What's Your Story?

Do you know who grows your food? If you do, have you asked your farmer what his health insurance situation is?

Every farmer and rural resident I know seems to have a health care disaster story.

Nothing was more clear to me last week as I criss-crossed Iowa holding health care forums with my colleagues at the Iowa Citizen Action Network and the Iowa Farmers' Union.

One farmer talked about getting kicked off his insurance plan because he got diabetes. Another woman, with her 3 children in tow, talked about how far she had to drive to get her kids their shots. Folks opened up about the need for preventative care, more medical professionals in their communities, better access to healthy food, and the need for a public insurance option. One woman even teared up as she described a violent situation in her community that could have been prevented with adequate access to mental health facilities.

Then in my office yesterday, I had another incredible conversation with a 77-year-young farmer from Montana. He told me how medical debt nearly cost him the farm when his wife got cancer.

And this morning, an article in the Nation caught my eye about a woman whose husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and whose daughter was in a horse riding accident that left her paralyzed. The financial strain due to medical expenses has expended the savings of the author, Kate Michelman. I was particularly inspired by this quote:

I do not tell this story because it is unique. On the contrary, the point is precisely that countless people across the country are living it. And millions more are a crisis away from joining them--one lost job, a diagnosis, an accident.

Regardless of how secure your own situation may seem, almost all of us are one crisis away from relying on the mercy of an unforgiving health care system. How certain are you that your insurance will be there when you need it?

Every story I hear touches me, and after I sort through the sadness or disbelief of each story, I am left angry. Anger is good, though. Anger motivates us to search for a solution that doesn't drive people into bankruptcy and other desperate circumstances. Anger helps us realize we are powerful when we are many.

What's your story? Or your farmers' stories? Chances are, hearing them might make us all angry.

Channel that anger towards action and join others in your area demanding affordable health reform.

(Photo credit: José Goulão on Flickr.)