I just wrote the President a letter in honor of today being the first day of the ACA. This law and my new coverage is so personally meaningful and life-changing for me. I volunteered for my local OFA this summer helping to get information to the students at our local community college in honor of my father, myself and a late friend of mine. Here is my letter to our President:
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Dear Mr. President:
Today, thanks to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Americans can no longer be turned down for health insurance due to a pre-existing condition.
This law is personal to me and also in memory of my Dad, who went through his entire Cancer battle uninsured. He had just started working for a new company and was waiting the obligatory 3 months for his insurance to take effect. During that time he was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma and, therefore, had a pre-existing condition and no coverage.
My Dad died in 1993 after a seven year, uninsured battle with cancer. But I know that he will rest easier on the other side, knowing that what happened to him can no longer happen to his daughter, thanks to the ACA.
Today I also remember my friend Giselle who died a few years after my father. She worked as an independent contractor and, therefore, couldn’t obtain employer-based insurance. She was young but still couldn’t afford the premiums on the private market so she did without insurance coverage, ignoring some minor symptoms because she couldn’t afford to go to the doctor uninsured. One night, something seemed terribly wrong and she went to the emergency room. They discovered late stage ovarian cancer and she passed away within a few weeks.
I am self-employed and have bought insurance on the private market for years now. Even with my excellent health, every year the coverage got more expensive and covered less. The only plan I could afford had a deductible so high I avoided going to the doctor except for my annual preventative check-ups. Even those appointments filled me with fear that the doctor would order a test that wasn’t covered, since my high deductible plan meant I would have to pay for it in full.
Today, January 1st, 2014, thanks to the ACA and Covered California, I have an insurance policy with a monthly premium that’s a fraction of what I was paying and co-pays that won’t keep me from going to the doctor. I can finally sleep easy at night knowing that if something doesn’t seem right, I can afford to go get it checked out.
Thank you, Mr. President and everyone in Congress who fought for this law’s passage and for continuing to work for its successful implementation.
June 14, 2013: “The President called me over to pose for a photo with a young boy who had fallen asleep during the Father’s Day ice cream social in the State Dining Room of the White House.” (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
There are at least two favorite memories I have of the wonderful time of Obama, c. 2013, which I wouldn’t mind trying to put into words … were I not clowning around with my rambunctious nearly-three-year-old great grandson during his holiday visit!
I thought, in the interim, I might just point to one story, already fully “covered” by The Obama Diary (see here) on Feb. 19 (coincidentally, my son’s birthday, another banner event in my year!) …
“There is an endless supply of paint.”
Remember it?
I must admit I’ve been reminded and have needed the reminder many times since February, whenever the unjust in our world criticize or verbalize that they don’t appreciate our fine President and First Family … or just plain show their bigotry and hatred, in other ways. Many times!
This story was a lesson in perseverance. A lesson in the Hopi admonition, which the President has taken on ~ as our reminder from him of what’s always ahead:
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Dudette brought the story to us via Chips, back in February … from a piece in The Houston Chronicle:
“Marcus Davis is resolute. As many times as vandals paint over a mural of President Barack Obama, he will repair the damage over and over again. ‘There is an endless supply of paint,’ said Davis, 41, who opened The Breakfast Klub in 2001. ‘This mural is symbolic of the presidency of Barack Obama. He wakes up every day to obstacles and challenges far greater than a doggone mural being defaced. If he has the level of courage and type of character that causes him to continue to go on, I’ll be damned if I stop.”
When I heard that story, Marcus Davis became my hero. I haven’t commissioned a mural for President Obama (except in my mind’s eye and heart), and I haven’t had to re-paint it, over and over, to show my continuing support for him … but, like all of us at TOD – like so many others around the globe – I have his back.
If I had a penny for the many times the American Press pronounced President Barack Obama’s presidency dead, I’d be a millionaire. This year, the benchmark it used to measure his presidency was based on the proverbial glitch in the Affordable Care Act Website. But beyond that, every methodical step he’s taken since he’s been president has been reported on by some, from a negative point of view. Whether it was the BP oil spill, foreign policy decisions on Libya or Iran, the reporting began by asking questions about his ability to do it right, fix it or screw it up.
