My Letter to anyone who will listen. (All my representatives are male.)

Well, hello there. I am a Democrat and an activist. During the last election I knocked on doors and made phone calls to get DEMOCRATS elected. Why? Because republicans, with their trickle down economics, open market theories, and invasions on countries that did not attack us have landed us in an unsustainable and dangerous position.

And now, sir, I fear you are going to join them and their flawed rationales. Did you know that government healthcare was merely a ruse to euthanize senior citizens? Sir the Health Insurance lobby is spending 1.??? Million dollars a day to make sure lies and misrepresentations like these make it into the public consciousness and influence your vote.

However, none of the gullible people who believe these lies are ever going to work for, lobby for, or vote for you. So stop grabbing your toes and letting them have their way with you.

I have a genetic metabolic bone disease, osteogenesis imperfecta. My mother had it, my sisters have it, my daughter and my son have it, and my beautiful twin granddaughters have it. It’s what’s known as a pre-existing condition. My husband and I once tried to start our own business. This is America, right, where we are free to make our own choices? Where capitalism gives poor people the opportunity to make something of themselves? Well not if you have OI. We quickly learned that we could NOT get medical insurance. Now insurance companies have to comply with a waiting period for pre-existing conditions, but they can charge you exorbitant amounts.

My daughter and her husband have their own business in Chicago, and they pay $1,500 a month for insurance. That’s more than my take-home pay. And they are fortunate to live near a Shriners’ Hospital. But what’s going to happen to my daughter if she breaks her hip and the insurance company denies the claim? She’s 33-years-old and has spent a good deal of her life in body-casts. I’m trying to recover from my third broken hip. My fist was when I was 10-years-old, my second when I was 28. We had insurance through our employers. We had to pay $100 out of pocket for coverage.

If I had to cover my husband it would cost me $800 a month, for a family it would be $1,600 out of my pocket when I take home $1,200 a month. I am the Assistant Business Manager for the Museum of Western Colorado, and our premium for a single employee is $620 a MONTH. Small businesses are getting it up the back-side. If they’re the engine of our economy then prepare for third world status, because they are getting screwed. Our health insurance premiums have more than doubled in the past 5 years. The businesses responsible enough to try to cover their employees are making difficult choices. No small business can afford to cover dependants. And people who work for a living are penalized for making too much money. They do not qualify for Medicaid.

Who pays for their children’s broken bones, leukemia, and muscular-dystrophy? Tax-payers.

Now we discover that you have not committed to a public option. Why is that? To court your conservative constituents? They wouldn’t vote for you if you tattooed and giant S on your chest and captured Osama bin Laden single-handedly.

I, sir, am the one who will get you re-elected, and I ask, no DEMAND, that you support a meaningful public option, that you require employers to cover their employees and families (that will level that playing-field, so don’t let them tell you it will hurt their ability to compete), and that you require that every American has health insurance. Every single one of us. We have the most expensive healthcare in the world, yet thousands of people lose their coverage every day.

I will be watching, knocking on doors, calling, and donating. I voted for you, now it’s your turn to vote for me.

Respectfully,

Joan E. Cron.