Hillary of Health Care

Live blogging during Hillary Clinton's keynote address at the DNC. So far, a strong speech, but I am still pleased that it's Barack who inches toward the presidency. But, as a female, I am proud and hopeful that we will have a woman in the White House soon.

One of the first issues Hillary addresses in her speech tonight is health care. Telling the story of a single mother with cancer who adopted two children with autism. She had painted "Hillary" on her bald head and asked the Senator to fight for health care for all Americans. A striking visual.

So what went wrong with the Hillary Clinton health care plan (also known as HillaryCare by her opponents) back in 1993? Many little things - but ultimately, the unwillingness of Congress and Americans to believe that universal coverage would benefit us. Further, Hillary was accused of being the face in front of the platform, but not its guts. It was speculated that Bill Clinton was the true master mind behind the health care plan.

One of the biggest obstacles to instituting a national health care plan is fear. Fear of an unknown, new system. The fear that quality of care would deteriorate. The fear that our taxes would increase to pay for it.

I think the last fear is the only sound one. But, it's time we stop living in a world where we think benefits just happen. We have to pay and give back to our country in order to live humanely.

Meanwhile, Hillary is lighting the convention center on fire (not literally.) She is knocking it out of the park with her speech. She should have used this fervor more often during her campaign. But, most importantly she is culling the people to unite under Obama Biden.

Ahhhh...what sweet relief if sometime in the next 4 years we can offer better health care to all Americans.

North, South, East, West - It's a Fundamental Right, Not a Privelege

This is Ted Kennedy's motto. He's said it over and over while serving as a Massachusetts Senator and he said it again tonight during his speech at the Democratic National Convention.

First of all, this man is a fighter and real life enthusiast. Yes, I still am in awe of the Kennedy family. They may be somewhat of an empire, but there is something about them that seems so human, and I'm not talking about the affairs and the alcohol. Ted Kennedy, especially, has been through some rough patches - Chapaquitic, alcohol abuse, just to name a couple highlights. But, he is a fighter nonetheless.

Glioma, a malignant brain tumor, most recently slowed down the Senator. But, not enough to keep him from giving a stirring speech tonight at the DNC in Denver, CO.

We want Ted to make it through his battle with cancer. Although he was fighting for quality health care for all Americans before his diagnosed illness, his tenor is now of a man who has been through the worst medical treatments you can imagine, but who can afford it all. Which is why his passion for creating a better health care system is emboldened.

When you face death, disease or even a MRI and surgery, you are back to feeling helpless, possibly alone and maybe a little or a lot afraid. Being sick isn't a warm fuzzy.

Kennedy needs to pull through his cancer to make sure we get to the bottom of the health care junk show. We need his passion and his grace. We need him to leave that legacy.

Today, I was the patient

A few weeks ago, I suffered an injury after bracing my fall onto a cement tennis court with my elbow and shoulder. It was some fun times.

I didn't get it looked at after it happened, because the next day, I was off to camp where I would be surrounded by nurses and doctors who would surely be able to help me, right? Wrong. Pediatric cardiologists, oncologists and even ER physicians had only one reaction when I asked them what to do: "You didn't get it X-Rayed?"

So, that's just what I did this morning at Austin Sports Medicine. And, fortunately, there was no damage to the bone. However, Doc thinks I might have torn cartilage, and prescribed a MRI scan.

In comes my first experience as a patient when health insurance did diddly squat. Cigna only covers MRI costs after you've met your deductible, and mine is $500. This is small potatoes compared to what many people face every day in medical bills, but it certainly got me fired up and a heck of a lot more empathetic to those without health insurance.

Because I actually was considering not having the MRI scan done just to save money. I mean, Doc said it's just a 50-50 chance it's torn, in which case I need surgery.

Back to health care being a specifically emotional issue. Our bodies are all we got on this planet. Sure, there's that whole matter of the soul, but what good does that do you if you can't walk or eat or function while you spend your time as a living being. And, then there are all those people who don't believe in a soul, so for them, truly, the body is all they've got.

So, why is it that anyone should ever have to choose between getting proper treatment and saving a dollar? This should not be a debate for those who choose to look after themselves and seek out a medical solution to their ailments. It should be a welcome mat that says, "Give me your tired, your poor, your yearning masses to be free."

As Emma Lazarus wrote for the immigrants forever imprinted on the Statue of Liberty, we need to remember what we stand for in America, and continue to fight for a much, much, much better health care system than the one we barter with today.

Joe Biden on Healthcare

I returned from my run this morning with the following news: "Obama Picks Joe"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not only am I psyched, I am relieved. The other choices were so obviously mediocre. The Democrats needed a hole-in-one, slam dunk VP pick. And, we got one. /And, yes, I am a Democrat.

