Walt's letter to the editor on health care

Representative Bill Sali says the best way to make health care for children more affordable is to trust private-insurance plans.

He’s wrong.

At age nine months, my son Dixon was diagnosed with a life-threatening congenital heart defect. He received excellent care locally followed by 13 hours of surgery in Chicago. After six months, he was discharged – and we had a $600,000 medical bill.

It didn’t matter. Dixon was alive.

Thankfully, my company’s health insurance covered almost all the bills. But what if we had been among the 40% of Idahoans who can’t afford health insurance?

Without insurance, we never could have gone to Chicago for my son’s procedure. Without insurance, the best surgeons would never have operated. And without insurance, he wouldn’t have survived to become the strong teenager he is today.

Bill Sali claims that all Idahoans should buy their own insurance.  That is an insult to any family that’s had to sit scared in a hospital waiting room wondering if their child will receive the best care because they are uninsured. 

Good health insurance gave my son a chance at life. Every Idaho child deserves the same.

Sincerely,
Walt Minnick
Candidate
Idaho First Congressional District

Comments

[Julie in Boise]

This was in the Statesman today, too. Good job, Walt. I think people really react to personal stories like these. Let's hope and work to ensure that someday every child can get the sort of care Dixon had. Beating Bill Sali will be a good first step.