Ok, I wrote the President about my feelings on the Public Option.

[GreenPartyVoter]

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing to express my fervent desire to see the strongest possible public option enacted in our new health care system. I have been on Medicaid for most of my adult life, and I can tell you that it is the only reason I am mentally stable. Without it, I could never afford the visits to the psychiatrist or the expensive prescriptions needed to keep my bipolar illness in check.

I want so much for my family, friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens whom I do not know but care about to have the option of having the government assist them with their medical bills. I have never been brought before a death panel and I don't feel like a "dangerous socialist" or a "bum." Rather, I feel like I have been given a chance at a normal life because I can receive the health care that I need to function without sacrificing money from the family budget that was earmarked for food and other expensive bills.

Please, Mr. President; we know that a strong public option is affordable. There is no excuse for not having one except for giving in to fear mongers, ignorance, and the insurance industry. Please give _all_ Americans the opportunity to have what I have, without having to force them into staying poor enough to qualify to receive medical care. No one should _ever_ have to qualify to have good health!

Thank you for your time, Sir. I wish you great luck in weathering the debate over fixing the health care system, and I pray that you will stand firm in representing those who cannot in any way afford even the most modified plan from a for-profit insurance company, whose greatest interest is in denying people care.

Respectfully Yours,

GPV

Whoops! That was supposed to go in this thread: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x8599227 :blush:

[Hugin]

1. Well, never-the-less... Very well written and inspiring, GPV. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Thank you. I know so many other DUers have stories that back up the need

for Public Option, too.

[NYC_SKP]

3. Great Letter! And worthy of it's own OP!

rec'd

:hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Thanks :^)

:hi: back!

[truedelphi]

5. Great letter and OP.

And a K & R from my household.

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Thanks! I keep finding little grammatical mistakes in it. I wish I hadn't

hit the send button so soon. But I am sure he & his aides can figure out what I meant to say even with the missing article here and preposition there. LOL

[truedelphi]

9. Our elected officals are more interested in the

PROPOSITIONS than the prepositions, so I wouldn't sweat it.

But if enough of them hear from enough of us, maybe this health reform will get soemwhere.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Heheh. Yep. The meat of the matter was expressed clearly enough, so I think they'll get the

point and put my letter in the "For PO" column.

[Zodiak]

40. I would not worry about grammatical mistakes

After all, the people on other side of the issue have such bad English that they might as well be writing in crayon.

I wrote yesterday, as well...

[GreenPartyVoter]

42. Crayon? LOL Thanks for also writing!

[ProSense]

7. Love it! Excellent. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Thank you. Maybe I should send it to some Congress people as well.

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. Who are the anti-PO Blue Dogs I should send this to? Does someone have a list?

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. Kickin for a list of anyone relevent I should send this to. I already

did the President, Olympia Snowe, Grassley, and Baucus.

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. Got a petition that reaches 65 House members, so I sent it on to them as well. Link inside.

http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/keepthepledge

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. Also wrote to Rep. Pelosi

[tsuki]

12. Excellent. We need to double down. Let the President know how we see things. nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

13. Yep. We need to let them know that we far outnumber the the people

who are doing the shouting at the town halls.

[Apollo11]

15. Cool letter

I see you just admitted to being a Green Party Voter, and a Christian, with a history of mental illness ... all in one post!

Way to put your cards on the table, dude! ;-)

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. I left out the part about my fatness, though. I had to save something back for later. LOL

[Cha]

17. Thank you, Green Party Voter..

that's the kind of respectful action to take.

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. Thanks! I hope someone gets a chance to really read it. I checked off that I would like a reply and

am hoping I get one. Would be so cool for my kids to see that I got a reply from the WH.

[Cha]

19. I wrote too and checked off

I would like a reply.:)

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. Awesome! I hope you get one too. It's been great listening to DUers talk about

the time they have taken to call or write TPTB about this issue. The big trick will be getting non-political people to make contact, and to open the eyes of the average person who thinks they are against it when in actuality if they knew more about it they would be all for it. It's definitely a numbers game, and we need all the people we can get to tell the people running the show down in DC that Americans really want this.

[DevonRex]

20. That's a wonderful letter. It says a lot and it's positive. That's what I like to see.

You have expressed your opinion in a manner that is worthy of your goals and those of DU, I might add.

