Health Care for All
This is a personal issue for me. My daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was ten years old. It was a heartbreaking diagnosis as there is no cure for diabetes—only constant vigilance which is not easy when you are ten going into the teenage years.
My daughter lost friends as their parents would not let them “hang” with her as they believed diabetes was contagious. Insulin and syringes were expensive.
That day that she was no longer on our insurance, the stigma of having a “pre-existing condition” would be with her through her short life. She did not live long enough to enjoy the benefits of the Affordable Health Care Act, much less the reduction in insulin prices provided by President Biden.
As a parent of a Type 1 diabetic, worry was a constant companion. Joining the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (recently renamed to Breakthrough T1D) was a great help as it gave us young people for her to relate to, parents for us to talk to, and much needed advice and guidance. We are still supporters of this organization.
No matter what our differences, most of us want similar things – to go through our lives in good health and to get quick, effective, compassionate care if we’re ever sick or injured. But today, conservative politicians want to block people struggling to make ends meet from the most cost effective, lifesaving medical care we all count on to get and stay well. That’s why we must lower drug prices and take the Medicaid expansion in Wisconsin.
Freedom to Make Health Care Decisions
Many of us know all too well the pain of seeing a loved one struggle with a pregnancy, whether that was miscarriage, whether that was infertility, whether that was, you know, just a situation that was not right for them for any and no reason at all. And we know that this is the real world, not the make-believe world, and that people need to be able to make decisions with their loved ones, with the people they trust for what is best for themselves, their families, and their futures.
In Wisconsin we value our freedoms. Yet, we see a handful of lawmakers play judge and jury, deciding and taking away very personal medical decisions. How can we be free when the government tries to control our bodies? Healthcare decisions are between a woman and her doctor, no exceptions.
Child Care Crisis
We all want our children to have safe, reliable caregivers that we trust. And the people we trust with our children are some of the most important people in our lives. They encourage exploration, make sure our babies are nourished and are just as excited as we are for them to take their first steps or lose their first tooth. They provide safety and the freedom for kids to be themselves. Our childcare providers deserve the same level of compassion and care that we entrust them to provide for our children.
But today, Wisconsin Republican Legislators refuse to fund the Childcare Counts Program to provide what our childcare centers need, forcing them to charge working families unaffordable rates. These politicians are bullying childcare centers and hurting all of us when they do so. Then those same politicians try to divide us based on race and place or the wage we make, so that we don’t stand together to demand that our childcare system be made accessible and affordable to every family across Wisconsin.
We know what’s best for us. We have hard working families who deserve quality childcare AND a quality income. By coming together, we can ensure that every family in Wisconsin has access to safe, reliable, and affordable childcare. We need to fully fund the Child Care Counts program.
Safeguarding Our Right to Vote and Our Democracy
Now that we have fairer voting districts in the state, we cannot rest on our laurels. Most of us, no matter our color, origin, or genders, whether we live in rural Wisconsin or on Prospect Avenue in Milwaukee, want Wisconsin to be a place where freedom is for everyone, we all have an equal say, and we can trust in the integrity of our elections. But today, a handful of politicians want to put up barriers to silence many of our voices based on what we look like or where we live.
We are coming together—across race, zip code, and background—to demand that every eligible American has the freedom to vote.
“When we talk about democracy – American democracy – we often talk big ideas like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. What we don’t talk about enough is how hard it is.” “American democracy asks the hardest of things: to believe that we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves. So democracy begins with each of us.”
Excerpt from President Joe Biden Speech on 80th Anniversary of D-Day at Pointe du Hoc, June 7, 2024