I went down to my state reps (Sue Myrick's R-NC) office to drop off a flyer with my comments about the need for health care reform. Felt pretty good. This is the first time that I have personally visited a politician's office about anything. I am good for calling though. They don't make that office easy to get to. Its like they are hiding. No sign out front. I thought maybe I'd gotten the address wrong. It was tucked away in a small office suite down a dark lonely corridor of this big office building in South Park. Then I had to be buzzed in after flashing my most nonthreatening smile for the surveillance videocamera. I noticed when the assistant took my flyer that she added it to a folder with a bunch more OFA flyers. Yeah people, we are making an impact! If you haven't done a "drop in" like this yet definitely give it a try. I was inspired by the memory of an uninsured friend who died unnecessarily from a treatable illness because he tried to "tough it out" at home rather than fall into debt his young family couldn't afford. I also want to change the way that doctors decide what kind of treatment they will offer based on what is cheapest for the insurance company. I've had this happen. This dentist kept telling me that the bare bones treatment he'd already provided was all that he could do for me. I'd just have to deal with some residual pain. Here's the catch: I'd had the same problem before, and an honest dentist hooked me up, so I new what worked and what to ask for. So this new dentist just scowled at me dismissively and said "your insurance won't cover that" What? Did I ask you what my insurance would cover or did I ask for effective treatment, you #$%*&^ pig! What I learned that day is that there is a class system within the healthcare establishment. You are offered a certain class of care based on what you are covered for. Its like flying first class versus flying coach. If you have "coach" coverage, you'll never know how cushy the people on the other side have it. So many of my friends have shared similar stories, particularly around prescription drugs. If you don't have premium coverage, and few of us do these days with our jobs watering our healthcare plans down every year, you get the oldest, possibly least efficacious drug. I've seen this first hand at one of my jobs "No, we can't give her Prozac, her insurance will only cover imipramine (an old drug with more side effects and less effectiveness - but cheap as hell because no one buys it anymore)". So many people are scared to support President Obama's health care reform. However, if they actually knew the truth about how unfair the status quo was, they would not feel so safe sticking with what they know. They are actually sticking with what they think they know, lulled into ignorance and inaction.
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