A Reason to Vote

I heard a statistic over the weekend: just short of 60 percent of registered voters will vote in this year's hotly contended elections. That statistic, 60 percent, would be considered an overwhelmingly successful election. But consider this back-story:  the 60 percent is about half of those eligible to vote. That right -- there are adults in this country that don't even register to vote! Mindboggling, isn't it?As inconvenient as getting to polls might be for some (really, couldn't we have a 2-day weekend voting period like some European countries?), I will be standing in line this afternoon after hassling for a parking spot at my local polling place. It is my obligation and my duty to do so.  Why?Women, of course, were not permitted to vote until the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. I think of this most every Election Day when I waltz in, state my address, and get my own ballot with no problem whatsoever. I marvel at the strength of women of the early 20th century who organized and demanded their rights to vote, their rights to be treated more like human beings than property. I think of my great grandmother, Minnie Palmer Flournoy, whose strength and courage to march with suffragettes makes voting all the more meaningful for me.Minnie Palmer Flournoy was left a widow with 2 children -  a toddler and a baby - after a train accident killed her husband  in the early 1890s. The grief of losing your husband in a place far from your family (at the time, she lived in Albany, NY far from her Missouri relatives) was compounded by the cavalier way the railroad and its lawyers sent her off without any compensation for this tragedy: I have a handwritten response from the railroad's attorney offering no culpability on the railroad's part, but a token "gift" of $500. Minnie eventually moved back to Missouri with her parents and worked throughout her life at jobs women were allowed to do: seamstress and rooming house keeper. From family stories she was by all accounts a strong, smart woman; a woman who raised two successful children on her own.  When women began to demand rights to vote, I imagine she was on board fairly quickly.The movement to gain the vote for women began with a speech by Susan B. Anthony in 1873 and ended with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. The years and effort of my forebears to obtain this right does not go unappreciated or unnoticed by me.Today, I'll make my way to my local polling place and proudly remember those women who endured mocking, were castigated and rebuked for standing up for their convictions. And I will vote.

Healthcare and Tuesday's Election

Massachusetts will have a special election on Tuesday in order to fill the remaining term of Senator Kennedy.  The two contenders, Martha Coakley and Scott Brown are attracting state-wide attention and even the national media has an eye on this thing. An election on a January Tuesday in the middle of -- and I write this as a storm is dumping up to 6 inches of heavy wetness on us -- Snow Season seems ill-advised, doesn't it? Timing is everything.The successful Senate candidate will, of course, be able to vote on the Health Care bill before Congress. I'm certain it won't surprise anyone who knows me that being somewhat left of center; I don't consider this current bill enough of a reform of the debacle that is the US healthcare system. But it is something.In my opinion, one of the most desperately needed provision of the bill being considered is the part that will not allow insurance coverage to be denied based on prior conditions or catastrophic illness. Most people in Massachusetts will not remember the time when our Commonwealth did not protect people from having their insurance denied or from pre-existing condition clauses. I do.Nearly twenty years ago, I underwent surgery and chemotherapy for breast cancer. Thanks to my spouse's excellent health insurance -- an HMO by the way-- there was not one problem for me as far as insurance coverage. A treatment plan was recommended and I received it. At the time, I did not have my own insurance coverage because I worked for a parochial school. Needless to say, benefits in a parochial school are not on a par with those offered to corporate employees.Some years later, my husband wanted to change employers. The new employer offered a different, more traditional insurance only -- and I would be denied coverage due to my pre-existing condition.  Luckily even in the 90s there had been some healthcare reform, and I was able to continue my original coverage through COBRA.  But, what was once free and included in our family premium, would now need to be paid for separately for 12 months until I could prove myself "worthy" of coverage.  I would still need to be part of the new employer's healthcare plan (in case something new and unrelated to the cancer came up), but I could not receive coverage for any treatments that could be connected to my prior diagnosis of cancer.  I can still remember the cost per month of the continued COBRA insurance: $237.  Not a non-trival expense for a family.The fear of losing healthcare coverage was one of the biggest stress outcomes of my illness. I did not worry about the actual treatment or the possibility of recurrence so much as bankrupting my family and all that we had worked toward should my treatment cause the insurance to lapse and coverage to be denied.  No one should have to endure this worry on top of fighting through a major illness, but outside of Massachusetts, many people do.I am lucky enough to live in a state where I have protection from insurance coverage roulette.  Most states do not have laws on their books that prevent insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions. The US Healthcare Reform legislation will not greatly impact me at all, but it will improve things for people who live in other states where such protections are nonexistent.And our two candidates for Senate? Martha Coakley has clearly supported the US bill and the other, Scott Brown,  is hoping to become the person to prevent its passage.The importance of this vote is that the successful candidate will have an impact on quality of life for many, many people. Tuesday's Special Election vote will make a difference. Vote!