<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>FINALLY !</div><div><br></div><div>Somebody with a conscience that gives a damn!</div><div><br></div><div>As you suggest, Maree, I will copy, paste, and send to every media source on my Rolodex .</div><div><br></div><div>Before any of our state legislators vote against extending Medicaid, they should spend a couple days in the ICU waiting room at Sacred Heart and talk with some of those friends and family members who, in addition to potentially losing a loved one, may not financially survive the aftermath. I did . . . for 16 hours a day, seven days a week, for five weeks from 12/15/2011 thru 1/20/2012.</div><div><br></div><div>My wife and I were fortunate. We have Tri-Care, another one of them government-run health insurance programs. I wish I could say the same about a 70-something cancer survivor who was at Sacred Heart to watch her brother die . . . whose health insurance "expired" two weeks earlier. Or the 80-something that was there to say good-bye to a friend he had known since grade school . . . whose policy terminated unexplicably. Or the 30-something who was there waiting and hoping for her husband to survive a life-threatening car accident, who was unemployed.</div><div><br></div><div>The ICU waiting room at Sacred Heart . . .</div><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_evAn0ZLQfY">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_evAn0ZLQfY</a></div><div> </div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Sidebar: A special, heart-felt thanks to my Intolerista buddies who emailed me regularly while I was there, keeping me focused and grounded. Thanks, guys.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" </span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's room at the top they are telling you still.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But first you must learn to smile as you kill,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- John Lennon</span></div></div><div><br>Begin forwarded message:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><b>From:</b> "Maree McHugh" <<a href="mailto:maree@samaree.net">maree@samaree.net</a>><br><b>Date:</b> December 23, 2013 at 2:19:17 PM PST<br><b>To:</b> "Maree McHugh" <<a href="mailto:maree@samaree.net">maree@samaree.net</a>><br><b>Subject:</b> <b>Idaho Health Care</b><br><br></div></blockquote><div><span></span></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><div class="WordSection1"><p class="MsoNormal">Hello My Dear Idaho Homies,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Many of you are aware of the situation with uninsured people in Idaho. Even with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) aka Obamacare we have at least 70.000 uninsured Idahoans. These folks are the poorest of the poor – and they have been left out in the cold by a Republican legislature that is not interested in seeing the bigger picture, not interested in helping those who have fallen below the poverty line. There are some really strange and irrational beliefs by certain elected officials that this sector of the population has plunged us into a national debt of more than 15 trillion dollars and will use the very health care system they have been denied access to in an irresponsible manner. The Idaho State Legislature walked away from the 2013 session without finishing their work, yes the very task we elected and pay them for, not to mention a national mandate to make sure EVERY AMERICAN HAS HEALTH INSURANCE. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">So, if you are so inspired to remind our elected politicians of their constitutional duty I invite you to remind them. I have attached two letters, one to our Representatives and one to the local newspapers. You can copy them verbatim, if you wish, or write your own letter. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Important to <b>let your voice be heard!!<o:p></o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p> </o:p></b></p><p class="MsoNormal">Carry on,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Maree McHugh<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div></div></blockquote></div><div></div></div><div></div></div><div></div></body></html>