The columnist is an Atlanta attorney and the founder of VoteHealthcare.org. The beginning of her column describes family situation which precipitated her involvement in a "20,000-mile journey across 30 states to the District of Columbia." This was a listening tour, where she was welcomed and became known as the "purple bus lady." She and others experienced quite a disconnect at their destination...Ground shifting on Rx debateBy Kathie McClure, Guest columnist
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
...My reception inside the Washington beltway set quite a different tone. For starters, a law-abiding citizen cannot park her little bus anywhere near the great halls of democracy. Once in the Capitol, the frustration intensifies. Upon conveying our health care ordeals to the staff of Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, our delegation received caring looks and bags of peanuts, but no solutions.
Senate Democrats seem just as tone deaf as they reel from sticker shock at the price of their private insurance-based proposals. We don’t need the Congressional Budget Office to tell us that a system geared to maximizing insurance and pharmaceutical profits is unaffordable.
What politicians fail to grasp is that voters are wise to these insatiable cookie monsters who, according to the Washington Post, are paying lobbyists $1.4 million each day to defeat meaningful reform. Like the throngs surrounding the offices of Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), people everywhere are outraged that their representatives accept millions of dollars from insurance and pharmaceutical interests but refuse to consider an affordable public health insurance option.
The majority of us want a robust public plan option because we know it’s the only way to keep private insurers honest and make them compete for our business. Every single person I met along my journey is willing to pay his or her fair share...
More at
http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/stories/2009/07/08/mcclureed_0708.htmlBTW, http://www.votehealthcare.org/ looks like a good resource. Correct me if I'm wrong, DUers.