Healthcare Coverage for All Americans

Recently, I got an email from President Obama asking me to sign my name and stand with him in demanding health care reform. He also asked for personal stories about health care reform, so I wrote the following:

I had health insurance through my employer for eight years. When I was laid off, I continued the coverage through COBRA, although I had to pay the full premiums, which went up by 40% a month later. Because my next employer was given to gossiping about her employees' health issues, I did not feel I could continue COBRA through that company, and instead relied upon my previous employer. It took me another year to find a position that offered benefits, so I came within a week of exceeding the 18-month limit on COBRA. The new position ended after six months, and I again elected to continue coverage through COBRA and pay the premiums out of pocket. They were expensive enough at $340 per month for one person, but I just found out that the premiums have risen to over $600 per month! This amount is unreasonable even for a person who is earning a salary, but for a person on unemployment, it's impossible. It would be difficult to get insurance again if there were any lapse in my coverage, but I find myself faced with having to choose between food and shelter and having health insurance. Then I think about my parents, both teachers, who had to give up their health insurance 26 years ago, only to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and cancer, and I fear a similar outcome.

I know that my story is far from the most dramatic or tragic, but it is unfortunately very common. The current system punishes entrepreneurs and small businesspeople, who usually cannot afford to provide benefits, and their employees. Why do we deny basic health care to so many of our fellow Americans when this denial bankrupts thousands of families, and enriches the already wealthy? Detractors like to compare the possible reliability of national health insurance to the U.S. Postal Service, but for the sake of argument, let's say they are equivalent. Rich people are welcome to send all their correspondence via private carrier, but I at least have the option of paying 47 cents to send a letter, rather than spending $10 on FedEx every time.

If I and the other 50-100 million Americans without reliable coverage were able to pool our resources and spread out the risks across a common health insurance fund like the one enjoyed by federal employees, it would cost a fraction of what we're paying now, and open a whole new world of possibilities for all Americans.

Companies large and small would no longer be obliged to devote their resources and personnel to providing services unrelated to their mission, and would be able to compete with foreign companies. Individuals would be able to start new enterprises, or pursue careers based on their skills and inclinations, not just on which employer offers health benefits.

If there are people who are happy with their current health insurance, I do not wish to take it from them. If people wish to pay for experimental procedures or extra tests out of pocket, I would not deny them that luxury. But I think everyone has a right to basic, affordable health-care access, and it is criminal that here in America, supposedly the richest country in the world, people--including children--are suffering and dying because they cannot get regular check-ups or preventive care. Tens of millions of people like me are just holding on by our fingernails right now, desperately hoping that this will be the year that American legislators vote in favor of universal healthcare access. We're all in this together, so I beg you to do the right thing and help lift this burden.

Here is the link to add your name to the list. Please write or call your elected representative today and insist on health-care access for all. If you don't know the contact information, Congress.org is an excellent one-stop resource.

Raucus Caucus

I looked on the web for video of crazy Texas caucuses, and believe it or not, found one of our Precinct's gathering! That's me in the green sweater, furiously writing down names and addresses.

Non-Texans might be wondering why it's taking so long for Texas to count the votes from the caucuses. I was both the Temporary and Permanent Convention Secretary for Travis County’s Precinct 274 (that's in Austin), and we had 385 people sign in for the Democratic Caucus, not counting the ones who left early. We used 33 sign-in sheets, whereas just one was sufficient in past years. Even with four other people helping me, it took more than two hours just to get everyone's name, address, and candidate choice written down. Luckily, our Precinct Chair was smart, ethical, and experienced, and followed the rules with no protest. But it still took another twenty minutes or so to count all the participants, count the number of people caucusing for each candidate, and do the math to get the delegate apportionment.

There were party platforms to be discussed and voted on, and then people had to volunteer to be delegates and alternates--and all those people's names had to be found on the 33 pages, which were not in alphabetical order. Even then, there weren't enough people still present at 11:30 p.m. to account for all the 37 needed alternate delegates for Obama. By the time I asked the precinct chair if he had remembered to call in our results to the party, it was after midnight. And we were well organized.

Some precincts had open Chair positions, so whoever grabbed the caucus packet first was the one who became the Temporary Chair. You'd think that these eager beavers would have taken time to read the basic rules or the script provided, but some were more zealous about not letting another candidate gain a perceived advantage, even when it meant disenfranchising their own candidate's voters. I have read about all sorts of abuses and rule breaking—shutting the doors before everyone had gotten a chance to sign in, or insisting on looking up every voter on the rolls instead of just accepting a stamped voter registration or caucus card. But whether or not it went perfectly, it was really thrilling to see hundreds of people willing to wait in line because they were so passionately interested in taking part in our democracy, no matter whom they were supporting. That is what this country is really about: our votes are our voices, and if we don’t vote, we are only muzzling ourselves.

Don't Forget to Vote and Caucus!

You'd have to have been living in a cave not to know that Texas has a primary Tuesday, but just in case you're still scrambling to find your polling place, or don't know about the caucus, you can find the info here. Click here to look up your polling place. And here is a .pdf you can download that has all the pertinent information on it. I also have a description of the caucus process in my Feb. 23 posting.

In case you'd like more specifics about the Senator's policies, here's a link to his Blueprint for Change.

I also thought I'd include a video about Barack Obama's grassroots movement here in Texas.

Green Technology and Diplomacy

There was an article by Mona Charen posted a few days ago on townhall.com about Barack Obama called "Old Wine, New Bottle." It made a lot of false claims about his policies and intentions, so I posted the following comment to refute a couple of the most troubling misstatements.

First of all, Obama isn't advocating subsidizing environmentally friendly or "green" products. You're right, if there's a market for them, there's no need for subsidies. He's advocating investing in researching and developing alternative energy sources and technologies, and countering the recent influence of big oil. Big difference. When oil companies put all their considerable resources behind eliminating competition--as they did in the early 20th century by encouraging cities to get rid of streetcars and use buses instead--it can have a significant effect, and Obama wants to make sure we stop being so dependent on fossil fuels.

Also, I would say that the war on terrorists has been sorely neglected by President Bush, who stopped focusing on Afghanistan and the border areas of Pakistan, where Al Qaeda is actually based, in order to invade a country previously entirely unconnected with Bin Laden. Obama's stated goal is to refocus on finding Bin Laden, and eradicating his organization.

You also imply that Obama is unwilling to use military force in any situation, and will instead rely exclusively on diplomacy, the way that you claim Jimmy Carter did. First of all, Obama has said that he's not categorically opposed to all use of military force or all wars--just "dumb wars" and "rash wars...based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics." If you will remember, Carter hardly had a "diplomacy-only" approach. But his attempt to use military force to rescue the hostages in Iran was disastrous. It was his skill in diplomacy that finally secured their release.

Try telling the families of the 4,000 American dead and 29,000 wounded that the rush to invade Iraq was a good idea and that diplomacy is "misguided" and "senile."

Obama-Related Links

I was looking at Obama's website tonight, and it had a link to call voters in Virginia. That made me think of my friend and Wellesley classmate Leslie G., who lives in Arlington, so I thought I'd call her and see if she were voting tomorrow. She went to an Obama rally at a high-school gym yesterday, and they got there early, but there was a very long wait until the man himself showed up. But she said that everyone was very much "fired up" for the Senator. She sent me a nice photo:

She was inspired to donate money to Obama's campaign, but because she is a registered lobbyist for MetLife, she couldn't donate, even though it was a private donation, not in her capacity as a MetLife employee. A bummer, but I'm glad that Obama refuses corporate and lobbyists' donations. This is a bottom-up campaign, not top down.

I had mentioned some Obama-related links to my friend, so I sent them along, and will share with y'all here:

Frank Rich's column in the NYT today quotes a Latino L.A. Times columnist who claims that the Clinton campaign is trying to "sow misinformation and racial division." Even though there are a lot of commenters protesting what they claim is Mr. Rich's "biased personal attack," I think he makes some valid points about character. Bill Kristol's NYT column, also interesting, especially coming from a conservative.

You've all seen Obama's "Yes We Can" video; here's the link to the McCain parody video. More like "No, We Can't."

Here's a link to a Laurence Lessig video on why he's for Obama. Here's a link to a transcript, which might be quicker if you just want the ideas and not the whole 20-minute video presentation.

And a verrrrry interesting Op-Ed piece from the notoriously conservative Wall Street Journal, written by none other than former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan, saying that in the general election, Obama is "bulletproof." And also, "The Democrats continue not to recognize what they have in this guy. Believe me, Republican professionals know. They can tell."

Oh, and I was looking for yard signs online the other day, and there was this huge comment thread on Obama's website blog, and I discovered that the online store is backlogged by several weeks, and so someone used Ning to set up a new online group called "Obamacycle" where people who live in states with upcoming primaries can post asking for campaign signs and gear from people in states whose primaries have passed. I have posted a request on there for yard signs, but haven't gotten any specific offers, except for someone around the corner who said that if he gets extras from out of state, he'll give me one. [Update: I did get a sign. Yay organization!] I was just going to say that if you have any friends, neighbors, or coworkers who have extry signs (not the stakes, just the signs) I'd love to have them.

David Cay Johnston has written a new book about the ways the rich get richer at our expense. Terry Gross did a really interesting interview with him on Fresh Air a few weeks back. The title of his book is: Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You With the Bill). It's great to have all the evidence in one place.

If I Can Donate, You Can, Too

Tonight, I'm watching Barack Obama speaking at a rally in Boston the night before the Super Tuesday Primaries.

I continue to be impressed by his ability to bring together diverse audiences with his positive message, while not being afraid to tell people (like oil companies and teachers' unions) the hard truth. I'm still unemployed and living off my savings, but I felt compelled to contribute a little something to his campaign effort. Whether you do or not is up to you, but if you're not currently a supporter, I hope you will seriously consider his candidacy. Check out this viral video of his speech from New Hampshire; perhaps it'll inspire you to join his movement for change.