Citizens Public Hearing
03.02.06
Last week I spoke at a Citizens Congressional Hearing on access to health care. It was attended, among others, by Representatives Diane Watson and Xavier Becerra, from the 34th and 36th congressional districts. I was hoping my own representative (Ms. Harman) would be there as well, but I guess she was working on that pesky ports issue.
The hearing was orchestrated by the California Nurses Association, a formidable organization.They’re responsible for, among other things, limiting nurse-patient
ratios. Last week’s hearing, though, was on an issue close to my heart: universal health care. Sadly, in the full hall, there were only a few docs, and a trio of medical students who gave up study time to come.
Anje speaks at the Citizens Congressional Hearing on health care.
Click on image for a larger view.
The experience was typical for a first-time anything for me: I got there late, drove around in circles trying to find the right parking spot, asked a cop, got lost anyway, but ultimately made my way to the right place after shedding all my various electronic and metal devices (those dangerous EKG calipers) to pass through the metal detector, raced upstairs, only to find that nothing had really begun yet.
In the conference hall, I found more people than I expected and was glad to see a couple of familiar faces among the medical students. The remainder was mostly nurses, but also teachers, actors, and others. Not surprisingly, the common theme in the testimony was that misfortune can happen to any of us. We’re all only a pink-slip away from being uninsured. The atmosphere was friendly, with so many like-minded activists in the room. I debated not speaking at all, since after a few testimonies it was clear that we all had more or less the same thing to say. For better or worse, though, when the doctor speaks, people do seem to listen. So I stood up, and, heart racing & red as a beet, I said my piece. I really am terrified of public speaking. It went over well enough, but next time I’m taking a beta blocker…
I’d like to think that sooner, rather than later, enough Americans will be angry enough about the haphazard patchwork of inadequate coverage we scramble together, that they’ll rise up and demand Medicare for all. Someone (seriously) made the suggestion that we recruit actors to promote the notion of universal health care to the American public. Well, why not? This is LA. But my money’s on the people.
