TO SENATOR RON WYDEN:

Dear Senator Wyden,

My name is David Gillaspie. I live in Tigard, Oregon. This is a note of thanks for the work you do for Oregon, and for the voice you contribute to the Senate for so many other Americans. Not every state is as fortunate as we are with two U.S. Senators asking the right questions to keep government on track.

Senator Wyden, I especially like your approach to the healthcare bill. My recent cancer treatment came with three hurdles. The first were the mental rigors of accepting a cancer diagnosis. Hearing I had cancer from one of the good doctors out there was like hearing a priest explain the details of a drug cartel. Could it really be true?

The second hurdle was uncertain insurance coverage between in network, out of network, out of pocket deductible, surgical center fees at an in network percentage. So many revelations, like Providence Insurance isn’t the same as Providence Hospital, that doctors covered by one insurance are also covered by another in a reciprocal relationship, sometimes. Part of my treatment was a ten thousand dollar shot I checked with insurance for approval. It was approved, then it wasn’t, then more mail said it was. Knowing you speak for those in peril is a comfort.

The third hurdle of cancer treatment came with the effect cancer has on everyone around me. I believe now that people act and respond to need based on their own experience. Men who’ve had people in their lives clean up for them will never understand the importance of fulfilling simple human needs. If nothing else, effective government addresses those simple human needs. To ignore that sends the message of a huge disconnect between generations.

During your decades of public service you’ve heard older men explain themselves to younger men with the last lines, “Of course I won’t be around, but you will and you’ll have to do it better.” If those young men know the importance of respecting their fellow man it will be better.

Abandonment of human values, from either side of the age spectrum, will harm the other. The well off elderly turning away from the needs of the modern day to invest themselves in extending their way of life? Why does that sound like a one percent solution? The modern youth tearing down their eventual inheritance? Too short sighted.

Your continued presence in the Senate sends the right sort of message to old and young to work together.

Keep up the good work,

David Gillaspie

(if possible, please send the link to this letter to Senator Wyden: https://wp.me/p2JHBA-4JM )