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OK, picture this: An old man walks into the emergency room in your town. He is coughing and wheezing, his lips nearly blue. He is in obvious pain, and so out of breath, he can not really even speak to tell them what's wrong.

They wheel him back to a bed, give him oxygen and a huge battery of tests, including blood draws and an X-ray of his lungs. He's hooked up to an IV for hydration, and also to help with the pain he feels with every breath that he takes.

After all his tests are rushed through the lab, and a radiologist is called in to read his chest X-ray, it is determined that he has pleurisy and pneumonia. This is a direct result of a cold he had previously, that turned into bronchitis, and from there progressed to pneumonia and led to the inflammation of the lining of his lungs, pleurisy, that is so painful for him now.

The man will basically be fine after several days in the hospital and a serious course of some heavy-duty antibiotics. But also when he gets out, he has no insurance -- this is why he didn't go to the Doctor in the first place! And thus, when he gets out, there will be a hospital bill of nearly $20,000 that will be left unpaid.

Or will it?

Unpaid hospital bills are handled in several ways. One way is that it affects the costs those of who CAN pay, DO pay. It is reflected to us in higher cost of our health insurance. Better yet, what is commonly done in a hospital's accounting department is, these charges get written off as bad debts, reducing the amount of taxes the hospitals pay, but increasing the amount of taxes we all pay.

Myth Number 1 is that with the "Obama" health care bill, we as Americans will be paying more for health care. Well, many of us have never had the experience I have described above. BUT, if you have no health insurance, you are pretty much guaranteed to be in this exact situation one day.

Would it be better to treat this man at a regular doctor, once per year, at a cost of $200 per shot, to keep him healthy? Or to let him get to the point of not being able to breathe, where his illness is life-threatening, and then pay $20,000.

YOU do the math. This man in particular is going to need to be sick and go to a regular doctor AT LEAST 101 times, before "Obama Care" costs any of us one extra cent.

Myth Number 2 is that the "Obama Care" bill is socialism. You can argue all you want, and it might well be. But given that we have just busted open Myth Number 1, it now becomes just a practical matter of cash -- if that is how you choose to see it, and can ignore the amount of pain and suffering in the form of serious illness that this bill could prevent.

Myth Number 3 goes like this: I'd love to help people, and might even pay a little more to do so, but this bill doesn't help me directly -- FALSE! Do any of you reading have children? If so, do you fear for their economic future, where the cost now of the average 4-year college is $100,000 and a degree does NOT ensure them a job with benefits? Well, how will you like to keep your kids on your insurance through work, until, say, they are 27?

Worse than adult children with no health care is what will happen to US if we somehow lose not only our source of income, but our own insurance. Before "Obama Care" you would be denied treatment of a pre-existing condition if you were without health insurance for (varies by State I believe) on average 6 months.

So, what if you had diabetes, and then lost your insurance? Well, that would mean that when you again had insurance, you would pay out-of-pocket for all your supplies (test kits, insulin prescriptions, syringes, etc.) for the rest of your life. And then, when you are old and have painful gout, do you think any of this treatment will be covered? It's a very slippery slope there!

This bill will affect you, at some time. And the time to decide is NOW. If this bill is repealed, do you think this fight to get your children covered is going to be easier LATER to regain the coverages lost? Do you want to wait until you NEED this bill, to start trying to resurrect it?

And even if you say yes to both of these questions, do you want to pay higher health insurance premiums AND higher taxes to support all those unpaid hospital bills of those unable to get care until it is critical -- until this bill can be passed again?

So, if you want care extended to many (obviously and sadly not all) who need it; OR if you want to pay less in the long run in health care and taxes; OR if you want there to be less illness and suffering because people get early treatment; OR if you or a loved one might, just might, benefit from this bill some day in the future, then CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES NOW and tell them -- DO NOT REPEAL THE HEALTHCARE BILL!

A list of your Representatives, by State, can be found here: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml

And your Senators here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?OrderBy=state&Sort=ASC

Many can be contacted by email. This is a great chance for the voice of the people to be heard! And of course, if you don't agree with me... By all means, use the list and tell them THAT. But people, restore the "for the People" to our government, and CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES!