Ted Strickland: “I receive letters from my constituents every week, sometimes hundreds of letters. I would like to share this evening a…”

“I receive letters from my constituents every week, sometimes hundreds of letters. I would like to share this evening a letter which I received from a young teacher in my district, a letter about his family and their difficulty in attaining adequate health care. He begins by saying, Dear Congressman Strickland: I am a teacher, and I am writing because I wanted to relate to you something that has happened to my family. My family has run into a health care concern that I hope underscores the need for the Congress to improve the availability of health care for all Americans. Then he tells me about his father-in-law. He says, My father-in-law runs a small business in your district in Ohio. He has raised seven children, including my wife, and he has never been able to afford medical insurance. He is 55 years old, and high blood pressure makes the premiums way beyond his means. His local doctor recently was alarmed at the results of a stress test and told him he was at risk of a heart attack at any time. He was sent to a specialist in Columbus, and he expected to be admitted to the hospital. Then my constituent in his letter continues. He said, The first words out of the specialist's mouth were to the effect, to my father and mother-in-law, that they should have insurance. And he quotes, ``No insurance, huh? Well, how do you people expect to pay for this treatment? How do you pay for your medication?…”