A letter to my senators and congressmen......

I am writing you today to ask you to vote NO against the public health care plan that President Obama is proposing.

My family and I were once part of an HMO and considered this type of coverage completely inadequate. We would routinely wait months or longer for check-ups and if we needed to see a doctor outside the General Practitioner it was by referral only, meaning, we would have to make an appointment with the GP--with a wait of up to three months--only to get referred out to yet another doctor adding to the wait ANOTHER 1-3 months for a total of about 6 months to see any doctor other than our GP.

I recall when our daughter was born and we brought her to the HMO clinic for her regular check-up and vaccination our "doctor" was walking from room to room with the vaccination needle in hand, high in the air, looking for the baby he was to vaccinate--he came into our room looking at our daughters chart, not looking as if he was sure about who he was to be vaccinating, I stopped him and asked "Are you sure that this is the right vaccine for my daughter?" he said "Yeah of course". Well he didn't seem sure to me. I made the decision right there and then to pick up our new born baby and walked right out of that clinic. That day my husband and I began to pay out of pocket for our children's doctor visits--we didn't care how much it would cost us as long as WE WERE ABLE TO CHOOSE the doctor for our children. Never would we go back to that clinic with its over worked doctors and over crowded waiting rooms again. With this type of health insurance there are NO CHOICES--you had to take whatever doctor that particular clinic had to offer.

I would imagine being a parent yourself that you would NOT want this type of care for your children yet this is what this administration wants for mine. Today our family carries private health insurance and could not be happier--regardless of what the president says-his plan WILL EVENTUALLY DESTROY it. I know its not a perfect system, nothing is, but its the best in the world.

Knowing that you served your upstate congressional seat well, we will remain hopeful that you will vote NO to this disastrous plan.

Thank you for taking the time to read our concerns.