"When you go for end of life Counseling,

Leave your walker or assistive device in the car,"
I heard on the Radio the other morning.
So continues the debate.
Here is my viewpoint about the "urgent" healthcare ruckus.
I sent to Senator Leahy and this is not a political statement.Hey, and Why would politicians dictate my healthcare system?
I am an RN Case Manager with almost 30 years experience working in Vermont between hospital, subacute, nursing home, insurance/HMO, long term care and home based care. That is in spite of low wages initially and tough conditions.I was laid off in 1996 because I was under 40 and the legislature protected the elder workers.I have recently lost over 40 thousand dollars in my retirement/savings, was denied disability insurance 3 days after my MS diagnosis and lost a bundle-on legal expenses from a court fight. But I never wrote you before that I recall.Maybe I was just stunned by circumstances.But I write you now, not angrily, but passionately, that you must not pass legislation that promises to fix the health care system in a thousand pages.My healthcare is pretty good now so please stop saying how broken it is. I agree with Medicaid waivers because I work for Vermont's Choices for Care. And yet I disagree with the generous financial loopholes where large assets are hidden and passed to others while I visit other starving or homeless Vermonters and pay very high taxes.Managed care is not something to be undertaken lightly. I worked for Kaiser and believed in our concepts but still it soured my stomach to turn down a circumcision because the child wasn't the right age.I have cared for Canadians who had to wait or spend their dollars in the US to get our level of care.And please support tort reform. Not only for health care. But also in cases like ours, where we lost so much.Finally, I must remain in my present health care support system. Do not change one thing. Add a catastrophic+preventive system for the poor. Vermont has an ideal system. I fear we will not be able to afford it much longer.Aren't you better off really studying what is working, who is happy, and who needs what? Then make incremental changes. Do not doubt we have the best health care system in the world. This means more to me than money or time. That is why I write today, not out of anger. My anger is gone since diagnosed with MS. I do not have the time for anger. Mary Gerdt RN