I went to the Ohio Democratic Convention and met this great physician who has a new organization, so I’ll tell you about that, but before I do that I wanted to talk about health insurance.
I supported the health care law here, and I’ve written about it a lot, but the truth is I’ve been fairly lucky with health. I have insurance now, I haven’t in the past, it’s a long convoluted story, but the one time I really, really needed affordable health care and didn’t have insurance was for a pregnancy. I got it, through a county clinic in Toledo where they had a sliding scale fee based on income, and I got great care. That was 22 years ago. County, state and federal funding. I’ve never forgotten it, and I (partly) modeled my approach with my clients on the doctor who cared for me at that clinic, during that difficult time. She was relentlessly practical and kind and non-judgmental. Just a great, great doctor for that group of patients.
Since that crisis, we’ve had private-market health insurance that we purchased, we’ve had insurance through my former employer (the postal service) we’ve had health insurance through my husband’s former employer (he was a county prosecutor) and now we have health insurance through my husband, again, due to contract work he does for the state. I talk to a lot of people in the course of operating a small town law practice and my insurance insecurity saga is not unusual. People don’t work for the same company from ages 19 to 65 anymore. They don’t have the sort of job security of, say, a Mitt Romney, where they can insist on a “soft-landing” cushy contract if the company goes belly-up.
What the health care law offers, if it survives lobbyist attacks and media attacks and Republican attacks and judicial challenges is some measure of security. If your situation changes you will be able to afford the same health insurance that members of the US Congress will get. It won’t be “free”, so the Romney donors can quit fretting that we’re all buying t-bones with our food stamps, but it will be affordable and available to middle class or working class people if it survives what seem to be some very powerful forces who are bound and determined to kill it.
So I met this physician, at the convention, Donald Nguyen, MD, FAAP, he’s a pediatric urologist from Dayton and this is the bumpersticker he was giving out:
Announcing . . . Patients Over Politics Bus Tour
On August 26-September 6, we are mobilizing this summer on a historic journey from the Republican Convention in Tampa to the Democratic Convention in Charlotte – to make sure politicians and the public get our message. We need a system where everyone can get health care when they need it and where patients and health care providers are leading the way.
Sign up for the campaign today, and we will bring your name and story on the road with us. Better yet, join us on the road!
This is part of our broader 2012 campaign – the One Million Campaign – where we are working together to educate 1,000,000 people about the facts of the Affordable Care Act. Engage. Educate. Empower.
They’re recruiting doctors and medical students for the cause, and I think I got them one, a family practice physician in my town who admitted he supports Obamacare. He said when he saw me, out and about, “ah, the Democrat! I want to tell you I like Obamacare!” I’m not the only Democrat, but people here like to make that joke. I have to laugh every time, which is exhausting. A reckless statement, “I like Obamacare!” and one he may regret because I now consider him an “activist”. Hah! Too late! He said it. No backsies, Dr. Mike. You’re practically Saul Alinsky now, in my book. Get on the bus. I’m sending him a bumpersticker and Dr. Nguyen’s card.
Here’s the website where you can learn more.
Dr. Nguyen is intense and a little intimidating. He’s quick and he leans in and speaks rapidly, no-nonsense, he’s not screwing around with this, which will probably serve him well at the GOP Convention among the “let them DIE!” crowd.
If the bus goes anywhere near where I live I’ll go out and see them, and get my blood pressure checked while I’m at it.