Today, I signed a Petition sponsored by Care2 (See,
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/... urging the members of the House of Representatives to support and pass President Obama's Healthcare Reform Policy. I was delighted to sign the Petition and continue to do what I can to help US understand the critical need for healthcare reform. Having passage of the healthcare reform policy will mean a public healthcare program that will make healthcare affordable and accessable to each American for the very first time in the history of the US.
Of course, this means that heath industry lobbyists and profiters are running scared and making all sorts of idle threats meant solely to put fear in our minds. What is more scarier, losing your home and not having any healthcare in a country where the mountains have crumbled to the sea or a group of people forced to give up hefty and lofty profits for the betterment of all mankid? We know healthcare must be reformed! We know it and we must take a few minutes to push the buttons of the House of Representatives!
According to Care2, we know that Americans spend more on healthcare than any other country? Health costs have risen drastically faster than even economic and personal income growth for over 35 years. What's more, there is a pattern of healthcare sharply continuing at an unsustainable rate. Simply put, there is no end in sight!!
The fact remains that this healthcare reform issue will be an uphill fight. President Obama needs our support to urge our political leaders into prompt and firm action and we need to get out of that bottomless pit of disease and ilness that takes our lives and good health prematurely because we cannot afford any better. While the mountain may crumble to the sea in the eyes of healthcare profiters, the sky will surely drop on us all if we do not get healthcare reform passed in the US!
The harsh reality that Non Universal Access exists as a barrier for hundreds of thousands of African-Americans translates into even NO Medicare and Social Security to hope for. As stated by Care2, the $9.5 trillion national debt makes it almost impossible to invest in new programs that would make us healthier and more secure. It is such a small thing to visit Care2 and sign the Petition and/or continue to visit the HealthReform.org site and keep the pressure on both the House of Representatives and the Senate Finance Committee. Once the House of Representatives passes the Healthcare Reform and the Senate Finance Committee does likewise, we can begin to see the US improve healthcare for each of us regardless of race, creed, s*x, income status, disability, and religion. Currently, too many of the average poor and needy are being denied quality healthcare. As Care2 confirms,
"Annually, the U.S. health care industry spends an amount equal to the entire gross domestic product of France and Spain combined, so reform is going to be complicated and challenging. But it needs to happen sooner rather than later, and the first step is asking hard questions about health care in America."
As we age out, the current healthcare system will just push the problem onto our children and grandchildren. This is definitely immoral and irresponsible, but the ole boys' healthcare faction have managed to turn away from this reality for too long.
Considering how slowly but surely individuals across the country are beginning to realize there is only one way to face this healthcare beast and that is by reform, we have to take the repeated steps to make sure it gets done and quickly!
Visit Care2 and urge the House of Representatives to do what should have been done during the Bush Administration, before the Wall Street exposure, before the suffering of hard-working people. Do NOT be reluctant because you have to travel to another site or you might not feel confident in your ability to navigate the site. You can copy and paste language into a nifty little box and click "Sign" and be on your way or you can modify the language to make it more personal. Whatever you ultimately decide to do, the first step has to be to visit Care2 and sign the petition.
Visit CARE@ at
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/... Visit HealthReform at
www.HealthReform.org Join Healthcare For America Now at
www.healthcareforamericanow.org Here is a sample of my modified Petition language:
Dear House of Representatives:
The federal deficit is the single greatest, long-term crisis facing the US.
A big part of this crisis is health care costs. Health care costs have been rising significantly faster than economic and personal income growth for the past 40 years, and the trend is continuing at an unsustainable rate. Projections indicate that in just a few decades, every penny of the annual increase in gross domestic product will have to go for health care. There would be less and less money for other things, like education, environmental protection, research and development, national security, and other services that Americans depend on!
Of course, it would be ideal to increase universal access, reduce costs and preserve choices in health care, but the problem is that no one knows how to do all that. That's why it's so absolutely critical that our nation's leaders start asking the hard questions about health care reform.
1) How do we reduce health care costs without compromising universal access to valuable treatments and squelching medical innovation?
2) How do we help those who cannot afford universal access to even basic health care?
3) How do we find the balance between medical benefit and expense?
We need a real dialogue, because no matter whether you are a Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal, or anywhere in between, the path we are on is ultimately unsustainable!
This is a matter of arithmetic, not ideology, and any single approach will not be enough.
Franklin Roosevelt was famous for saying that one of the President's jobs was to "take the nation to school," not just to respond to public opinion, but to teach Americans about the hard choices they face.
Well, we have some very hard choices to face and we need leadership in the face of them. Leaving the projected deficits and debt on auto-pilot is not an option. It would be irresponsible and immoral to leave this mess to our children and grandchildren to clean up. We need to start today.
Of particular interest to me, is assuring that individuals with special needs such as dependency on medical technology, have quality healthcare services that are not subject to unfair practices such as to lose the right to live a quality of life in the community due to dual elgibility. Dual elgibility exists when a developmentally disabled person is eligible for both Medicare and Medicaide. In such a case, the incdividual may have to forfeit the right to live in the community and stay within the confines of a institutional environment.
Any individual with special needs or developmental delays should be protected with affordable healthcare to enjoy life guaranteed by by the US Constitution. A public healthcare program is ideal only if it assures the principal basic rights for all individuals regardless of race, religion, creed, s*x, and disability!
Please be a real leader and address the issue of health care reform with all Americans in mind.
Respectfully,
Agnes B. Levine
Posted By: agnes levine
Tuesday, March 24th 2009 at 6:19PM
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