100%? Hell no and they're a 'party of 2'. So why would people expect the President with a Congress and Senate be able to do everything 'they personally want'. Never happened in the past so why now.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a country filled with so many 'Me, Me, Me's' or 'you're not listening to me' as we have had these past 3 years. And personally, I don't recall hearing as much bitching from the President's own party -- of those elected and those who elected him. He's been slammed from both sides -- more than has happened in many administrations.
Yes, there are people happy with him and continue to support him but in honesty, I've never been as disgusted with so many people as I have in the last 3 years as far too many of them are too lazy to actually do the work and maybe 'research' some info. They sit on their fat asses and get sucked in and take as truth the spew from pundits, etc.
I haven't left the President - he hasn't left me but I've left many a family member and friend on the front doorstep as it's exposed them for what they truly are.
No US president can lead totally to the left, and no president can lead totally to he right. Being leader means compromise, (which is what President Obama is intelligent enough to realize) or else we would have a dictatorship. It is a shame most Americans do not realize this. I am totally disappointed in the Democratic electorate.
ReplyDeletePeople keep saying President Obama is not perfect. Hell, nobody is perfect.
ReplyDeleteThat statement is so unnecessary for people to keep saying.
I just want to add to the props for Angela@3.22a. Good work, young lady.
ReplyDeleteAnd to those "progressives" who are "disappointed" with Obama and helped elect the Tea Baggers in 2010, I say "Get off the cross, the wood's needed elsewhere".
Obama2012.
On health care reform, I do think they made an horrendous tactical error: The bill now mandates that everyone buy health care or pay a tax penalty. Sounds very onerous to many people. And it makes some people apoplectically choke on their tea.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively they could have accomplished the same thing this way: Increase taxes so everyone has to contribute X dollars to the National Health Care Fund For Te Uninsured UNLESS they purchase or otherwise acquire a policy meeting a particular standard of coverage. This way you REDUCE your taxes and get the coverage you select.
Less stick, more carrot.
Is President Obama perfect? Hmmm.... let me think about that one.....
WHAT Angela @ 3:22AM said - RIGHT ON!
ReplyDeleteFour years ago, we were pushing up against the 1% - we gave generously to our pet charities, had IRA's & took vacations. We supported & volunteered in our kids schools and raised three kids (none with alcohol / drug / behavior problems), paid for college - but a job loss 4 years changed EVERYTHING.
You see, the corporation decided to close 3 out of 8 regional centers in the US - to make more $$$ for the Board of Directors and shareholders. My hubs was one of the "downsized" Regional Directors. Thousands of people put out of work so the corporation could make even MORE profit and millionaires could draw bigger salaries.
You DON'T THINK it will happen to YOU - but it did.
Life is a mighty struggle right now. We did just as Angela and her husband did - now, our IRA cushion is also GONE. Five surgeries in the past 2 1/2 years and the stress of under-employment for my husband has left me medically fragile, but emotionally determined: We MUST support our President!!
We all think that it can't happen to us, that we have it all figured out and THOSE people are just lazy/stupid/incompetent/leeches who don't have it all figured out in life. We will never appreciate how our circumstances can change at a moment's notice until it happens to us. Then we see.
ReplyDeleteHow about we don't wait till it happens to us to have compassion and empathy and understanding? How about we help those who are trying and struggling and how about we elect public officials who actually do know what they are talking about? Instead of poisonous know-nothing grifters?
Maybe the world would be a better place if we really DO love our neighbours as we love OURSELVES.
My mother just had double knee replacement surgery in Australia. Between the public insurance of Medicare and the private insurance her and my Dad have - they have a total out of pocket expense of $2k. THAT IS UNHEARD OF IN THE USA. If she had lived here? Dad and Mum would probably be selling their home to pay for their healthcare needs.
My mum has had fantastic post-op follow up, a 2 day stay in the ICU, followed by a week in recovery care and then a transfer to a great rehab center for 10 days where she gets physiotherapy sessions twice a day. She's due to be discharged from rehab at the end of the week and will be an outpatient for further rehab at a facility close to our home. NOT ONCE has she had to worry about how to pay for her health care.
Same with my Dad who had prostate cancer, had an operation to remove his prostate and follow-up radiotherapy treatment. He had a top notch urologist take care of him and has been cancer free (PRAISE GOD) since then.
Again - if they had lived here, they would have probably been almost bankrupt by Dad's illness and maybe Mum wouldn't have been able to get her knees operated on.
Wake up, America. Obamacare is an historic achievement. Support your President - he's STILL the best man for the job.
Anonymous at 4:03. Did you actually READ the entire post? Such as the part where the insurance premiums became so high it was a choice of the mortgage or the insurance? Since you can be so self-righteous about people who don't/can't afford health insurance, you are either well-to-do, work at a place with great benefits, or are, in general, more than a bit of a jerk. Open your eyes, see the world a bit more, and let go of a lot of that mean-spirited conservative thinking.
