One Hundred Dollars

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5750010875003796358.post-23142497377985175422008-03-27T22:43:00.001-04:002008-03-27T22:46:23.471-04:002008-03-27T22:46:23.471-04:00One Hundred DollarsI went to hear Hillary speak in DC last night. I’ve heard her speak 3 or 4 times before and I swear I learn something new at each event. Her depth of knowledge and passion when it comes to all of the issues our next president will have to deal with just blows me away. This woman is tuned in to the things that keep people awake nights with worry; health care; the crap economy; climate change and how to reverse it; paying for college for ourselves or our kids; losing a home to foreclosure; rising prices of food and fuel. She knows what we really care about and she has a plan to deal with it all. Now after more than a year on the campaign trail, and many more in public service I’m sure she’s heard more tales of worry and woe than any of us could ever imagine. I’ve learned enough about her over the years from people who’ve worked with her and know her well to know that she doesn’t forget these stories easily, and does all she can to help if it’s at all possible. Hillary told one of those stories last night and it just breaks my heart to think of it. I raced to type it out before I slept last night so I could record what she said, knowing it’s something that should be shared on forums like this. Take a look… Hillary said she'd talked with a deputy sheriff in a town in southern Ohio recently, along the Ohio river (?), and he talked of a woman in their town who worked at the local pizza place for minimum wage. You can imagine how little she got in tips there and the woman was just scraping by like millions in our society right now. Lived in a small apartment and lived paycheck to paycheck. Just scraping by that is until she got pregnant. Along the way she started having problems with her pregnancy so she eventually went to the local hospital. Since she had no insurance and they couldn't afford to take her on as charity etc, they asked for $100 before they would look at her. She didn't have the money so she went home. She was still having problems / pain so she went back and asked for help. They asked for $100 before they'd see her so she was sent home again. Next time she went to the hospital it was in an ambulance. Teams of doctors and nurses worked feverishly to help her, but she eventually lost her baby. (That's not the end of it guys...) She was still in really bad shape, so they air lifted her to the nearest facility that could really help her with what she needed - a hospital in Columbus. Round the clock care in the ICU for the next 15 days - but this young woman who'd asked repeatedly for help - died. All for want of $100 and a little compassion in our fucked up healthcare system. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to save her and her soon-to-be baby and both lost their lives - her little one lost the battle before s/he could even take a single breath of air. All for want of $100. I'm near tears here thinking about it. This doesn't happen in the United States of America - right? This happens in developing nations in Africa or Asia - China maybe. Wherever - ANYwhere but here. A little boy in DC died a couple years ago from blood poisoning - toothache and his mother couldn't afford dental insurance (neither can my family so this really hit home) nor could she afford to take him in when his tooth started to hurt him. Poor child ended up dead and his mother's left to grieve - right here in America. It's not supposed to happen here right? Wrong. My own father lost his health care coverage because he confused his premium payment one month and fell 2 cents short. The Blues were only too glad to get him off their rolls – he had a bad heart, Crohn’s Disease (auto-immune disease) and emphysema. Without insurance he couldn’t get his weekly shot for the crohns, so he’d get so sick he ended up in the ER needing an infusion of medicine that cost the state of Florida $10,000 per treatment. My father’s heart eventually gave out and he died at the age of 61. All over 2 cents. That’s not supposed to happen here in the states – right? Wrong again. This sort of thing happens all the time – NYCEve writes about these injustices and murder by spreadsheet and has for years. Our health care system doesn’t work – too many are left to die for want of 2 cents or $100. The sooner we get real universal health care the better. Hillary’s the only candidate proposing a plan that will cover all of us. That little boy didn’t have to die. My father didn’t have to go without care. That poor woman in Ohio didn't have to lose her soon-to-be baby and she didn't have to lose her life. Not here. Not in the 21st century.Alegrenoreply@blogger.com