Guaranteed Healthcare

After not having any contact with each other since high school, my friend Bob and I reconnected and visited with each other 4 or 5 times during the first 5 months of 2000. On Bob's last visit, we vowed to get together with another old classmate during the summer. Time passed and neither of us made contact.

So, in January 2001 I called his number and a young woman (his daughter) answered the phone. When I asked for Bob, she initially became quite angry suspecting I was a telemarketer. However, when I told her who I was, she broke down and began sobbing nearly uncontrollably.

After a short time she regained her composure and explained that her father had returned from his last visit with me complaining of chest pain. A few days later he went to see a physician who advised him he needed a CABG procedure to clear his blocked arteries. Bob had been taking care of his aging parents whose health was not good, but they at least had Medicare; Bob did not. He had no insurance and was advised by the physician to "come back to see me when you either have money or insurance and we'll take care of the problem".

Bob had a massive heart attack three days later and died. Had Bob had the same coverage or even part of the coverage enjoyed by politicians in congress and the white house, we could have continued our journey of reconnecting. It's time for congress and those others dining at the public trough who control the distribution of wealth to begin taking care of those who put them in office.

If only Bob could have had what that crook Cheney has received, he would be alive today. Either provide health insurance that is enjoyed by those in congress and the white house and other government entities or make them pay the insurance crooks the same as the rest of us are required to do.

Sincerely,
E. Duane Riedesel, MC