Virginia takes center stage in health-care debate

Virginia took center stage in the national debate over health-care coverage Wednesday when Debby Smith rose to tell her story to President Barack Obama.

“Good afternoon, Mr. President,“ the 53-year-old resident of Appalachia, in Southwest Virginia, said at the president’s health-care forum at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale.

“I’ll try not to cry.“

Barely clinging to her composure, Smith explained that she had been diagnosed with kidney cancer in 1998, but could not have her kidney removed because she was the only caregivier for her father, who was dying of colon cancer at the time.

Her tumor was treated with radiation—all covered by the insurance she had with her employer. But the treatment left her unable to work. And when the tumor returned, she had no health insurance, nor did she qualify for federal disability pay or Medicaid coverage from the state.

“Now I have a new tumor,“ she said, her voice becoming soft. “I have no way to pay for it.

“ . . . I’m just trying to figure out how I’m going to make it nine years until I’m qualified to get my regular Social Security.“

The story moved Obama to ask Smith to come forward to the partitioned area where he stood. Then he hugged her.

“I don’t want you to feel . . . like you’re alone on this,“ the president told her, saying that he was going to try and find ways to help Smith immediately.

Obama called Smith “Exhibit A” in why the nation’s health system needs an overhaul—one which would include a low-cost “public option” in addition to private insurers, so everyone could have access to care.

Left to their own devices, insurance companies would only cover “the young healthy folks like Mark Warner,“ Obama said, pointing out the senator, seated in the front row with Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and a Who’s Who of Northern Virginia Democratic legislators.

Obama says he wants to cover nearly 50 million uninsured Americans, to persuade doctors to stress quality over quantity of care, to cut billions of dollars from spending.

But details on exactly how to do those things were generally lacking in his hour-long town hall forum before a friendly, hand-picked audience in a Washington suburb. The lingering questions underscore the tough negotiations awaiting Congress, the administration and dozens of special interest groups in the coming months.

Members of Congress will return to debating the issue when they return from a one-week recess on Monday.

Smith is a volunteer for Organizing for America, Obama’s political operation within the Democratic National Committee. She obtained her ticket to the event through the White House.

For many in attendance, Smith’s story is not unique in the commownealth.

“We’ve done some wonderful things in Virginia, but we’re working at the margins,“ Kaine told the audience before Obama took the stage. “Because in Virginia and in the nation, one in seven Americans and one in seven Virginians don’t have health insurance.

“And those that do have health insurance often find serious difficulties in cost and access and quality.“

Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Marilyn Tavenner said she sees cases like Smith’s frequently. “We’re going to see if we can put something together to get her care,“ she said in an interview after attending the forum.