From one who was born with universal health care

[hatesthegop]

It was bittersweet moment for me as I watched tv in my hotel room Sunday evening and had my wife on the phone..at times becoming near wheepy!

I was born in West Germany a little over a decade after World War II ended. I contracted a case of encephalitis at 6 months old. It is usually if not a killer for a child that age, then very very serious with life long effects. I spent six months in a hospital, my mom was a struggling single mom seamtress. The bill: $11.57 (equivilent in German Marks) universal health care basically saved my life.

Fast forward 39 years later...I had cancer a second time and this time uninsured. First time I was insured and yes, it was rough financially but we made it as a family. A career switch made it so that I could not get insurance because of my pre-existing condition. This time it nearly pulled our family apart. In order to keep the creditors at bay, we lost our house and car...I kept filing for bankruptcy even though I knew that it was illegal to do so more than once every 6 years...but I also knew that it would stop collections and force the service provider to keep providing the health service already begun..as a result I spent 9 mopnths in a federal prison and have a felony record. My wife was fired as a teacher from a wealthy conservative Catholic School because of all the creditor calls and then my situation.

While I know this bill is not perfect, it is start. We need to do what is right as a nation. If we can spend 4 trillion to kill people in a dubious war that loses 5000 lives and wrecks our gloobal good will, then we sure as hell can fund universal health care... I pray that the foot is in the door to the chamber of universal health care with this bill..and am so appreciative to those who took political and careers risks for it's passage..

May we go forward from here.......

[helderheid]

1. K&R

[kestrel91316]

2. Lack of universal health CARE is this nation's great shame as we make our

way into the second decade of the 21st century.

But at least now we can envision a path that leads to it. Let's all work to make it so.