Thank you.

[GreenPartyVoter]

21. Thank you. That was my intent. I didn't want to come across as partisan, not did I want to

rant and rave because nothing makes a person more defensive and less inclined to listen than being screamed at. I just wanted to portray my own story as an American and offer up the opinion I have formed based on my experiences.

[Fire1]

25. Very well written. Great sentiments, too. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

26. Thank you very much. :^)

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. Sent a version of this to all the Senators. Added a last line about

opening up Medicare for all who want it.

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. I am so sad that my letter went out too late for Senator Kennedy. Not that I

think he would have read it, but I would have liked to have known that one of his aides who was updating the Senator on public opinion concerning healthcare reform had tallied it in the pro medicare-for-all-who-want-it column. :cry:

[SidneyCarton]

29. Ok, here's mine...

Dear Mr. President,

I have actually meant to write you for some time now, and thank you for the middle class tax cuts that went into the stimulus package at the beginning of the year. As part of the budget shortfall here in California the budget of my employer, the University of California, has been slashed by over $800 million, and such cuts have come down to even library clerks like me, who are taking a 4% pay cut for the next fiscal year. While 4% may not seem like much, when one struggles to make ends meet as is, such cuts have bite. Your tax cut means that when these pay cuts take effect (probably next month) I will make about what I made before the stimulus passed, so we will continue to be able to make ends meet, so thank you.

I would also like to take this time to express my support for the presence of a Public Option within the final Health Care Reform bill. Please Mr. President, make sure this option is open. My wife has a pre-existing condition which makes it impossible for her to gain health care on her own. Should I lose my job, or have to take another form of employment (eventually I will begin teaching as a lecturer at a university, and there are rarely benefits for such jobs) she will be left without insurance without a public option. Sir, my wife is the light of my life, she and our daughter are the things that make every day worth while (as a father I'm sure you understand this yourself). Please sir, don't stop fighting for this, when you fight for the public option, you fight for us.

Good luck Mr. President, and don't let them see you sweat.

Sincerely,

Sidney Carton
Riverside, CA

[GreenPartyVoter]

31. I hope that you can manage to keep your healthcare until

there is a public option that will cover your wife. :hug:

[SidneyCarton]

33. Thanks.

We hope so too.

(crossed fingers)

[Cleita]

30. Thanks GPV.

As a recipient of Medicare I can say the same thing you have so eloquently to defend a system that all Americans pay into but only some can benefit from. Medicare for all is what Ted Kennedy wanted and I wish above all else that all Americans can benefit from a program that you and I do. I think this thread is fine as you posted it.

[GreenPartyVoter]

32. Thank you. I hope so too. Medicare-for-all, or at the very least Medicare-for-all-who-want-it.

[Bluenorthwest]

34. So beautifully put, GPV

Your compassion shines through your words and makes this a very moving letter. Thank you.

[GreenPartyVoter]

35. Thank you! :^) We all have compassion and moving stories to share, & I hope

that people are finding some time to do that, even if only to the President and the Senators who seem to be standing in the way of getting the right thing done. (Just wish Senator Kennedy could still be here to help us fight the good fight. :( )

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. Sent this out on a few more petitions that have come my way.

[DevonRex]

37. I'm so glad to see this kicked up again. It's the best letter I've seen

posted here. We should ALL take a page from your book on how to express ourselves respectfully yet assertively.

This is one of those days that good things make my eyes get all teary. Bless you.

:hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

38. Thank you! *hugs* I know a lot of people must be tired of seing me

kick it back up, but I want others to feel encouraged to tell their own stories to the President and the Congress.

[GreenPartyVoter]

39. Signed more e-petitions today. Going to try to call Snowe's office as well.

[GreenPartyVoter]

41. Got through and left a message.

[freddie mertz]

43. Good letter. I hope they are reading these things.

We will know soon.

[GreenPartyVoter]

44. Not soon enough. My stomach is going to be in a permanent knot. :^P

[GreenPartyVoter]

45. Signed two more e-petitions. Still waiting to see if I get a reply from my Senators and Reps.

[GreenPartyVoter]

46. No email replies yet. Will be checking the mailbox tomorrow.