Missed Web free your inner fez

i haven’t done this since i was a kid!

What's that? Write my Congressman! I wanted to thank him for voting yea for H.R. 3962, the health care bill. I am a long-time supporter of universal health care, and I believe that increased options and opportunities to get the care all human beings rightfully deserve is an important right. So, I thanked my Congressman, Gregory Meeks, for supporting the bill, and asked him a question as well:

Dear Congressman Meeks,

I am very pleased that you have voted for H.R. 3962. I am a very strong believer in universal health care, and feel strongly that this bill will move our country in a positive direction regarding providing health care for all our citizens. Your work on this matter should be applauded.

I was wondering if you or a member of your staff could answer a question for me. I have heard that the bill bans that industry practice of pre-existing conditions. Is this a grandfather clause, or is this clause applicable to only new policies issued?

Again, thank you for your continued support in ensuring health care for all Americans. The future is much brighter thanks to the work of both you and your colleagues.

When my company made me a permanent employee in April, I was given health insurance as part of my benefits package (yay!). Sadly, my insurer has deemed my ulcerative collitis a pre-existing condition and will not cover it until May, 2010. Why is this a problem? I'm relapsing. Badly. On Friday, I went to my doctor and discussed my current condition with him. He wanted to have me undergo another colonoscopy (I had one when I was hospitalized in January) to see how bad the situation is in there and the best course of treatment to help me heal. I had to tell him... and I'm going to bold this for those of you who do not support Congressional health care initiatives...

I had to tell my doctor that I could not have the procedure done because my insurance considers my disease a pre-existing condition and will not pay for it.

He was able to come up with an alternate treatment plan, however, he has done this without knowing the extent of my current condition. I'm sure that his treatment will benefit me and my relapse will end soon, however, my insurance is the reason why I cannot get adequate treatment for a disease that I did not do something to cause myself but inherited. I am still very much in debt from my 10 day hospital stay, have collection companies calling me up the wazoo for medical and lab bills that I cannot pay, and will be in debt for, according to my estimates, the next two years, because I did not have any insurance to cover the costs of my ten day hospital stay. So yes, I am very excited about HR 3962, even though I won't be reading the 1990 pages of it, and yes, I do hope that the banning of pre-existing condition clauses is grandfathered, although it is probably not.