Letters to the Editor

Health care for America now

I went to [Washington,] D.C. last week and met with my congressman and senators to express the need for real health care reform and it was real productive.

Congressman Jim Cooper of the 5th district and my representative said he is in full support of President Obama and the plan for real health care reform to include the public option.

I also spoke with chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander and a staffer of Sen. Bob Corker and found them open to the discussion of health care reform. Their positions are different from that of my Congressman but there is room for some common ground.

I told the stories of patients and friends who have been crushed by the burden of health care cost. I tried to show how vulnerable the middle class is to financial devastation when a health care crisis develops in their lives. I shared the stories of a friend of mine who had a traumatic brain injury and is now facing bills that are leading his family to financial ruins and how his health coverage and prescription cost are so expensive that he may loose everything he has worked for his entire life. His family will suffer all because our health care system is broken.

We can't miss this opportunity as citizens to get involved in shaping the health care reform debate. I am optimistic that a plan that includes choice, access and coverage for all will come out of the house and am hopeful that the senate can achieve the same.

I’m hoping as a registered nurse to see the future of health care improved so that patients are treated as people and not commodities. We as a nation have the opportunity to say that we value life not only in the womb but through out the span of ones life. We can do this, and should do this now, as it is long overdue.

Michael Chapman, RN, 37138