Victoria Gutshall
Aug 25, 2017 · 2 min read

Richard: I am afraid you fell for the “Bernie Bro’s” myth hook, line and sinker, while the truth of his supporters is that they came from a broad swath of American society. I am a 61 year old white female, lifelong Democrat, and was 100% behind him, as were millions of women like me. Hillary lost any hope f getting a vote from us when she said single-payer would “never, ever, happen”. We happen to be at the age where medical care is a priority, where is income is often a fraction of what it once was, and even when insured, we can’t afford the co-pays and deductibles. Indeed, during the whole of the campaign season, I was nursing my terminally ill husband, dying for reasons that could have been cured had he had insurance back when he first took ill. (Before the ACA, he had a pre-existing condition) Even when we were able to get insured, we often couldn’t afford the co-pays and deductibles, the cost of his meds, etc. Because our state did not take the Medicaid expansion, he did not qualify for Medicaid back when it could have done some good, he qualified just in time for it to pay for Hospice care. It wasn’t until he was on Medicaid that they finally discovered what was going on with him, and that it could have been cured years earlier with surgery. But by the time they discovered it, it was too late. His mind and body were wasted. The surgery at that point would only have hastened his end.

Single payer is extremely workable, and Bernie showed us how. In fact, it would be cheaper than the current system and with much better outcomes.

He did not offer us a “Utopian Society”, those of us with life experience understood that. What he did offer us was a fighting chance.

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    Victoria Gutshall

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