On the recordMarch 21, 2010
Her story took me to a place I hadn't been in a long time. I'm talking about Natoma Canfield, the face of this debate, who's sitting in a hospital room at the Cleveland Clinic right now, with no insurance, getting blood transfusions for the next 30 days. She doesn't have health care insurance because, in 2009, her rates increased 25 percent. In 2010, her rates went up another 40 percent. Finally, she just couldn't take it as a single mom, so she dropped her health care insurance because she couldn't afford it. I remember as a young boy standing at my mom's bedside when she told me she had breast cancer. Luckily, my mom had good health care insurance. She survived and is alive today. But how many people do not have health care insurance and how would my life have changed if she did not make it? Nearly 40,000 people in the 16th District do not have health care insurance, and 9,800 people live with preexisting conditions. If it's good enough for Iraqis, it's good enough for Americans. Who are you going to stand with today; the insurance industry or Americans like Natoma?