Time and again, with condescension, sometimes even from people on the left, he was derided as lazy or weak. For those of us who support President Obama, we see clearly what some in the media, along with the GOP, are doing. The media couches its disrespect in its so-called reporting. For many in the GOP, it is based on resentment and hate. At every juncture, they have have attempted to underestimate his ability, and have failed miserably. In the end, when it is clear they have been proven wrong, we are treated to their tired and worn out default position. He is lucky. Had to be luck that the Iranian talks worked out. Had to be luck that the Treasury sold GM’s final share. Heck, had to be luck that he even became President of these United States – twice!
President Obama, from my vantage point, has been the most scrutinized president I have known since I came to this country. That includes Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford, as I was a young exchange student when Carter ran against Ford.
Of late, the new meme is that 2013 is the president’s worst year. Forget about all the important things he’s done, despite unprecedented obstruction by the Republicans. Even some on the left cannot bring themselves to give him the credit he deserves without the obligatory but…..
President Obama will be the first one to tell you that he is not perfect, by no means. But given the massive obstruction, and one can argue, a huge assist from the press, he has routinely outwitted them. Proven them wrong. By now they should know that betting against him is never a wise thing to do.
Even John McCain was compelled recently to remind them about this (USA Today).
Yet, they never learn. Here is a list of a few, among President Obama’s numerous accomplishments that’s been derided, but returned to slap both Republicans and media folks in their respective faces.
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Obamacare
With the website glitch, which even President bemoaned, the MSM deemed his presidency over. It is yet his umpteenth Katrina. Or in David Gregory’s words, his Iraq. Ezra Klein, who got the ball rolling on the Woe is me, Obamacare, just recently had this little gem:
10 reasons Obamacare is in much more trouble than it was one week ago: http://t.co/U14tkcZSvr
For many, Obamacare was always covered from a negative place, especially by people with their good employer insurance plan. But not all would let them demonize the law. Here, Los Angeles Times Michael Hiltzik debunks and speaks the truth about Obamacare.
The Civil War in Syria was another disaster for president Obama. In fact, who can forget this piece from Joe Klein. “Obama and Syria, Stumbling toward Damascus.” Here he goes on twitter:
Obama’s uneven Syria response has weakened the nation. It’s time to pivot | http://t.co/DtT18YBr52
But we all know today, Syria has agreed to give up its Chemical Weapons. Hmmm. This, my friends, according to Joe Klein, is how you weaken a nation.
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Consumer Confidence on the rise
Just this week, there wass big news that Consumer Confidence has blown expectations out of the water for the month of December. Did something like this happen in a vacuum? Not hardly. But if an alien just stopped by this earth from Mars, one would think that by osmosis it just simply happened. None of President Obama’s plans to revive the economy had anything to do with it. OK, then.
Wow. Who can forget the free fall that was the U.S. Economy before President Obama even took his oath of office in 2009? Today with record highs, the Dow and S&P are soaring to new heights. And some of the same men and women with pockets full and investments to boot, continue to dismiss President Obama. Hence, the hypocrisy we see not just in the Republican Party and Wall Street, but from our erstwhile Beltway Media. For Shame.
In 2008, this is where we were:
Fighting the Financial Crisis, One Challenge at a Time: NYT
Today in the age of Obama, we are here. Socialist!
NOW: Dow hits 50th record-high close of 2013; S&P closes at record high; Nasdaq at 13-year high. http://t.co/YMYudd7Js6 – @CNNMoney
The United States and other nations held talks with Iran on its nuclear weapons and reached a deal. Let the tweets from Rouhani, State Department and others tell the story:
The important thing abt the agreement in Geneva is not what happens during the coming 6 months, but the principles on which we have agreed
Statement By The President On First Step Agreement On Iran’s Nuclear Program: see here
As I watched this historic moment unfold, I was reminded of President Obama’s words at his Inaugural address in 2009:
“To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy.
To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.”
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No, he is not perfect. But in my book, he comes darn near close, given the massive obstruction he faces from the GOP and to some degree, egged on by the U.S. Press.
I am so glad I got to meet you in 2004, President Obama.
OOPS. HOW WE GOT HERE: PBO 2004 Convention Speech. I can never get enough. Never. http://t.co/RPwpy013vH
The Obama Diary 
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