ReplyDeleteThank you Melissa, thank you Angela, thank you Deni, thank you Anonymous for your comments.
ReplyDeleteAnd no thanks to you, Robert Schoen. Your comment was disgusting. It looks like you've been watching that Mel Gibson "Conspiracy Theory" movie on automatic reset-to-rerun.
My rant: I'm still so angry that so many Democrats did not bother to vote last November.
They could have kept the Teabaggers out of Congress; they could have helped keep the majority of the House in Dem hands; they could have improved the majority in the Senate instead of allowing it to be whittled down to a bare majority (including those untrustworthy Blue Dogs).
I will be VERY ANGRY if the same thing happens this next November, or worse, if there are too many Democratic voters listening to the right wing OR the "professional left" whiners who complain and find fault instead of celebrating the good things that have happened in the past 3 years.
Would they rather have had the senile warmongering economically stupid (self-admitted) John McCain, and his VP, who was so eager to take over she characterized her job as waiting for the President to die?
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MickeyMusing, until some enterprising soul updates a list of President Obama's accomplishments (against all odds), this might help [don't pay attention to the name of the URL ;-) ]: http://pleasecutthecrap.typepad.com/main/what-has-obama-done-since-january-20-2009.html
What a powerful letter and an awakening to those supporters who have begun to give up on our President. Perfect he's not... But I'm proud I voted for him and will gladly vote for him again in 2012. Change doesn't come easily and often takes incremental steps to achieve. I believe in OUR party, OUR people, OUR President, and OUR country!
ReplyDeleteSally in MI 4:20 A.M.
ReplyDeleteNO, this who wrote to article SHOULD NOT be a Democratic commercial. Her attitude is what is SO wrong with the Democratic electorate. No solidarity, and as soon as they do not get everything they want from a Dem Adm, they leave the Democratic party.
Robert Schoen....may I suggest you visit Phil Mungers' Progressive Alaska blog? The link is on the far left of Gryphen's home page. You and Phil will get along famously.
ReplyDeleteBefore you go there, read Angela's post, and consider what she has said very carefully, then ask any black people you know about what her father told her. If a young black man or woman gets into Harvard people scream affirmative action, if a black man is conservative, they scream Uncle Tom.
Dude, Dennis Kucinich has run for President quite e few times, and got nowhere. Good luck with that.
I heard some talking head yesterday say Obama had three albatrosses around his neck: the bailout, the economy, and "Obamacare." None of the other talking heads questioned that, or pointed out that health insurance reform was an albatross only in right-wingers' dreams. No one said polling showed the public supported the components of OCare.
ReplyDeleteI am proud of Obama. If he loses next year because of "Obamacare," he can live with it and will still know he did the right thing. I hope more people will speak up about how OCare has saved them from disaster.
It wouldn't have happened without Pelosi. I'm very proud of her, too. And I am proud of Hillary for her gay rights speech in Geneva.
"And access to healthcare shouldn't depend on luck. "
ReplyDeleteThat says it all right there.
I'm fortunate to have a relatively dependable job with good insurance, but I am extremely grateful to our President for passing this health care legislation against enormous odds. There should never be an American citizen who dies because of a lack of insurance.
Let's hope many of President Obama's supporters from 2008 realize just how much he HAS accomplished, despite the best efforts of Congress to derail this country.
"Robert Schoen" sounds like the recurring anti-Obama troll. S/he's been everywhere, even at McGinniss's last summer, trying to gain people's trust by favorably dropping names like Hillary and Grayson. Bin Laden's death was faked? I say ignore "him."
ReplyDeleteto Robert Schoen - Why don't you leave this blog and go back to the one that spawned your sorry ass.
ReplyDeleteYou need an intervention but you won't get it here. You need to be de-palinized. We're just fine with Gryphen, his blog and his respect for our great president.
Your post was pathetically transparent and when trolls like you try to sound like grown-ups we have to call you out. It's hard to witness someone make such an ass of themselves. Go home.
Well, my comment was lost because I had company and obviously didn't post the comment correctly before I closed out. But, here goes anyways - Thank God 99% of the commenters here are able to understand that truism "There but for the grace of God go I". Truisms become truisms because they almost universally apply to ALL of us. This lady's story is not just her story - it's millions of people's story, here in the land of "plenty" and "equality" for all - it is everyone's store-in-waiting.
ReplyDeleteIf something like this has NOT become your story - it's only because you just haven't been forced to get in that line yet - but don't worry -- at some point in time, you, too, unless you are very wealthy,most likely will be joining the rest of us. Each and every one of us have a pretty good chance of becoming uninsured, developing a preexisting condition, or of being unable to find affordable health care before retirement age.
