( – promoted by SFBrianCL)

My day on Wednesday started out in the emergency room at O’Connor Hospital in San Jose.  My wife was awakened at 3:00 A.M. by a severe pain in her right side. At 5:30 she finally woke me and we decided she needed to go to the emergency room. We were in San Jose on business, staying in a hotel and had no idea about hospitals in the area. I picked O’Connor because it was the closest one according to the hotel binder, and I knew our insurance would cover it. My wife was in severe distress. The last thing I wanted or needed to think about was; is this hospital covered, how far away is one that is, how do I find one that is, what if I just go and find out it isn’t. Here’s what I did think about; “What if we didn’t have great insurance, and what about the people who don’t?”

I was surprised to walk into an empty ER. I’m used to the horror stories of people waiting in pain for hours unless they are spurting blood across the room. We found out later that O’Connor is not a trauma center. It is an outstanding private hospital that I’m guessing most uninsured can’t get near. Flashing our insurance card, we quickly got through the paper work and in to be seen by a doctor. My first thought was for my wife, my second was, “I’m glad we have good insurance and don’t have to worry about how much this is gonna cost.” My third thought is what lead to this article, “What if we didn’t, and what about the people who don’t?”

After a few questions, giving up a couple vials of blood, and a dose of pain medication my wife was whisked off to radiology for a sonogram. The sonogram confirmed that she had gall stones and would need to have surgery that afternoon. Without hesitation we agreed to the surgery. We could agree, without hesitation, because we knew we wouldn’t have to face a large surgery bill afterward. In fact there would be no bill at all, not for us anyway, because we have good insurance. My next thought was, “What if we didn’t, and what about the people who don’t?”

During our consultation with the highly regarded, Stanford educated surgeon who would be operating on my wife later in the day, we were told an option to expensive surgery, a painful option, but an option nonetheless. It was to wait and hope that the pain would go away which he said sometimes happens. He didn’t recommend it, but it was an option. Maybe that’s what people without health insurance do; painfully endure while they get sicker and sicker until finally they have no options. I was glad we didn’t have to think about that, but I did because, “What if we didn’t, and what about the people who don’t?”

The surgery went very well. The surgeon told me afterward that we made a good choice. My wife’s gall bladder was worse than the sonogram had shown and really did need to come out. It turned out we didn’t have an option. She would need to rest for awhile and recover from the surgery. That meant an overnight stay in the hospital. That was okay, we have good insurance and once again I catch myself thinking, “What if we didn’t, and what about the people who don’t?”

We’re back home now, but will have to go back to San Jose to see the doctor for follow up. We could probably skip the follow up. I’m sure everything will be okay, and I might take that chance to avoid more cost, but I don’t have to think about that. We have good insurance but, “What if we didn’t, and what about the people who don’t?”

So maybe I beat this drum one too many times, but I’m deadly serious, and yes, the pun is intended. I do think about the people who don’t have health insurance and the people who have poor health insurance with exorbitant co-payments and deductibles. The sad truth is they either don’t get the care they need, even in an emergency, or they just don’t pay, leaving the tab for others to pick up. Bankruptcy is no longer an option, but that’s another article. In the end, we all pay, and it cost us dearly.

What I think about mostly is how unfair our system of health care is, and it makes me angry. It makes me angry that I can walk into any health care provider anywhere in this country, flash my insurance card, and get the care I need without any concern over whether or not I’ll be stuck with an enormous bill that I can’t possibly pay. Everyone should be able to do what we did without financial concern. That would be fair. What really makes me angry is that there aren’t enough people angry enough about the unfairness of our current health care system pushing hard enough to force something to be done about it. There are a few, but all to often I hear the deep sign of resignation, “It will never happen.” But it has to happen, it can happen and it can happen now.

Universal health care is within our reach. The question isn’t can we, but will we. Do we have the will to insure every citizen in this state and this country and provide universal health care as every other industrialized nation in the world has? Do we have the will to recognize health care as a right to be protected, rather than a privilege to be hoarded. Unfortunately, I don’t have confidence in a positive answer to either question, but I do know this; together, we can do better.

This short episode in my life won’t be soon forgotten. It has given me pause to count my blessings. Yes, I count myself among the blessed in this nation, but the next time I go to the hospital I really would rather not catch myself thinking, “What if we weren’t so blessed, and what about the people who aren’t?”

On health care, together, we can do better.

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Want to Call Brian?  Well, here you go:

( – promoted by SFBrianCL)

No, I mean actual fruit.  Particularly fresh fruit.  It turns out that he found yet one more special interest that he does like.  From the LA Weekly:

[Arnold]insisted, too, on a third bill, which appropriated $18.2 million for a fresh-fruit breakfast program for low-income students. This was “very important legislation,” in the assessment of Ken Hecht, executive director of the San Francisco–based nonprofit nutrition group California Food Policy Advocates. “The program would introduce a large number of kids to fresh fruit,” Hecht said, “and if they eat that, they’ll eat much less of the junk food that’s putting so much weight on young people.”

But on the evening of September 7 — the night before the Assembly adjourned — Los Angeles Democrat Jackie Goldberg, who chaired the Assembly Education Committee, to which the bill had been assigned, was stunned to see that the bill, unceremoniously re-referred to the Agriculture Committee, had reached the floor with its 12 references to “fresh” fruit and vegetables eliminated and replaced by a dozen references to “nutritious” fruit and vegetables. Goldberg asked Republican Assembly leader Kevin McCarthy, who’d become the rewritten bill’s chief sponsor, to explain the changes.

“First, he said it referred to raisins and nuts, and I said, ‘Fine,’ ” Goldberg recalled. “Then, the word was there were some seasons when they couldn’t find fresh fruit.” Goldberg then proposed that the bill refer to “fresh and minimally processed” fruit that was freeze-dried but devoid of additional sugar or salt preservatives. “Peaches in their own juices,” Goldberg said. “But the Governor’s Office said no to that.” Lobbyists for the canning industry and the governor’s people, working discreetly behind the scenes, insisted on including canned fruit under the scope of the bill. It was in that form, over Goldberg’s and other progressives’ objections, that the bill passed and was signed by Schwarzenegger last week.

And what, pray, could have influenced Arnold to muck up his anti-obesity, healthy-food breakfasts for California kids with countless cans of processed food? Adducing causality in these matters is always an imperfect science, but we do know that as of September 12, the campaign committees that Arnold controls had received $421,000 from the Dole Food/Castle & Cook group of processed-fruit companies, and another $319,000 from Dean Cortopassi, CEO of San Tomo, a San Joaquin Valley food canner and processor. That’s a total of $740,000 in canned-fruit moola from just two large contributors. If that kind of money couldn’t buy a decent legislative outcome now and then, the damage to the lobbyist’s faith in the system would be beyond calculation.

So, he says he hates special interests, but as we all know, it’s only special interests that don’t give him money that he hates.

Hey everybody!  Anybody want to start doing some front-page posting here?  Let me know.

An in other notes, is there an interest in open-threads.  If so, consider this one.  I’m trying to decide if it’s worth it to do them here.

I’ve had some private email wondering what we were doing to get ready for the General Election. Since Steve Young, the presumptive Democratic nominee and Democratic Party of California endorsed Candidate for the CA-48th, will be facing John Campbell, the presumptive Republican nominee, a millionaire and the entire Republican machine, I thought just this one little press release might give you some of the flavor of the quality of people jumping on board our campaign. (Our Open Primary, all candidates on one ballot, is Tuesday Oct. 4. We fully expect to be the Democratic Nominee.)

I was not aware of this Blog until Mary Scott O’Conner did me the favor of informing me today. I will make sure you are kept up to speed on the very important race. The CA-48th in Newport Beach is the Republicans Crown Jewel in California. And we have a very, very good chance of taking it away from them.

Visit our very advanced and unusual website, Steve Young for Congress to literally meet the Candidate for yourself.

This press item was released to the MSM yesterday:

Steve Young Gears Up for Special Election
 Campaign Rides Momentum into Oct. 4 Primary with Additional Advisors Joining the Campaign

more on the flip

(IRVINE — Sept. 30, 2005) — The Steve Young for Congress campaign entered the final week before the October 4th special election with the announcement of Lori Kreloff and Brad Chase joining the campaign as senior staff members.  Kreloff, formerly a major donor fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee, will lead the campaign’s Washington DC based Political Action Committee fundraising efforts while Chase will serve as press secretary.  

“The competition is heating up in advance of the primary and we’re bringing aboard the big guns to add depth to our campaign,” said Steve Young, Democratic candidate for California’s 48th Congressional District.  “John Campbell may be telling the media that he has the election in hand, but the race is far from over and my campaign is adding seasoned veterans such as Lori and Brad to add depth and expertise to our staff that will take the campaign to the next level and to Washington.”

Kreloff’s primary responsibility will be to create and foster relationships with Mid-Atlantic and National Political Action Committee donors and raise funds for the campaign.  She previously worked at the DNC as California Finance Director and Mid-Atlantic Finance Director and is involved at a senior level for several major campaigns.  She graduated from the University of Illinois.

Chase will lead the campaign’s public relations efforts and serve as Young’s primary spokesperson.  Previously, he was employed by Hill & Knowlton, a global public relations consultancy, in its Los Angeles office.  He received bachelor’s degrees in government and philosophy from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in strategic public relations from the University of Southern California.

Since we are going up against the best the Republicans have to offer we will answer with the same. Just thought you’d want to know your dollars, (and thank you for the ActBlue support of the last few days…keep up the good work), are being spent on essential tasks.

The Unions have promised substantial support to the Nominee so Wednesday we begin that process with our Washington DC person being the leader in that cause.

Since we support The Apollo Alliance that opens a very unlikely series of PAC alliances as well. We will explore every financial avenue….likely and unlikely.

Steve Young is a Dynamic speaker and we hope to capture a speech to a crowd soon and place it on site so you can see his ability to move a crowd. He isn’t a normal Candidate.

Thanks for the support and please keep it coming at Steve Young for Congress.

PS:If  The John and Ken Show on KFI audiostream on the Net, Steve is walking into the Lions Den Monday afternoon and facing down, again, the major candidates. He loves that sort of thing. It might be worth a listen. He generally thrives on that sort of combative atmosphire. John and Ken don’t play fair. And I think he’s looking forward to it.

[PPS: Just realized that if you use Firefox and have had the browser open over night or for days, like I have, you may need to open a new Browser, or new TAB to get the site. Why? Not sure and have our techs investigating…but I’m passing it along.And we have had intermittment server problems today. Please be patient.]