http://www.markudall.com/content/makeyourmark en Copyright 2008 2008-03-25T23:31:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/frank_in_colorado_springs/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/frank_in_colorado_springs/#When:22:23:00Z I am on Medicare Part D [the plan for prescription drug coverage]. I am at risk of dying because I can’t afford my medication. This month, my monthly costs went from $1,500 to $1,800 per month. I am on Social Security Disability Insurance so my total income is $2,000 per month. My plan will pay $2,510 and then will not kick in again until I have paid $4,000 dollars out of pocket. In 2006, I decided to open credit cards and I ran up $4,000-5,000 in credit card debt.  I knew I couldn't pay it back but I figured if I die, I don't have to pay them back.  I am in a wheelchair and too sick to live on my own. I don’t know what I am supposed to do. I had gone to see other elected officials but they told me I was on the wrong plan, or they would get back to me, or as one agency said, I was just screwed. I went to an IdeaRaiser expecting to hear the same. I told my story that we need to close the gap in coverage. Since I told my story, Mark Udall has committed to finding a solution to close the gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage. Mark Udall is the first elected official that I contacted that said anything other than “Thanks, we’ll get back to you.” Health Care 2007-12-17T22:23:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/james/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/james/#When:22:31:00Z Why is it that co-payments for VA services are set at 1/3 below poverty level for vets with non service connected disabilities? And why must they have been on active duty for a minimum of three consecutive years to be eligible for veterans benefits? They put their lives on the line and were prepared to defend this nation and were promised lifetime benefits when they enlisted. Why should they be denied benefits now or be forced to make co-payments when their income is below the national poverty level? At a minimum, they should not have to make co-payments to the VA when they are below the poverty level established by the government. To require co-payments below the poverty level is simply sentencing senior vets to choose between what method of slow suicide they are going to experience: starvation, lack of heat, or lack of medicines. Which would you sentence them to? Veterans Affairs 2008-03-25T22:31:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/carrier/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/carrier/#When:22:29:00Z A few years ago we had to start renting a house but have been waiting to buy our own house. The house we are renting is a rent with the option to buy. In October of 2007 we received letters from the county telling us that our rental house was in foreclosure. We pay the landlord every month on time. I contacted him he told me he had gotten a little behind but would catch up. As of today the house has not gone to auction. But it is still in the foreclosure process. Here is where I see a problem. A landlord can not pay the mortgage on a house, yet I am legally held to a contract with him to pay him. I never know if the mortgage is paid, or if tomorrow is the day I receive our eviction notice. I know this is small, but as I am going through this process I am learning I am not alone. Economy and Business 2008-03-25T22:29:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/shannon/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/shannon/#When:22:24:00Z I was taking care of this individual who came into the hospital in pretty bad shape. He came into an ICU and all he could focus on was “Do you have my insurance card? Please don’t forget my insurance cards because I don’t want my wife to have to deal with this bill because I don’t think I’m going to make it.” And he didn’t. That was the last day that he spent on this planet. And his last words were “Don’t saddle my wife with this big cost because you can’t find my card.” That just really resonated with me because that is a broken system. People are really sick and their bodies are under immense stress but their worry is how they will pay for the care. Universal health care is not scary and horrific. What’s horrific is what we have now. Health Care 2008-03-25T22:24:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/leo/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/leo/#When:22:08:00Z This young girl was traveling with her father in Europe and had a health problem and needed to go to a hospital. I arranged for an ambulance to take them to the hospital. The daughter received treatment, spent a few nights at the hospital and had a mildly invasive procedure done to treat a kidney stone. The father was concerned about the cost because his insurance was not accepted in Europe so he would have to pay in cash. In an American hospital this would cost thousands of dollars. It turns out the bill came to approximately 360 Euros or $400 U.S dollars. The father was ecstatic, because he had been expecting to pay more like $10,000. Perhaps when we are looking at the American health care system, we could learn from other Western industrialized nations who are not only taking care of their own people with their universal system, but they are also taking care of those who come from abroad as tourists and travelers. Health Care 2008-03-25T22:08:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/kyle/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/kyle/#When:22:02:00Z I’ve cared about the national deficit pretty much since elementary school. I’ve always been a saver. I liked Clinton because he was able to get us a surplus. Then, of course, we went from surplus to deficits under Bush and after deficits I heard about additional tax cuts. And I understand the economics of things, but it really disappoints me that the government is taking out loans on our future to stimulate the economy. I'm doing the math and I am thinking either we're going to keep the loans at this point, keep the deficit at this point, and we're always going to keep paying interest on it and it will keep growing and eventually when I am a tax payer and have a good paying job and I'm contributing to the taxes in America, I'm going to be the one paying for that.  