More on Health Care

I'm now 19 and I've been working since I was 14 years old. My dad has a doctorate and has always worked fulltime. My mom has a masters, has stayed at home, worked full time, worked two jobs and now works 36 hours a week. For the vast majority of my life my brother my sister and I have had no health insurance. There was a period when my mother was able to get insurance from the state, which covered me and looked like a good plan.
With state insurance I went to my doctor that I had gone to since I was little and my parents had paid cash with. My long-time doctor's clinic didn't accept the state insurance. So I decided to pay cash like we always had. But after they knew I was insured, even though they couldn't accept my card, they couldn't see me as a cash patient.
So there I was sick, with plenty of cash in my pocket since I've always worked hard, and a medical card, but unable to see my long-time doctor. Something is seriously, seriously wrong in America when both medical insurance and cash are no good, and sick people aren't able to get treatment.
Most politicians and media elites don't address or repond to this issue, they can't understand the issue unless they feel this issue as I have felt it. To me, Howard Dean is the truest of heros for standing up and fighting for quality preventative health care in America.

Here is Dean's most recent address at democracyforamerica.com

A Moral Crisis

by Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

In the richest, most advanced country in the world in the 21st century, it's simply wrong for sick children to go without seeing a doctor because their parents can't afford it. It's wrong for a woman to find out she has late-stage breast cancer, because she couldn't afford a mammogram. It's wrong for seniors to have to choose between prescriptions they need and putting food on the table. The time has come to make healthcare for all Americans a reality.

It is more important that we do this in 2004 than perhaps ever before. In this election year, the crisis of health care costs is front and center as perhaps never before. Health care costs for workers have gone up by 50% since George Bush took office. In fact, costs are up four times the rate of inflation. Middle class families are paying more than they can bear and it's no surprise that nearly four million more Americans have become uninsured while George Bush has been in the White House.

President Bush hasn't lifted a finger to hold down soaring health care costs to help more families afford health insurance and help the families that already have health insurance but are struggling to pay the bills. Instead, he's done the bidding of the big prescription drug companies and HMOs that benefit from rising costs. The cost of the top 10 most used prescription drugs have gone up about nine percent over the last year alone.

I'm supporting John Kerry for President because he has a real and realistic plan to hold down costs and cover the uninsured without raising taxes on the middle class or putting in place a big government bureaucracy. He would let everyday Americans buy into the same great health care plan that the President and Members of Congress get - and he'd help working families and small business owners afford the costs. And his plan has been praised for using carrots and sticks to really hold down runaway health care costs.

How can we, the richest country on this earth, continue to do nothing while 44 million Americans live without health coverage? In this election, we have a chance to fix that. The millions of families without health insurance - the millions more that have coverage but are killing themselves to pay the bills - are looking for new leadership that will make that happen. Those are the stakes.

I believe John Kerry's plan is sensible and that it can pass Congress -- but most importantly, I believe that it is the right thing to do. When I graduated from medical school, I took an oath in which I pledged to practice my profession with conscience and dignity and to always make the health of our patients my first consideration. I still believe in that oath. And that's why I believe John Kerry is the clear choice to be our next President.