Who did we save GM for? HRC 30/100
27 August, 2016 | Index
Dear Hillary Clinton,
Gerard Mclean here, from Englewood, Ohio, just north of Dayton. There were 100 days from your nomination to election, so I’m writing you 100 letters. This is the thirtieth letter. The others can be found in your USPS mailbox or online at 100HRC.com
From January 2012 through August 2014, I had some pretty interesting medical bills. The details are not important, really, but it is enough to know that it was fairly life-altering and, had I not been able to use my head to make a living, I would have been in serious straights. I was pretty lucky, I suppose, that I was able to squeak by the January 2014 ACA deadline where Anthem BC/BS of Ohio had to legally grandfather me into my existing plan and could not drop me.
They did, however, increase my health care premiums the maximum allowable by law and even then, made it known without mincing words that I was lucky to be insured, despite me paying into the plan since 2001 without a major claim. But the indignity of that is a conversation for another day.
During the calendar year of each year 2012–14, I paid out in premiums, co-pays and OOP at least the sum of a small car — ever year. I remember hearing Joe Biden say on the stump repeatedly, “GM is alive,” and I asking myself, “why does it matter? With health care bills like this being normal now, who has the money left to buy GM cars?”
Who did we save GM for? Certainly not the middle class, who can barely afford rent on the wages they are being paid now, much less a car.
We need UniversalCare, SinglePayer, MedicareForAll. We need it now.
Regards,
Gerard McLean cc: Sen. Sherrod Brown