Why the Healthcare Bill Should Stand: A Personal Appeal

I realize that many are are against the new healthcare reforms, and believe that they should be repealed. I can only hope that this post can put a face on the need for the reforms, and may make you consider the issue from a different light.

My name is Meredith, and I am 20 years old. I have a disease called a Primary Immune Deficiency. My immune system does not produce antibodies correctly and parts are missing, and consequentially I get sick frequently and severely. I also suffer from Sjogren's Syndrome, Celiac Disease, and peripheral neuropathy in my hands, forearms, and feet. My greatest dream for as long as I can remember was to serve my country in order to honor my family's nearly 100 years of past military service, but my health issues disqualify me.

I started my plan of spending 8+ years in college last fall in order to become a Nuclear Engineer and hopefully work for the Navy someday. My insurance coverage from my parents will run out when I am 25. I will not be done with my schooling and the only option left to me if the healthcare reform is repealed will be to try and buy a policy from a private insurer. Due to my preexisting conditions, I would be considered in the "high-risk" category, and a policy would cost upwards of $16,000 a month. I doubt many of you could afford this plan, let alone a college student. To compound this, due to all of the health issues, I am currently unable to get a part-time job in addition to attending college.

Unless this healthcare reform stands, it could become a matter of life and death for me. My main medication, antibody replacement therapy for the Primary Immune Deficiency, costs over $100 a gram to make. I use 80 grams monthly, so that is $8,000 a month for that medication alone. Including all prescriptions, doctors appointments, medical testing, hospitalizations, ect., it costs over $250,000 to keep me alive for a year. Despite the cost, why do I deserve any less of a chance to live my life than anyone else?

I do not write this blog post lightly. I could be throwing away my future chances of working for the Navy, the only dream I have left, and the one thing that keeps me going. This healthcare reform is too important for me not to speak up and speak out. I realize to many people that I am merely a massive expenditure of money, something to be avoided like the plague.

I think if people take one thing away from this post, if one thing only.

I did not ask to be born with all of these health issues, and I do everything in my power to keep them under control.

I will never give up until the day I die. Until then, I will keep exercising 5+ times a week, even when sick, eating healthy, taking all of my medications, and being as proactive as I can about my health. I am also currently pursuing experimental treatment for my Primary Immune Deficiency, as all else has failed.

I refuse to simply lie down and die.

I want to live.

-Mer

For more information on Primary Immune Deficiencies:
http://www.primaryimmune.org/about_pi/about_pi.htm

Quotes from the Frontrunners

As the primaries loom closer... I present- Quotes from the front runners of both parties (with commentary!).

REPUBLICANS

Rudy Giuliani-

"Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do and how you do it."

Actually Rudy, Freedom is defined as liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another and/or a political right.

"There are many qualities that make a great leader. But having strong beliefs, being able to stick with them through popular and unpopular times, is the most important characteristic of a great leader. "

Hmm... and you've done that Rudy?

Fred Thompson-

"China is one of the world's greatest proliferators of weapons of mass destruction to these rogue nations."

I have no words on this one- just another quote from him-

"Clearly, the Chinese know that we want a good relationship with them."

I would stick with playing an authority figure Fred- not actually being one.

Mitt Romney-

"And a special thank you to the citizens of Massachusetts: You are paying all the taxes, creating all the jobs, raising all the children. This government is yours. Thank you for letting me serve you. I love this job."

Hmm... It seems to me that there are children, taxpayers, and new jobs in the other 49 states- and the government doesn't belong to Massachusetts alone.

"Ronald Reagan was a president of strength. His philosophy was a philosophy of strength - a strong military, a strong economy and strong families."

Do I even have to point out the problems with this one?

Mike Huckabee-

"One thing governors feel, Democrats and Republicans alike, is that we have a health care system that, if you're on Medicaid, you have unlimited access to health care, at unlimited levels, at no cost. No wonder it's running away."

Actually- One of the BIG problems of Medicaid is that it LIMITS the access to quality health care. Not to mention it rations the treatments and services that you can receive.

"The health care system is really designed to reward you for being unhealthy. If you are a healthy person and work hard to be healthy, there are no benefits."

Wake up Huckabee- Under the Family and Medical Leave act, you get up to 12 weeks of UNPAID leave in a twelve month period. Sick wages are often much less than normal too... do you call that a reward?

DEMOCRATS

Hillary Clinton-

"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."

Besides the obvious grammatical errors... Hillary- your husband was the president. Not you. He may have asked you for advice on occasion, but he was the president. It's not a tandem job.

"If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle."

Ok... so you're going to knock front page stories- which often do with good deeds, or the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan- because you want to change your hairstyle. I'm sure our fighting men and women really appreciate how much time you spend on your hair.

Barack Obama

"No one is pro-abortion."

I think the pro-choice people would argue you on that point.

"We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. "

This quote is simply wrong in so many ways- especially when you hear this one-

"There is not a liberal America and a conservative America - there is the United States of America. There is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asian America - there's the United States of America."

So if there's not a liberal America and a conservative America- surely there's no Red States or Blue States, since we're simply "The United States of America."

John Edwards-

"I was wrong to vote for this war. Unfortunately, I'll have to live with that forever. And the lesson I learned from it is to put more faith in my own judgment."

How was your judgement when you had your campaign pay for your $400 dollar haircut?