The President’s Speech Tonight - Representative Joe Wilson 9-9-9

The President’s speech tonight was near and dear to my heart. President Obama could have been talking specifically about my life; it was eerie. When my daughter, India was an infant, she was injured at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque; a doctors error. She was born normal but as a result of the doctor’s blunder, she ended up with cerebral palsy, a tri-pelagic. 

When we finally got India home and the dust began to settle, we found that we were over $130,000.00 in debt as a direct result of India's injury. We had no money to our name and had to borrow $5,000.00 from a dear friend to start my current company, Alameda Property Group, LLC. We lived day to day with the horrific fear of our daughter passing away or ending up in chronic pain as a result of our not being able to cover her necessary medical/physical needs. This worry was absolutely crushing to my spirit and yet, I continued to go to work every day, paid my insurance dues and still had this terrible cloud over my head. It's been a constant fight with the insurance companies to cover the absolute basic needs for my daughter. Yet I regularly pay her insurance premiums every month, year in and year out.

Up to this day, Wednesday September 9, 2009, I've had to pay $1,200 + a month in medical insurance premium plus an average of $7,000.00 additional dollars per month for medical/physical care that the insurance companies refuse to pay. This additional care keeps my daughter alive and pain free.
I'm incredibly fortunate that I can usually afford the additional coverage my daughter needs, not to mention the high monthly insurance premium. With the amount of love that I have in my heart for my children, I can't even imagine what it's like for families who aren't as fortunate as I am. I can't bring myself to think about what it must be like for parents who are helpless and must watch their children die or descend into a life of chronic pain and suffering.

When Representative Joe Wilson called our President a "liar" tonight, I was horrified at the insanity, irresponsibility and disrespect that this man displayed. We have a President in office that’s fighting to better the system. Both Democrats and Republicans alike have had decades within my lifetime to do so but yet the overall health care system has remained “status quo”. Here is a man who is willing to take on the immense challenge and yet he's yelled at, during a worldwide speech, by an elected official whose political party has virtually bankrupted the United States of America.

I'm proud as an American Veteran can be for President Obama. I only hope that those who viciously oppose his health care goal never have to personally experience what I've experienced. I hope that they can stop the nonsense, sit down and help come up with something that betters our system as a team.

I’m tired, tired, tired of the political rhetoric from those who don’t personally face the daily challenges of life that the average American experiences. Those privileged politicians who enjoy top end insurance benefits with low premiums. The very same, out of touch, people who don’t send their children off to wars they champion or honestly serve in the military they so quickly put into harm’s way. 

I wholeheartedly support my Presidents efforts and I’m proud of him beyond words.