The Sad State of Our Healthcare

There is a bill before Congress, HR676 that is the best healthcare proposal I have seen to date. Please google HR676 and read this important bill. I have written my state Congressmen and Senators and even Obama and McCain and I am asking all of you who feel as I do to do the same. You can google your state congressmen's address and they should come up. I got all my congressmen's and senator's addresses at one site.

Here is the letter I wrote:

My name is Susan. I am an RN working in rural Oregon. I am writing for the first time ever to my Congressmen and Senators about a bill that I feel is extremely important.

I have never been a proponent of "socialized medicine". Recently I received a copy of HR676. This bill has changed my mind, It could really work! As a nurse in a rural area, I see far too many patients with little or no insurance. Children come to our clinic with rotting teeth and in pain because they have no dental insurance. Middle aged patients come in "just not feeling well" to find out their blood sugar is 700. They say, "Oh, yeah, I am suppose to be on diabetes medicine but I can't afford it". Our precious seniors can't find a physician because no one in town will accept Medicare. These scenarios are not rare, they happen daily! In this great country of ours it is shameful that we treat our most vulnerable citizens to this kind of treatment.

According to the information I have found, profits for the top 17 health insurance companies rose 114%, insurance premiums rose 60%. Thirty one percent of US health care dollars go to administrative costs. The decreased paperwork of a single-payer system alone could save us $300 billion dollars! There would be no need of Medicare or Medicaid or even the VA system of health care. These dollars would also go toward funding for NHI (National Health Insurance). This single-payer system would virtually eliminate hospital billing. Hospital resources could then be used for better clinical care. Simplified billing would save Physicians thousands of dollars a year. Tax increases would be offset by the elimination of insurance premiums for both employer and employee. This system would also help contain drug costs. The NHI as a single purchaser would have a tremendous amount of influence on the drug companies. I know that all systems will have their problems, but the system we have now is failing far too many of our citizens.

Other proposed plans offer little promise. The Defined Contribution plan simply shifts the cost from employers to employees. Tax subsidies and vouchers propose tax credits for low-income families to purchase private insurance. Few could afford to pay the balance. Expansion of Medicaid programs offer only second rate coverage, segregate the poor, and are open to funding cuts. The Employer Mandates have put some small companies out of business. This burden is simply too much for some companies and their lower wage employees. All of these plans leave some people uninsured. How can the leaders of the country pick and choose which citizens deserve to have health insurance and which do not. I believe that HR676 is our best hope to offer health care to all US citizens

I realize that the insurance and pharmaceutical companies will be pressuring you for a "no" vote, but please remember all the voters with no medical insurance back home. They desperately need your help. The proposals from our Presidential candidates are just more of the same old hot air that hasn't worked in the past and will not work in the future (see the previous paragraph).

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King Jr. Let's not be silent any longer. I am asking that you support HR676. Our constitution guarantees "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". What is life without health?

Thank you for your time.

Hi! me again. Please feel free to use or paraphrase this letter. Don't be silent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!