Someone has to beg

Might as well be me. The following is a letter of request that I sent to my Senators, Congresscritter and the President. Congress is currently fumbling its way through health care legislattion and ridiculous as it may sound, there are some parties opposing govenrment-backed health care options. Those folks are mostly elected types bought by health care industry lobbies and their dupes. Here is my letter. Feel free to use any or all of it in witing your elected officials.

Dear Elected person:

As an unemployed and underinsured resident of central Pennsylvania, I am writing to request that you include the choice of government-backed health insurance options in upcoming health insurance legislation. I'd much rather demand it, but will confine this to a request so that you will feel more open to understanding the need for a government-backed health insurance options for me and all Americans.

I have worked all my adult life, from high school, through college and grad school and onward. The various insurance coverages I have had were poor-to-fair to say the best. As a border-line disabled person with mobility challenges from diabetic neuropathy, I've had to watch and live with this disease's growth,unimpeded in a large part from poor insurance coverage. If coverage for treatment wasn't flatly denied for reasons like the disease being a prior condition, then possible therapies and treatments were denied with other arcane and verbose reasons for denial from the insurance providers. When I have been laid off or otherwise unemployed I've either been not insured or listed as a dependant on my husband's health insurance when he's had it. The so-called safety net of COBRA is not an option for those who need it most as it is too expensive as is my case at this time.

My story is not uncommon. People who are not in middle class or above income brackets are extremely ill served by private health care providers. We need government-backed health insurance options in health care so that we do not, as we all to often do, fall between the cracks. Most arguments against government-backed health insurance options are specious and ridiculous. The "argument" that attempts to scare folks into believng their health care decisions would made by faceless government bureaucrats is one such joke. How does that differ from the current reality of most of our health care decisions being made by faceless health care provider bureaucrats? The difference is that under government-backed health insurance Soptions, the decider is not also the party whose profits are gained from denials of coverage.

I am not asking for government-backed health insurance options to replace private insurance. I am asking for them to be added. Given the size and influence of insurance industry lobbies, private insurance will not be forced out of business by the inclusion of government-backed health insurance options. Private insurane options ought to be available to people, just as government-backed health insurance optiona should be. What I do ask is that government-backed health insurance options be included in the options available to working citizens.

Please use your influence and your might to speak for me on this. Please let me have this choice.

Thank you.