Stand and Deliver Indeed

What a profound coincidence that on the very day the House is voting on groundbreaking health care legislation, I came across an LA Times article about Jaime Escalante, the famed Los Angeles math teacher that was immortalized in the film Stand and Deliver. The teacher is battling bladder cancer and his family has run out of money to pay his medical bills. Now, the actors from the movie, including the man that played him, Edward James Olmos, are trying to raise money to pay for his care.

Actors paying medical bills? If this is not a wake-up call about how broken our health care system is, I don’t know what more evidence we need. Jaime Escalante taught and inspired inner-city kids to think about themselves beyond their gang-riddled neighborhoods. He led them to pass the AP Calculus test, not an easy thing to do, even for the brightest students in America. Now, he sits in a hospital in Reno, hoping that the generosity of Hollywood can give him the care he needs.

Just during the past few days, I’ve heard anecdote after personal anecdote about how incredibly expensive it is becoming for ordinary middle class families to pay for the most basic health care. The list is long and horrifying: $600 prescriptions, life-saving procedures denied as unnecessary (a three month old baby with a heart condition!) and 40-50% price hikes on plans in California.

I just watched a GOP congressman on the floor of the House argue that America used to be great because they required their citizens to be self-reliant, to pay their way to get their entitlements. I guess this guy’s parents are ripping up their Social Security checks and not using their Medicare benefits. These, my mentally challenged friend, are single-payer systems. If those who stand against this bill truly are standing on principal, each of them should have their parents relinquish their benefits as part of a socialist system. Each of them should have to pay full price for every procedure, every pill, every check-up they need. Each of them should have to pay out of pocket to help their parents navigate retirement with costs rising on everything from groceries, to gas to electricity.

Stand and deliver indeed. Let’s hope that our legislators have the courage to make the sweeping change that is needed for all Americans, including Jaime Escalante.

Have they lost their minds?

Watching the President address a special joint session of Congress last night on health care I was reminded why so many politicians are loathed by Americans. I have never witnessed a group of more petulant, arrogant, rude and downright unruly people in my life. Grown men scowling, waving papers, shouting “You Lie!” These wingnuts have lost their minds! Has anyone ever seen this level of disrespect in our government? Articulate, draft a counterproposal, argue your points but don’t sit in chamber with your GOP friends and act like complete hooligans. It was like watching one of those English soccer matches gone bad. I am horrified. The GOP has become less than a joke. They now represent a party of legislators that exist only to tear things down and risk the future of this country.

During the primaries, the GOP stirred up a hornet’s nest when they saw that the then candidate for President, Barack Obama wasn’t wearing an American flag pin on his lapel. Given what I witnessed last night, I cannot understand how they could have ever questioned his patriotism.

We Could Have Lost Our House

I recently sent a note to the CEO and COO of my employer, thanking them for providing a great health care plan for their employees. It sounds like a total kiss ass thing to do, but I swear it came out of a very pure place. A few months ago, Aidan got walking pneumonia and was so severely dehydrated they admitted him into the hospital and he spent two days on IV.

That wasn’t the first time that Aidan had spent an extended period of time in the hospital. When he was less than a minute old, they rushed him to the neonatal ICU and treated him for wet lungs and what they thought was a heart murmur. Paul and I were scared out of our minds, but also had to take care of his twin sister, Paulina. Eight days later, when Aidan was finally discharged, we had to bring him to a pediatric cardiologist for more tests and more follow-up care. Between my one-month hospitalization for going into preterm labor, the C-Section for the birth of twins, Aidan’s time in the ICU and with specialists, I flinched at the thought of our deductible. Had we not had good health insurance then, we probably would have lost our house.

In a year when health care reform is a bullet or update on every 24-hours news service, not a day passes that I don’t think about what this proposed bill could mean for my children and for my children’s children. Being the daughter of immigrant parents that lived in a country where only the wealthy can afford any type of health care, I have never taken health insurance for granted.

It is truly staggering to think that nearly 50 million Americans do not have health coverage. It takes only one freak accident, one genetic anomaly, one bad cell to turn into the C word for the livelihood of a family to be turned upside down. In the dire moments of a catastrophic prognosis, when all one wants is for those they love to be well, billing can become an even greater nightmare. As Congress returns after their August recess, I can only hope that progress can be made on a sensible health care bill.