Letter to the President

Below is the letter I wrote and snail mailed to President Obama last week, before the news today that he and his administration are supposedly getting ready to dump the Public Option. I can only hope that this situation will turn around. I know that millions of Americans feel the same way I do.

I will say that this is the one issue that will forever turn me away from the Democrats if they pander to non-progressives and scare mongers and dump what Howard Dean is referring to today as the only meaningful chance at Health Care Reform. Why can't the Dems have some spine for a change? Anyway, I still intend to call the White House and I hope anyone who sees this blog and agrees will, too. The President's number is Comments: 202-456-1111 or Switchboard: 202-456-1414.

P.S. If you're wondering about the photo, it's an image of Cowboy shooting his first commercial on a beautiful beach in Australia, a country that has Universal Health Care called "Medicare" and also, non-profit, private health insurance companies that are actually interested in helping sick people instead of profiting off them. Ironically, the commercial was for a pharmaceutical drug!

President Barack Obama

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I'm writing to you to ask you to give the American people a Public Option, as was your original intention when you began talking about heath care reform.

What is going on at the moment with the scare-mongering in the town hall meetings is a national disgrace. It is propaganda and any educated person knows it.

A Public Option is just that, an option. It has nothing to do with the private insurance companies which will still exist. And the White House needs to do a better job of explaining that. Afterall, poll after poll shows that the vast majority of Americans want a public option and it is only the special interests in the form of private insurance companies giving millions of dollars to people in your own party that will stop that from happening if you let it. I know that you are only one man and yet, you have the power to do this if you show courage and rally the American people as you did in your campaign. Ask us to come out in full force for the Public Option and we will. Ask us to show up in Washington demanding the Public Option and we will.

I will end by telling the story of why this issue is so dear to my heart. I have been a victim of private insurance companies and their attempt to deny people coverage. At 18, I developed colitis, which is a form of Irritable Bowel Disease. I lived with this disease for 5 years before I was officially diagnosed at the age of 22. When I first went to the doctor for this condition at the age of 18, they told me nothing was wrong with me. I guess the technology wasn't good enough then. When my condition worsened, I returned for tests 5 years later and finally, they diagnosed me. Yet a couple of months after the diagnosis, the insurance company informed me that I had a "pre-existing condition", that they would not pay benefits and that I owed them the $3000.00 in benefits they had already paid.

Because I am a good advocate for myself, I battled the insurance company for 6 months, going to the Washington State Insurance Commissioner, writing countless letters to Blue Cross/Blue Shield and finally, seeing a lawyer. Luckily, after much stress, time and money spent on the issue, Blue Cross/Blue Shield caved and told me they would pay benefits. However, they made it clear in their final letter that they were doing this purely out of the goodness of their heart and were not by any means admitting to any wrong-doing.

In the years since (I am 42 now), when recounting this story, I have often wondered out loud how many of my fellow Americans who couldn't advocate for themselves fell victim to the callous greed of private insurance companies. And this is one of the many reasons why we need the Public Option.

Please Mr. President. Make it happen. I believe in you and so do the majority of the American people.

Sincerely and with best wishes -

Lori