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‘Huge gaping hole’

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12:15 PM Tuesday, November 17, 2009

To John Boehner: You said you are “still trying to find the first American to talk to who’s in favor of the public option, other than a member of Congress or the administration.” ... Well, here I am. The bonus for you is that I actually live in your beloved 8th District. ...

I have lived in the district since 1967, and I have been a registered voter since 1986. I am also a registered nurse. ...

You had the opportunity to support the people you are supposed to represent, in the House vote on H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, on Nov. 7, and you did not. Ignoring the needs of your constituents, you voted only along party lines, and voted “no” on this important piece of legislation.

I worked in a local emergency department of a regional hospital for many years. I can tell you with certainty that many people in your district suffer because they lack medical insurance. ...

More times than I can count, I’ve seen people come into the ER with life-threatening complications from common illnesses ... that shouldn’t/wouldn’t have been at the crisis point if they had been able to access proper routine medical treatment.

I have also been on the flip side as a client. I had steadily worked from age 16 until November 2008 when my hospital started “restructuring” its workforce. ... I carried private medical insurance for more than 20 years, and all of a sudden, I was without income and insurance. ...

My husband, a carpenter, hasn’t been able to find steady work since February because the housing industry is in the toilet. Even when he had a steady employer, that employer could not offer medical benefits. We relied on mine.

Then, I got sick, and nearly lost everything I had worked for all those years. My retirement, all but gone. Our home, nearly in foreclosure. Our household bills are months behind. My family would have been left hungry because we only qualified for $160 allotted to us in food stamps for a family of five. Why? Medical bills and medications I had to have to be able to find employment and return to the workforce. ...

There is a huge gaping hole in our current health insurance system and you’d have to be blind not to see it. People are suffering! Your constituents are suffering. ...

Yet you do worse than nothing to help. You vote against this most important legislation. You benefit from medical insurance paid for by us, your constituents. ...

I thank God that I have now healed sufficiently to have found employment and my family will once again will have benefits. My family can now begin the hard road to economic recovery. I pray that H.R. 3962 will eventually be passed so that my fellow citizens will no longer suffer. ...

I know one thing for certain: If you do not start supporting the people you are supposed to be representing, I promise you that I will work my fingers to the bone to get someone else into the office you now enjoy, and let you see what it’s like to join the ranks of the uninsured.

Teresa Cunningham

Middletown

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