Tammy Baldwin: “I too share the gentleman's passion for creating a system where everybody in this country has health insurance. I guess…”

“I too share the gentleman's passion for creating a system where everybody in this country has health insurance. I guess I agree that the short-term prospects are dim, especially given this administration, this majority. But I do have some hopefulness, because frankly I think that the voices of 44 million Americans cannot be silenced and ultimately will lead to that political change that we are seeking. Along that line, I would like to share the words of a few more of my constituents. I want to share the words of Roger from Waunakee, Wisconsin. He writes: "I'm a baby boomer that was rejected for health care. The explanation was vague, so I'm taking efforts to address it and resolve it but I'm frustrated with the realization of flaws in our health care system. At 54 years old, I'm healthy enough to exercise year round and race competitively in triathlons but not risk-free enough for the insurance companies. My wife is also healthy but she has so many riders on her coverage that her policy is almost worthless. An issue that may haunt us is what I call use it or lose it. Our main problem appears to be that we once had insurance and used it to stay healthy. Our claims were very small, much smaller than our annual fees but the insurance companies are using the knowledge that we learned about staying healthy as a logic to reject us. I normally don't like to see government getting into private matters, but health insurance does not appear to be a private matter anymore.”