You, too, stand a good chance of depleting your savings and cashing out your treasured, hard-earned 401k's before you reach 65 or 67 (70, if the GOP has their way). You, too, will have the opportunity to deal with the choice between paying for a place to live and food on the table - or pay for astronomical healthcare or for the astronomical costs NOT covered by your insurance.
Because of many factors beyond our control - being biological entities who may inherit the wrong genes, or get old, or because we have an accident - get laid off during a worldwide economic downturn
and can't find another job, or then get locked out of health care entirely because of a preexisting condition - you will join us in that line.
You, too, will put off getting your routine health checkups or tell yourself that whatever is wrong with you is probably not that bad - because you can't afford to go to the doctor to find out. You and family members, too, will either end up with a death sentence because you put off that visit for too long - or one too many times.
There are death Panels alright - and the name on the door is the GOP/Greed and the Teabaggers/Ignorance. You can't save enough money during your prime working years to pay for your health care if for some reason you have to leave the workforce and can't get insurance. Any chronic illness, even ones not requiring major surgery can deplete your assets (not to mention - prescription drug costs). If you are uber rich, good for you, no problem!
And once you have depleted your retirement, savings, AND you only have SS and Medicare to rely on - how much do you think you can spend on healthcare not covered by Medicare? Wise up, you are sadly mistaken if you think that good luck and hard work will see you through.
Once the job is gone - you are just another deadbeat who didn't pull themselves up by the bootstraps. It won't matter at all how hard you worked, and saved. If your luck runs out - I will welcome you to my world, there's always a place waiting for you in this line .
I know Spike, a local artist in Los Angeles who has spent years fighting to keep art programs in at-risk schools. She went out beating the bushes for funding and built a well-regarded non-proit organization. I staffed one of those school positions until funding dried up at the corporate level. There were certainly no benefits with such a job, but it was all about heart. Spike's always been about doing important things for other people's kids. She was also one of Obama's very first supporters -- the first Obama bumper sticker I saw was on her car. She was an original ObamaMama. I didn't know anything about Obama. But near the end of the campaign I actually made calls for him because of Spike's conviction. I'm so sorry for this awful personal situation she's facing, but proud of her for speaking up. This is one more example of her doing something good to benefit the larger community!
ReplyDeleteAngela and Kajo- I wholeheartedly agree with everything you say (and fwiw, I'm a white woman in her mid fifties)
ReplyDeleteSpike's letter should go viral. Spike's story is similar to mine, except mine happened BEFORE Obama was in office. We have three teens, a house, we both worked, had two cars and were fortunate to have some money in 401 k's, cd's, and money market funds. We all know what happened next.
After several operations, three rounds of chemo, two rounds of radiation, my breast cancer was in remission, the day I got my "all clear" five year checkup was the day Obama signed the affordable health care bill.
It was also the day my husband was diagnosed with three herniated discs in his lower back. What a difference the health care bill made, because if it hadn't been passed, I don't know what fate my family would have faced.
I consider myself extremely fortunate, in five years of treatment, I've seen people lose their homes, single mothers trying to place their kids in caring homes, and I can't count how many people I considered role models, didn't make it.
I voted for Obama, no he isn't perfect, but he'll have my vote again, and I'll bust my butt to get out the vote this election- there's too much riding on it, and frankly, the Republican's don't get it.
Thanks for posting this letter, I doubt I'd have seen it, and most of the replies show that others realized the same.
I want to make it clear that my comments were directed to Gryphen as an admirer of his work helping to spare the country from a narcissistic psychopath from his own home state, who would have been put a heartbeat away from the presidency by a shotdown bomber of civilians mistakenly referred to as a "war hero."
ReplyDeleteFor those of you who think I'm a troll sent here to demoralize true believer democrats, get a life. Unlike you, I used my REAL name and RARELY post online. As someone once said Democrats are like a heard of cats while Republicans are more like the church faithful. Apparently some of you didn't get the memo. If you can't tolerate other opinions, maybe you'd be more comfortable as Republicans.
It is also funny that the followers of a blog that has gone into the minutia of Palin's pregnancy of Trig can accuse someone else of being a "conspiracy nut." You know Palin faked this birth because you've looked into it extensively, or rather read the research of those who did and had an open enough mind to see the truth. I don't write stuff just to type and if you are too intellectually lazy or socially brainwashed not to see beyond the limited media paradigm, by all means go ahead and think I'm a nut. If you're up there in Alaska and you don't know about HAARP and what they are doing with it, look it up. Maybe Gryphen can write about it and then maybe you'll believe it.
Like most of you I had great hopes for Obama, and three years is enough to see if he has been an effective leader or not. Clinton did so despite the lost of both houses. There's compromise and then there is leadership, which entails championing goals and calling out the obstructionists. Frankly I find this a waste of time so don't worry about future posts from me on this site.