YOUR HELP NEEDED

Hi all - if you recall from one of my last posts, I am testifying before the legislature in CT on Tuesday to help sway a vote that will mandate insurance coverage for WLS. What follows is the transcript of my testimony - as I have never done anything like this before, I would greatly appreciate and benefit from your feedback ... I still have time to revise and want to make sure this is my very best shot. Thanks for your help: To the Members of the 2006 Insurance and Real Estate Committee: Imagine that you weigh 300 or 400 pounds, perhaps more. The issues concerning your weight are life threatening; the many medications you take for your diabetes and hypertension keep you alive; you sleep with a mask over your face at night to regulate your breathing, the hum of the C-Pap machine a constant reminder of the seriousness of your medical condition; you don't own a pair of favorite jeans because the stores do not carry them large enough to accommodate your size. You fear falling down every day of your life because you know you cannot get back up. I have lived life as a morbidly obese person. Two years ago, I weighed 360 pounds. I was dying: I was diabetic and hypertensive and had severe sleep apnea. I was unemployed, a recluse in my home, trying to make sense of my personal cir****tances and ill health. Despite being a highly motivated, accomplished person, significant and sustained weight loss continued to elude me. A therapist recommended I apply for disability benefits because I could no longer function in the workforce. That was the moment of truth for me and the option of weight loss surgery suddenly became very real. On the morning of surgery on March 8, 2004, my BMI was an alarming 53 with the designation of being super-morbidly obese; today, it is 23. I am healthy. As it is a woman's prerogative to not disclose her weight, I will tell you that I have lost 214 pounds. You do the math. How did I get to be so large? I suspect environmental factors combined with a genetic predisposition to morbid obesity. My paternal grandmother died in her forties weighing over 400 pounds; my paternal aunt died as a young woman at nearly 500 pounds. I looked just like them, but no longer. Today, I am gainfully employed in a high-profile position at Connecticut College where, on my lunch hours, I work out hard and often. I am fit and active and engaged in participating fully and joyfully in life. I am free of my past dependency on medications and other interventions that forestalled the fatal consequences of morbid obesity. None of this would have been possible without insurance coverage for my gastric bypass surgery. Instead of appearing before you in my favorite pair of size 6 jeans, there is a good chance I would have died by now. Morbid obesity kills. Like heart disease and cancer, this disease insidiously robs us of our health until we are dead. For many of us, it may take years of total dependence on expensive drugs and machines to keep us alive. These interventions represent the true extreme financial burden on our insurance companies, not the cost of weight loss surgery. Add to that the physical and psychological devastation of living life as a morbidly obese person, a person who cannot adequately care for themselves or their children; a person who is physically unable to make a positive contribution to their community; a person who will visit the emergency rooms of our hospitals many times throughout the course of this disease until they are dead. This is the true burden of cost to our insurance companies, to our families, and to our communities. With this bill, you will save the lives of thousands of people in Connecticut who will live to improve their marriages, raise healthy children, and become involved in their communities. I implore the Insurance and Real Estate Committee to pass SB552, mandating insurance coverage for surgical intervention to eradicate morbid obesity and its consequential and eventually fatal co-morbidities. Thank you.

I don't know that I would add a thing, other then to consider talking that obese people are not lazy, that you just get to the point that you cannot do what a person who is not obese can do. This is a wonderful story, and it takes courage to do what you are doing. I appauld your efforts.

I would not change a thing. It's a well thought out and moving statement. Hugs, Mo

For what it's worth.....Mikey Likes it!! Seriously, Maureen....it's good and more importantly, it's honest and obviously from the heart. I wouldn't stress out about perfecting it.....it's terrific the way it is!!! Knock 'em dead, my friend!! Mike

Reenie- I am a lurker and not really proud of it. Today is my 2 year anniversary and you have brought me out of the closet. THANK YOU! If you give this speech, I believe that you will open someone's eyes, you have said everything that I feel in my heart. Good Luck and you will be in my thoughts and prayers that everyone there will care as much as you do. Edie F.

I am SO HAPPY you posted this, Edie! We need you, we need each other, and you are welcome here to share whatever it is you need to talk about. WE ARE FAMILY! Please, please stay close to us. I'll let you everyone know how things go on Tuesday and I'm so happy in knowing that it includes you -- and all the other lurkers! This is the best group ... I keep saying that like some kind of idiot but don't know how else to let you all know what you mean to me! Maureen

I would not change a thing either. You Go Girl!! I wish I was a mouse in the corner when you give this speech. You will be awesome I am sure of it!! Marilyn, the Bearlady

I think that you are brilliant. You really don't need to change anything, but if you'd like, I agree with Ken about the lazy thing, it's a hot button for me. So many people believe that MO people are that way because they are lazy. Perhaps that contributes to some, but I really believe it is the other way around. It's tough to move at 360 pounds. Losing the weight and working out the way you do proves that you are not lazy, you just couldn't move as you would have liked before. When you talk about apnea, you might also want to state that 38,000 people die of cardiovascular deaths due to sleep apnea each year. Another hot button for me since that's what my husband died of. Me, me, me.... it's all about me. I'm so proud of you and happy that you are our poster child. Go and knock their socks off. Love ya huge, Connie

GREAT SUGGESTIONS, GUYS! My problem is I am limited to 3 minutes; the second I go over 3 minutes they will cut me off at the knees. There is, however, a question and answer period immediately following the testimony and that's when I am hopeful to address the perception that we are lazy, undisciplined people. Connie, thanks for the stat and I am going to incorporate that into the sleep apnea statement. I'm so sorry that's how you lost your husband. Thanks again, guys, as always you're the best! I'm nervous about this. Can't believe that if I would have waited until now to pursue WLS it would not have been covered by my insurance. Can't believe it. Hugs to all, spring is coming, coming, COMING!!! Your Reenie

Reenie, you are so talented. this is perfect. when do you read it?