I was asked to participate in a press conference on national health care reform in Washington, DC in January of 2007. What you see below is an excerpt of my remarks in support of HR676, the National Health Insurance Act.
This was very difficult for me to do (as you will probably note from my cracking voice), because it was the first time I had made any statements publicly about the ongoing crisis my family was going through (and still is) in providing basic and necessary care for my son, Thomas, all while fully insured by a fairly comprehensive health insurance plan.
I've been studying our health care system for years to understand all of its flaws and where it does work. My story is just one example of how even those with "gold-plated" coverage can still face a wrath of denials, staggering premium increases, and life-threatening limitations in proper and necessary care. The burden in cases of chronic illness is not just borne by the families, but by everyone in that employer's group - in the form of higher premiums and reduced benefits.
Insurance works based on the concept of risk-pooling. In today's environment, those small pools are based on employer groups and individuals. Risk, and therefore premiums, are calculated on each group or individual. Rather than having private insurance companies waste resources underwriting thousands of different groups and individuals (and trying to avoid the high-cost patients), the most effective and efficient risk-pooling scenario possible within the state of Colorado would be simply to cover all 4.5 million residents through a single comprehensive plan. The money saved through this reduced administrative burden would be more than enough to cover the uninsured and improve the benefits to the underinsured.
Until the Federal government steps up to the plate to bring true reform at the national level, it is my goal to see us at least bring true reform to the State of Colorado.
A Man of CERTain Action
Community Emergency Response Team training exercise
In the following news clip, Nathan is seen serving as a Search & Rescue Team lead in one of several Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training exercises.
CERT is a training program under the Citizen Corps umbrella that enables citizen volunteers to learn and practice skills in disaster preparedness, fire suppression, medical operations, search and rescue, and incident command. By training citizens in these skills, areas with CERT volunteers will be better prepared to handle widespread natural or man-made disasters, when first-responder resources would be stretched thin.
The Arapahoe County CERT program is sponsored by the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office
Nathan can be seen in the above clip with the red bandana under his helmet!
Other training exercises have simulated plane crashes, tornadoes, floods, and other mass-casualty incidents
Nathan Wilkes 2008 Candidate, Colorado Senate District 27 (Arapahoe County)
