Health Care Reform

The day started out rainy and early for a gal who went out with the girls last night, but never mind, that could be another bloggable event. It was the morning of a Health Care Forum hosted at Valley View Manor, the assisted living apartments in conjunction with our skilled nursing home. Senator Kent Conrad was the on the panel along with Bonnie Thom, RPharm - owner of Velva Drug; Dr. Brian Vibeto an orthodontist in Minot and small business operator with ties to Velva and Mike Hammer LPN, at Souris Valley Care Center. In the following photo Jim Dropper,our regional director of the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society, Sioux Falls, SD, is introducing the panel. Forums are being held around North Dakota by Senators Conrad and Byron Dorgan, both Democrats. They are proving to be informational on both sides of the fence.



Now let me inform you how uniformed I am when it comes to health care reform. I do listen to radio, TV, read (skim??!) newspapers, magazines and the Internet, so I have some idea of what is going on but to be in the know on this huge issue is further down on my checklist, not because I don't care but my cranium is like a soup bowl, it can only hold so much at one time. Today I had my curiosity piqued. I feel I need to find a bigger soup bowl.

At precisely 9:00 am Senator Conrad arrived with his support people in tow. Also on board were the county Sheriff, a deputy and U.S. Marshall. Being on the hosting committee and photography I was told to take pictures of him interacting with constituents and good old handshaking. The Nikon didn't let me down.






The crowd was peaceful though around the country there have been "thugs" who want their issues known, and not necessarily in a quiet manner. We had some sign toters who could have gotten boisterous but didn't.








And then the questions came, good questions that I too had thought needed to be asked. So what about...


... money, remember the ginormous deficit, wouldn't this pretty much max out our card?

...who will police mandatory insurance? (mandatory insurance?? yeah right)

...what about the ER frequent fliers after narcs, drama, and attention? Ten years on the ambulance, I saw a first hand a subculture that really exists and in their unique way they are chronically sick.

...drugs, the cost of the newest and the best are always the most expensive. If I were in dire straights, grabbing at anything to make me well, sure I'd want the best and the brightest on the shelf.

...the elderly, nursing home care, home health?

...diagnostic test and equipment: we want them, the docs rely on them, ka-ching, ka-ching ka-ching!!

...the small business owner who is barely making it and then needs to pay for a portion of his employees insurance?

There was a frail 35 year old women who has had Lupus for nearly 20 years. She read a moving note of gratitude to Senator Conrad, he and Senator Dorgan, they were her heroes. They were working to make things happen. With hope she will live long enough to know first hand of the changes.

Well, I've only hit on the minute crumb of this dilemma. I have figured out though we cannot not do anything, something needs to happen. I will do my part, but first I need to find a bigger soup bowl.