It always amazes me how easily we get scared by negative information, even when, deep down, we know isn't so. At least, not until we check it out, right? This past week has been full of mudslinging and negative invective--on the airwaves and in Lebanon, Pennsylvania.
Here in Fremont, it's been wonderful, full of people happy to declare their support of President Obama's Three Principles for HealthCare Reform and wanting to get more information about it. I will post photos from the Festival of the Arts, from the Farmers' Market, from our HealthCare Forums and Town Hall Meetings so you can see exactly what I mean . . . .
This past weekend wes off the HOOK! The Fremont Festival of the Arts is the premier event in this area for wine tasting, food, artwork, crafts and all those things that good health lets us enjoy to the max. True to the good nature of the people of the Bay Area, our message of HealthCare Reform was embraced by the festivalgoers. We chose a low-profile but effective approach: balancing festival wineglasses for declaration signers and encouraging the beer drinkers to bring their friends to the table!
Over 1500 of the 130,000 attendees talked with us, took our four-color flyers featuring the president himself, and promised to stay alert on this important issue. Many thanked us for volunteering while others partied, and at least 175 gave us a written declaration, healthcare story, or signed a postcard indicating their support of the president's three principles.
Here's to your health!
This past week has been unbelievable! The Oakland Tribune covered our Moss Park event, and my story was told here:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_12901657
I was concerned before, but I'm dead serious now. My name, age and definite uninsurability are now out in the public space.
Who would hire me now?
How can we get this done?
The other side of the story is told here, with the Answers provided by my business colleagues on LinkedIn. I was invited to a Council of Economic Advisors webinar based on this report:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/cea/Health-Care-Reform-and-Small-Businesses/
and these are the comments of the other participants:
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/government-non-profit/government-policy/GOV_GPO/517881-50174439
The issue, in my opinion, has spilled over from healthcare to civil rights. Work with me; let's form a group of like-minded professionals to 'link in' the business community (especially the small business community) to the need for serious healthcare reform.
The Farmers' Market at Five Corners is the 'place to be' on a Sunday morning in Fremont's Irvington District! Everybody comes down to get the fixin's for salsa, the best grapes, the prettiest eggs--and healthcare reform info!
It was a major blast! Among the many languages and cultures of our beloved Fremont, I was able to gain concurrence on Obama's Three Principles and hand out dozens of congressional contact cards and declaration forms. Even collected a few stories!
We're on to the Thursday BBQ as the next step in the process!
This is unbelievable! Here we spent all afternoon at Costco, talking about healthcare, present, past and FUTURE--even with a Cleveland Clinic physician and her healthcare administrator husband--and everyone was wonderful! People brought us water with ICE in it (it was over 100 degrees Farenheit)!
On to the finish! I stopped to put down a few thoughts on my way to today's last event, the HealthCare BBQ at Fremont's Central Park. Even if I'm the only one there, it will be a fitting end to a glorious day.
Wow! Saturday was awesome! Messy house and all, I was determined to host a HealthCare kickoff meeting, and I did, in the backyard. Angela and I dragged tables, umbrellas, HDTV, speakers and laptop outside with a few plastic chairs and TV tables to make our own Healthcare Viewing Room under the Fremont sun. Between sneezes from her allergies, Angela set out bottles of juice and water, healthy snacks, and connected everything up. I made lots of copies for our little group and ran the video.
Paul, the intellectual among us, wrote his own manifesto, which you can view at our Yahoo! Groups website. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/irvingtonfremonthealthcare/
Glenn even wrote a poem, just for the event which he delivered and I recorded! You can listen to it here:
by Glenn Meisenheimer© Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved http://www.glennmeisenheimer.com/the_end.htm
Also, here are all our stories, showing the wide disparity of experiences in US healthcare:
“I was working for a dot com company when the bubble collapsed. This (because of my age) left me out of work for 2 years. During that time I was dealing with severe back pain but couldn’t afford to see a doctor. I wasn’t eligible for Medi-Cal because I was desperately trying not to lose my house. Because I owned the house I couldn’t qualify for assistance.”
“My best friend died fighting to find doctors to assist with her heart condition. She was on Medicare and Medicaid. It took over a year to find a willing doctor to perform the surgery. Her heart was too weak by that time to survive the procedure. She passed June 12, 2008.”
“As an uninsured (unemployment for >1yr) my husband had a fall. Emergency room was $10,000. Health Care reform is needed because of all the debt created by unpaid medical bills. Either it takes all savings or ruins chances of credit in the future. Husband has given up on any kind of financial self-sufficiency. We need it for the overall health of our country.”
“My husband and I are self-employed, we have to purchase our own health insurance, premiums are way high and do not cover our dental neither eye surgeries, which are considered ‘cosmetic’ and cost us a total of $8,000. Both of us ended up getting private laser eye surgeries and going to Mexico for dental care. Fortunately, my sister is a dentist and she helped us with low pricing so we could afford it. We want more coverage and more affordable prices.”
“When my husband had a job that did not provide health care, we attempted to get health care on our own. Due to pre-existing conditions, we were uniformly denied coverage by many providers. We did get on minimal county insurance we were not covered. I had to go to the hospital and for a one day visit which turned out was not covered by the county, we received a bill for $7,000. We also delayed needed medical tests. One clear thing was that any catastrophic medical issue would have ruined us.”
So much to be done! Will we get there? Will we effectively render a positive change? Stay tuned!
