Post by maureenmower on Jun 10, 2012 23:13:17 GMT -5
It looks like we needed someone to start things off, so it may as well be me.
As the title above says, I'm Maureen, or Moe for short, and I am the female delegate from the 10th District of PA. I live in Archbald, PA with my husband. I have one biological son who is in college and working, two stepsons who have great careers and are married to wonderful young women, and 4 wonderful grandchildren.
I got involved with all this because so much of the things being debated by the people who are supposed to represent me and my family would have a direct (and potentially devastating) effect on us. If the corporations and 1% continue pushing for tax cuts at the expense of the average American, or destroy Social Security and Medicare, these are issues that will make MY life, and my husband's, and our kids' lives, considerably worse.
Just as one example:
In January 2009, I was laid off due to the recession. We were then surviving on my unemployment, and my husband's Social Security Disability check. Both of these programs are on the GOP chopping block in one way or another. Making matters worse, by the following December, my husband's health issues came to a head in a number of ways. As of today, he has had 4 surgeries (coronary bypass x6, aneurysm repair, total gastrectomy, and removal of scar tissue that was blocking his intestines) and he's been in the hospital 5 times.
Each hospitalization was at least a week, except the aneurysm repair which was 4 days, and the intestinal repair which ended up being two full weeks due to complications. Then he had to spend approximately 9 months in a nursing home to recover from it all. He's finally coming home next week.
All of his hospitalizations, chemo and other outpatient treatments, and medications were covered by Medicare. His nursing home stay was covered by Medicare at first, and then by Medicaid. If it hadn't been for these programs, he would be dead right now.
I, on the other hand, have no medical insurance at all, as even when I have had a job, the employer didn't offer it, or it was so costly and covered so little that it wasn't worth it. When I'm working I'm able to get some care at a local free clinic, and I get my yearly mammogram, Pap, and GYN exam via Planned Parenthood (even though I'm 50 and no longer capable of getting pregnant).
My first stint of unemployment began Jan. 2009 and lasted until September 2011. I became a "99er" - one of those who exhausted all 99 weeks of unemployment benefits (the most Congress has allowed during this crisis) in December 2010 - the week before my husband's stomach tumor was discovered. Needless to say, the next 8 months were financial hell, on top of the medical & chemo hell we were already going through.
I finally got another job - a long-term, open-ended temp assignment - at a local beverage distribution plant. I was a "planner", which is similar to dispatching. Basically I did the scheduling of trucks that delivered vending machines and coolers to stores, clubs and other venues. I loved the job and was very good at it, but in January they announced they were moving our department down to Georgia as of March 30th. I applied for one of the Georgia jobs, as I would have gladly uprooted my life and moved there for the sake of keeping a regular paycheck, but they made it clear they preferred to hire locally, even though it meant hiring people who had no clue how to do the job. So as of March 30, I joined the ranks of the unemployed once again.
But there are other reasons I care about all this other than just what the loss of Medicare or SSD would do to my husband or what the lack of healthcare and no job options is doing to me. There are also those beautiful grandchildren I mentioned. What kind of world will they grow up in? Will the air and water be clean or contaminated? Will my son spend the next 40 years trying to pay off his student loans? Will my grandchildren even be able to go to college with the way the cost of tuition keeps rising?
So the issues we will be discussing as we debate which grievances are going to be in the final Declaration aren't just a matter of political or philosophical views to me - they are a matter of survival for me and my husband, and a future for my son and grandchildren.
As the title above says, I'm Maureen, or Moe for short, and I am the female delegate from the 10th District of PA. I live in Archbald, PA with my husband. I have one biological son who is in college and working, two stepsons who have great careers and are married to wonderful young women, and 4 wonderful grandchildren.
I got involved with all this because so much of the things being debated by the people who are supposed to represent me and my family would have a direct (and potentially devastating) effect on us. If the corporations and 1% continue pushing for tax cuts at the expense of the average American, or destroy Social Security and Medicare, these are issues that will make MY life, and my husband's, and our kids' lives, considerably worse.
Just as one example:
In January 2009, I was laid off due to the recession. We were then surviving on my unemployment, and my husband's Social Security Disability check. Both of these programs are on the GOP chopping block in one way or another. Making matters worse, by the following December, my husband's health issues came to a head in a number of ways. As of today, he has had 4 surgeries (coronary bypass x6, aneurysm repair, total gastrectomy, and removal of scar tissue that was blocking his intestines) and he's been in the hospital 5 times.
Each hospitalization was at least a week, except the aneurysm repair which was 4 days, and the intestinal repair which ended up being two full weeks due to complications. Then he had to spend approximately 9 months in a nursing home to recover from it all. He's finally coming home next week.
All of his hospitalizations, chemo and other outpatient treatments, and medications were covered by Medicare. His nursing home stay was covered by Medicare at first, and then by Medicaid. If it hadn't been for these programs, he would be dead right now.
I, on the other hand, have no medical insurance at all, as even when I have had a job, the employer didn't offer it, or it was so costly and covered so little that it wasn't worth it. When I'm working I'm able to get some care at a local free clinic, and I get my yearly mammogram, Pap, and GYN exam via Planned Parenthood (even though I'm 50 and no longer capable of getting pregnant).
My first stint of unemployment began Jan. 2009 and lasted until September 2011. I became a "99er" - one of those who exhausted all 99 weeks of unemployment benefits (the most Congress has allowed during this crisis) in December 2010 - the week before my husband's stomach tumor was discovered. Needless to say, the next 8 months were financial hell, on top of the medical & chemo hell we were already going through.
I finally got another job - a long-term, open-ended temp assignment - at a local beverage distribution plant. I was a "planner", which is similar to dispatching. Basically I did the scheduling of trucks that delivered vending machines and coolers to stores, clubs and other venues. I loved the job and was very good at it, but in January they announced they were moving our department down to Georgia as of March 30th. I applied for one of the Georgia jobs, as I would have gladly uprooted my life and moved there for the sake of keeping a regular paycheck, but they made it clear they preferred to hire locally, even though it meant hiring people who had no clue how to do the job. So as of March 30, I joined the ranks of the unemployed once again.
But there are other reasons I care about all this other than just what the loss of Medicare or SSD would do to my husband or what the lack of healthcare and no job options is doing to me. There are also those beautiful grandchildren I mentioned. What kind of world will they grow up in? Will the air and water be clean or contaminated? Will my son spend the next 40 years trying to pay off his student loans? Will my grandchildren even be able to go to college with the way the cost of tuition keeps rising?
So the issues we will be discussing as we debate which grievances are going to be in the final Declaration aren't just a matter of political or philosophical views to me - they are a matter of survival for me and my husband, and a future for my son and grandchildren.