So, basically, my parent's generation is taking money away from me, and I don't like that.  I want my money.   Economy and Business 2008-03-25T22:02:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/shawn/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/shawn/#When:21:23:00Z My grandmother went into the hospital today and my father is taking care of her, but he was just diagnosed with cancer. Now we’re thinking about putting them both in a retirement home. In addition, my wife has lupus and heart problems. She has to go to a specialist at least 10 times a month on average and she takes a $5,000 a month prescription. Because she has had so much treatment, we are about to lose our insurance because we have reached our lifetime maximum of $2 million. Health Care 2008-03-25T21:23:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/dave/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/dave/#When:21:20:00Z We need to have better diplomacy in Afghanistan. We dropped the ball. Because of that, morale is really low at the State Department. With diplomacy, we can increase morale. In addition to that, we diverted so many resources to Iraq. In Kabul, the water and sewer system has not been rebuilt. If we could put resources there, we can rebuild the economy. Foreign Affairs 2008-03-25T21:20:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/bob1/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/bob1/#When:21:14:00Z In 2004, USGS worked with the State department in Afghanistan where the geological survey there had been nonfunctional for years. I led a team that focused on getting the water supply system restructured in Kabul. We were to then go out across the country to rebuild water supply systems. We brought computers, water pumps and other electronics to 12 students. We were full of hope of rebuilding this system, but that began to fade away. The limited funds have not allowed us to finish the work we were sent there to do and the war in Iraq took so much attention off Afghanistan we were not able to finish the job. Foreign Affairs 2008-03-25T21:14:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/sean/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/sean/#When:18:27:00Z When I was 16, I was given a car and I was allowed to drive whenever I wanted. A year later, the gas prices became so expensive that not only did it limit my driving but it became really expensive for my parents, whose offices are about thirty miles away, to drive to work . It would be nice to have some sort of alternative energy plans. Environment and Conservation 2008-03-24T18:27:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/sophia/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/sophia/#When:18:25:00Z I nanny for a family that has three children. They have a 10 year old boy with Downs syndrome. In school he needs the support of an aide. In Douglas County, a pretty wealthy district where I’m from, there is not enough money to have aides for each student with special needs. Their son shares an aide with another student. One day when his aide was with the other student, he went into the bathroom and took off all his clothes and came out in front of the class and did the naked chicken dance. Although it sounds funny, it actually is not. He is in fifth grade and because of this incident he is now perceived as even more different. If he had his own aide, this would not have happened. I guess my idea is to have enough funding for special education so that even people with disabilities can be included in a typical classroom. Education 2008-03-24T18:25:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/gavin/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/gavin/#When:18:22:00Z Throughout high school I worked at a fast food restaurant. A lot of the people who I worked with were Mexican. They were all really nice people and most of them spoke English and had been living here for about 10 years. One guy, who was about 30, had lived here close to 10 years and he was one of the smartest guys. We talked about classical music and he had better vocabulary than half the Americans I know. I asked him if he’d ever thought of becoming a teacher. He said to me “No papers.” That really hit home and made me think about how fortunate I am and how I am really glad I’m not in that position. A person does not get to fulfill what he is good at because he does not have papers. I know it’s a controversial issue, but I really feel like people who are here from Mexico and other places are hardworking, decent people and we should really be given a chance. Immigration 2008-03-24T18:22:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/anonymous1/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/anonymous1/#When:18:20:00Z I have MS and I’m on Social Security disability. A few years back when I started Medicare, the drug that I was taking for MS cost about $1200 per month. When Medicare Part D was passed, I thought “This is great, we got something.” In the time that we got Medicare Part D, the price of the drug I was taking went up to $2,600 a month. So even though I have that supposed benefit, I am always begging for prescription assistance and I spend the month of January trying to figure out how to fund that drug. Health Care 2008-03-24T18:20:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/bri/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/bri/#When:18:16:00Z At West we are teaching to the test. Our school cut 10 teachers and we are told that if we don’t do better we will close. So teachers are teaching the test. The CSAP has become a verb at our school.  