Where to begin? Heath care reform passed last night. Health care reform passed last night!!!
This morning when I got out of bed-alarmless, and before kids-the first thing I did was check my iphone. I refreshed the New York Times app, and there, the first feed read; Obama Hails Vote on Health Care as Answering ‘the call of history’.
And I have not stopped crying since. Luckily it’s Monday and I don’t have kids underfoot; because my four-year-old couldn’t understand why I was tearing-up. "Because I'm so happy!" I explained to her, but she just wrinkled her nose and shook her head. As I was driving the girls to school; I tried to explain to her that an important bill passed…”a bill that will make it easier and more affordable for everyone to get the important medicines they need.”
Sienna paused for a moment, trying to make sense of what I just had said.
Then she followed-up with, “where”.
“In Washington DC” I explained.
“Wash…..shonton….Deeeee…Ceee?
“Yeah, that’s where Obama lives”.
I could see an unsteady smile gradually spread across her face in the rearview mirror.
This part she got. She knows Obama, one of her many famous quotes can be found here when she was two-years-old. Somehow she thought the ‘O’ in Obama was a possessive. (perhaps because of the spirited tone of the anchormen and women speaking either in favor of-or against of the then-candidate during the election). So Obama became “My Bama” to Sienna.
What I didn’t explain to Sienna because Luna was sitting in the car seat next to her; is that this bill prevents insurance companies from dropping children with pre-existing conditions, while also eliminating lifetime caps, and finally prevents insurance companies from hiking rates and deductibles on families and individuals who place a lot of claims. (as all three of these measures directly protect Luna).
So, instead of explaining all of this to the precocious four-year-old, I drove down the windy country road, all three of us in silence. And for the first time, on a deeper, more personal level, I could understand what it felt like just moments after Obama was elected into office, when camera angle after camera angle depicted a black man or woman weeping. “These tears are real”, as my four-year-old often says, defending her emotions. Yes Sienna, real tears of joy.
3 comments:
I sat up last night on my fold out hospital bed/chair next to my sleeping child watching the vote on my computer.
I am SOOO Happy!
Children aren't "dropped" because of pre-existing conditions.
And when your daughter asked "where," the correct answer is, "From the taxpayers." And when discussing the "important medicines," it needs to be understood that the reasons those medicines exist and were nearly all invented in the United States (and not the other countries with taxpayer-funded health care) is because of for-profit insurance companies.
Since insurance companies can no longer refuse people with pre-existing conditions (they can't "drop" people who were already covered or born into an insurance-carrying family), I think all of us should drop our insurance and wait until we get sick to get insurance. Oh wait, we can't do that or we'll be in jail.
I know you don't know me, and I know you'll find my comment harsh, but I'm passionate about this because our sick grandkids aren't going to have the resources we currently do because they'll be so deep in debt from what we've passed onto them.
This is a great example of what's possible and far superior to the most inefficient and poorly managed operation in the world: government.
www.mercytn.org
Post a Comment