Tammy Baldwin: “for the past 6 or so months, I have been crisscrossing the State of Wisconsin, listening to families, small business…”

“for the past 6 or so months, I have been crisscrossing the State of Wisconsin, listening to families, small business owners, parents, caregivers, doctors, nurses, and neighbors about what good, affordable healthcare means to them. And the overwhelming consensus, as you might expect, was that having healthcare you can rely on and afford means everything. I know this exact feeling. When I was just 9 years old, I had a very serious childhood illness, similar to spinal meningitis. That wasn't the exact diagnosis. But I was in the hospital for 3 months, and even though I was able to make a full recovery, my family was then not able to find any health insurance to cover me, not at any price, because I had been labeled as a child with a preexisting health condition. You see, back then, insurance companies were under no obligation to cover people who had been sick or were sick. So people with preexisting health conditions, like diabetes or a cancer diagnosis, so often went uninsured. That kind of experience, being hospitalized for months and then not being able to get health insurance, it is not an experience that one forgets. So when we have these debates about healthcare policy, I know that it is not just a high-minded conceptual idea. It is real. The consequences are real, and the people behind the stories are real. And over the past few months, I have been able to hear those real stories.…”