I received an e-mail not too long ago:

” I would like to support your trip…and you…,but I need to know your beliefs. I am neither party either.”

This is my response:

“Put very simply, I believe that we as human beings all deserve the best healthcare we can get, and that if our government can so easily find money for tanks, bombs, bailouts and bridges to nowhere, then it can find the money to ensure that no one in this country dies because they lacked for funds.

I believe that being sick, injured or wracked with pain is hard enough without having to wonder if you can afford to get the help you need to make what is hurting you stop.  If you’ve ever had even something as common as strep throat, let alone something as horrific as cancer or AIDS, then you must remember how hard it was just to get through the pain to say hello to someone you love– this condition should not be worstened by the conditions we set for ourselves as human beings.

So, I want to fight for us all to begin taking the steps we need to set new conditions for ourselves as people.  I want to ask that we get some reform to put us on the right track towards the goal of ensuring that if a person goes to a hospital and cries out for help, that the doctor or nurse who hears that cry will need not check with a hospital administrator or an insurance clerk before he or she can take that persons hand to lead them to the road to wellness.

So, I support passing a public option, I support reforming how we handle medical records (improving this will reduce costs and improve continuity of care), I support eventually moving to a universal system that works as easily as going to a doctor’s office or hospital and saying your name and what is wrong before getting help.  I know it might sound insane, but if we can put people on the moon, if we can transmit the entire contents of the library of congress across the world in the blink of an eye through the internet, and if we can come together as a nation against common corporeal foes like Nazis and terrorists and all that we’ve faced before together, then we can make this happen if we really want it.

- Cass”