So, what are Biden's key positions on healthcare reform. I visited his web site and he had me at the second bullet,

Help Medical students find ways to finance their tuition.

His position on universal coverage is reasonable and necessary:

• Start paying for universal coverage with $100B in redundancy.
• Start with catastrophic insurance and insuring all kids.

I am going to run around the house doing my hap-hizzy dance now.

Obama vs. McCain on Health Care

With the Democratic and Republican primaries just around the corner, InDies is going to break down the candidates viewpoints on our favorite topic: Health Care.

I'm going to warn you, it was quite a quagmire to sift through both Obama and McCain's health care reform plans as stated on their respective web sites (perhaps just appropriate response platforms to the current health care junk show.) So, I am going to point out what I felt, after reading their online viewpoints (I wonder if McCain even knows what his URL is?) were the key pieces of their plans.

Obama:

Read in more detail Obama's health care reform here.

Key Points:

• Universal health coverage for children with option to remain on parent's plan until age 25.
• Health Insurance reform to measure quality, fairness in costs (reforming system to remove the monopoly-like hold insurance companies have over premiums) and remove limitations currently set by pre-existing condition clauses. Essentially, under Obama's plan, no one should be turned away because of a known chronic illness or health issue.
  
• Improve hospital care to reduce medical error, hospital-born illness and physician/nurse staffing strains.
• Focus on preventative care
• Focus on advancements in medical records technology, biomedical research, improving mental health care, improving health care for Americans with disabilities and more.
  
• Allow for state-federal flexibility. For example, if a state is already experimenting with new health care approaches, the federal government will only require they adhere to certain, fundamental protocols, but not interfere with the state's plan.
  
• "Quality, Affordable and Portable Health Coverage For All" - this is the wam-doozle of the entire platform (the one Hillary debated him on early in the race for the nomination.) Obama's plan will offer health coverage to all Americans who opt to buy into the plan, and a National Health Exchange subsidy for those who cannot afford the plan outright, but who do not qualify for Medicaid.
  

Woooof! Okay, one down, one more to go.

McCain

McCain's plan is easier to tell you about, because there were a ton of similarities between his and Obama's plan.

Right out the gate, on the McCain Health Care web page of his campaign site it reads:

"Making Health Insurance Innovative, Affordable and Portable." Sound familiar.

McCain's plan promotes many of the same ideals as the Obama plan from where I am reading:

• Improved access to quality, universal coverage
• Improve medical record and health care technology
• Flexibility with state plans
• Preventative care
  
• Removing restrictions on pre-existing conditions
• Reform the health insurance industry to remove the monopolistic behavior
  

Both of them even have specific call-outs to battle Autism.

In the end, I would need a policy wonk to tell me what really makes these two plans very different.

Bottom line is that the health care debate is a stand-alone issue. It can't be compared to any of the other problems we face today because at it's core, health is personal and emotional.
When we get sick, we feel weak, vulnerable and down right lousy. Imagine you felt like that every day for months, even years at a time? And, then imagine that you had to quit your job because you were too sick to manage and then you lose your health insurance, and your three kids do, too. This is why health care is an emotional issue. This is why we can't analogize it in the upcoming primaries.

Maybe it's our puritanical, protestant beginnings that toss away the notion we could even get sick, have a baby, or God forbid take a lunch break at work and enjoy a moment during the non-stop work day. But it seems to me that no one in America is breaking down the health care debate to this simple fact: People will get sick and need help, so health care coverage should be a fundamental right as opposed to a fundamental worry.

/And if you want to make the issue about money, investing in preventative care and supporting the health of individual Americans will, I guarantee you, save our country more money in the long-run.

Summer Camp!

Another year of Camp Periwinkle goes by. This was my second year volunteering a week in August to the Periwinkle Foundation and their camp for children with cancers and some blood disorders. You can check out the pictures here.

Every year I wonder if people will understand what it's like at camp when I tell them. Typically, the words "magical", "inspiring" and "transformative" are the ones I choose to describe camp. It's a week of incredible miracles of the human spirit.

This year, Camp Periwinkle celebrated its 25th anniversary and it's a true testament to the people who organize camp every year that most counselors have been coming back for 5, 10, 15 and 20 years. I am a real newbie, but plan on being a repeat volunteer as long as they will have me.

Working with kids who are fighting diseases with no discernible cure and only treatments has very little to do with sacrifice on my part. It is a privilege to even spend time with them, get a hug, smile or share a cry with them. They teach me far more than I could ever give them.

See you next year Camp Periwinkle.