The kids say, "Did you CSAP that?", which means, did you blow it off?   Education 2008-03-24T18:16:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/ryan/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/ryan/#When:18:14:00Z Jefferson County tells us how to teach, not just what to teach, but how to teach. The federal government needs to hand the job of educating children back down to the states. That’s where it belongs because there are so many differences between each state. It’s okay to have general guidelines, but the states know what their needs are. Why does the federal government come up with a one-size-fits-all for the U.S.? It is okay to hold everyone accountable but keep it at the state level. Education 2008-03-24T18:14:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/truman/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/truman/#When:18:08:00Z We have good credit but after building our house and having to put a little money back into our small business, the credit card companies have raised several of our rates to 27% even though there's been no missed or late payments, making it nearly impossible to break out of the cycle. Economy and Business 2008-03-24T18:08:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/becky/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/becky/#When:18:01:00Z My husband served in the Air Force for four years and then another six years in the Colorado Air National Guard, during which time he was called to active duty for more than two years post 9/11, including a tour in a classified location during the Iraq War. My husband was turned down for federal loans because of how the FAFSA considers his GI Bill and Guard tuition assistance. How can a veteran not qualify for a federal loan for higher education, especially to be turned down specifically because of the GI Bill support he received? The GI Bill is certainly not sufficient to cover expenses and we really needed that loan. I hope that this loop hole in how the FAFSA does its decision-making can be remedied, perhaps as part of this 21st Century GI Bill. Veterans Affairs 2008-03-24T18:01:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/ed_and_sandy/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/ed_and_sandy/#When:17:58:00Z We have a son who is currently in Iraq. He's a medical officer. We worry constantly about our son's safety. We are outraged that the Administration embarked on a war with a country whose regime had no connection to al-Qaeda, had no weapons of mass destruction, and was not an imminent threat to the U.S. Foreign Affairs 2008-03-24T17:58:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/anonymous/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/anonymous/#When:17:51:00Z Healthcare in the U.S. suffers more from delivery to those who need it than our capacity to provide high quality medicine. Among the major problems is the having insurance companies in the supply line. Their major operation is to generate high profits for their investors. That is why they are in business. They generally deny payment on first application, then minimize their liability with the result that they include about a 25% overhead cost in their operations. Doctors must employ people just to handle the paperwork, which is generally different for each provider. I believe theses are unnecessary costs. Therefore, I favor a single payer system, uniform descriptors for the  medical procedure, and a not-for-profit operator of the system.  I am not afraid of our government as the operator. Medicare and Social Security seem to operate all right.  My requirement on governmental operation is that incompetent and/or unresponsive workers be easily fired. The businesses who profit from the present health system will  certainly oppose any change which reduces or eliminates their access to their present income producing operations. They will invoke "socialized medicine", imply long waits for medical attention, develop horror stories in reference to other country's experiences, etc.   Health Care 2008-03-24T17:51:00-07:00 http://www.markudall.com/content/page/john/ http://www.markudall.com/content/page/john/#When:17:38:00Z I’m most passionate about energy development in the West – oil shale and natural gas. I was born and raised in Glenwood Springs on the Western Slope. Recently, there’s been a crazy amount of energy development. I remember when I was a kid my dad drove me through Parachute and we looked at all the oil shale processing plants that have been abandoned. Now with natural gas everyone is all excited about the revenue. Communities will need to be prepared to handle the companies who come through, take all their natural resources and then leave the communities with nothing. We should limit that kind of development which fuels the boom and as soon as it runs out, there’s a bust. We need to come up with something more sustainable and respectful for the environment. Environment and Conservation 2008-03-24T17:38:00-07:00