I did some writing...

So I've been taking a break from writing lately. I haven't worked on my WIP in over a week. My brain is fried and I've been really scrambling to try to figure out what direction I want to go in.

I decided to not to work on anything until after I get back from NJRW this coming weekend. I'm hoping that the conference will energize me as it has in the past and I'll come home with some new ideas that really get my writing blood fired up. And I'm also hoping that a self-imposed exile from my fictional worlds will make my heart grow a bit fonder and I'll look forward to getting back to work. In the past, nothing has made me more eager to write than not writing.

Of course, that being said, I had to write something. So rather than work on a WIP, I actually sat down yesterday and wrote to my congressman.

I bet you didn't know I had my very own congressman, did you? LOL. Well, he's not my personal congressman. I share him with a bunch of other people who live around here. I decided it was time to tell him what I thought about the health care debacle...I mean debate.

Here's my letter. If anyone out there would like to use it as a basis for their own letter to their own congressman or government representative, please feel free to do so.

Dear Congressman ___________,

I’m writing to you to express my concern about the national healthcare crisis. In following political news for the past several months I’ve noticed an alarming omission in the health insurance debate. It seems that there is a great desire by our government for every American to have ‘health insurance’ when the hot button issue should be assuring that every American has ‘health care’.

As someone who has been self-employed at one time and was then responsible for obtaining private health insurance for my family, I’m acutely aware that having health insurance does not always equate to having access to adequate and affordable health care. Too many Americans are drowning under the burden of paying exorbitant health insurance premiums, which while it may leave them covered in the event of hospitalization still leaves them with little or no money to afford co-payments, medications or incidental medical expenses. I’m sadly aware of many families where the cost of insurance prohibits spending for anything else. What good is having health insurance if you still can’t afford to go to the doctor?

I’ve read about the cost of health care skyrocketing due to people who wait until they are seriously ill to seek medical attention. Making health insurance mandatory and fining those who do not obtain it [with or without government subsidies or thresholds] will not solve this problem. Money that should go to pay for health care will still be funneled into paying for insurance, and the cost of that will still preclude many individuals from actually being able to obtain timely, routine health care to prevent serious illness.

What America needs is not more health insurance or laws forcing people to give more of their hard-earned money to insurance companies. We need a system by which Americans can afford to go to the doctor and obtain medical care at reasonable prices from the most basic checkups and health screenings to treatment for the life-threatening and catastrophic illnesses that every day threaten to send more American families into bankruptcy.

I am respectfully asking that you vote to give Americans peace of mind with regards to the health care debate and do what you can to see the emphasis in this issue shifts from the importance of health ‘insurance’ to the importance of health ‘care’. I strongly believe that a reduction in the stress involved with living under the constant fear of losing one’s health insurance, or of losing one’s home to medical-bill induced bankruptcy will go a long way to improving the overall health of the American people.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you on this matter.

So there you have it. It ain't fiction, but I do think it needed to be said.