President Obama recognizes Natoma Canfield during Obamacare speech in 2014
Hi ! Some people wonder why I publish the story of Natoma Canfield. It is simple: Madagascar is, at present, managed by an elected president who totally forgot that he is there to serve the people who lent him the power and not to manage according to its will and its desires. Worse, for a Rotarian, he has more and more trendy to serve his first circle and to get himself.
Dates of birth: Jeannot Ramambazafy, 6 august 1954, Barack Obama, 4 august 1961
Besides, Barack Obama is of the zodiacal sign Lion.
Nobody down here is completed. But on the brink of leaving the power, Barack Obama demonstrates that he is very there to serve the people and shows the way to his successor: be attuned to the people and find the solutions to relieve his poverties.
Mister Hery Rajaonarimampianina and his first circle
Certainly the American government - and not the American people- has interests which are not necessarily the ones of the Malagasy people. But it is necessary to put things in perspective. In Madagascar, regrettably, an individual just has thus to be elected in the universal suffrage so that he takes himself for God personally and wants to produce of account to nobody. It is regrettably, and still, the case of Mister Hery Rajaonarimampianina that, within two years violated many a time and without mood the Madagascar Fundamental Law.
And he continues by speaking in the first person singular, hoping to hold as long as possible by dividing the Malagasy with speeches to the antipodes of the realities and by putting a system of Machiavellian corruption to sell his own country. And he dares to speak about rule of law! Until when?
To tell the truth, I am ashamed to have voted for a president who takes care only of his small person. He is not satisfied with a few home truths? My name is also Charlie, and he has only to go to complain in Sadc.
Jeannot Ramambazafy – 13 august 2015
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President Barack Obama talks with Natoma Canfield, right, and her sister, Connie Anderson, in the Oval Office, Dec. 12, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Humor and pragmatism !
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Natoma Canfield telling her story
In December of 2009, I was a 50-year-old divorced woman, self-employed, and struggling to support myself and pay for my health insurance.
But in 1995, I'd had a very small bout with breast cancer -- carcinoma in situ -- which meant the insurance companies would forever see me as a woman with cancer. And that meant I had to pay more for my insurance.
My rates kept going up until I couldn't pay for my insurance any longer. I sure tried -- I cut back everything, but nothing made a difference. I had to cancel.
In a last-ditch effort, desperate to let someone know my plight, I wrote President Obama a letter straight from my heart. I shared my story with him and told him how much people like me needed his help. And he actually read it!
A few months later, however, my fears came true. In March of 2010, I passed out at work, and found out soon after that I had a rare type of leukemia -- acute lymphoblastic leukemia with the Philadelphia chromosome, to be specific.
I went to the Cleveland Clinic and was placed in a great program on their leukemia floor, where I would fight for my life. While I was there, my sister Connie Anderson was asked to introduce the President at an event in Strongsville, Ohio.
Then one day, the President sent me a note, then another -- and even called me on the phone. I couldn't believe it. Connie and my brother Ken were able to go to the signing of the Affordable Care Act, and later I finally got to meet the President myself in Parma, Ohio.
I really believe all of the excitement helped keep me alive. And today, I'm happy to say that I'm cancer-free.
Of course, I can't begin to thank the President enough for the Affordable Care Act. During the fight to pass the law, he said that he carried my story with him every day, as a reminder of what the Act would mean for people all across our country. He later decided to frame the letter, which is now hanging up outside the Oval Office.
As the President has said, "because of this law, there are other Americans -- other sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers -- who will not have to hang their fortunes on chance. These are the Americans for whom we passed this law."
I'm so grateful to have a President who truly cares about the people that he serves.
Natoma Canfield
Medina, Ohio
The letter Canfield sent the President in 2010 hangs on the wall in the background. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Here is the full text of Natoma's letter sent to President Obama during the health care debate
Dear President Obama
I am 50 years old. I was diagnosed with carcinoma in-situ 16 years ago and following my divorce 12 years ago I became self-employed. After my Cobra ran out I was able to find costly, but affordable health insurance. As a responsible individual, I have struggled to maintain my individual coverage and have increased my deductible and out of pocket-limits in an attempt to control my cost and keep my health insurance.
Last year (2009) my insurance premium was increased over 25% even though I increased my deductible and out of pocket to the highest limits available. I paid out $6075.24 in premiums, $2415.26 for medical care, $225 in co-pays and $1500 for prescriptions. I never reached my deductible of $2500 so the insurance company only paid out a total of $953.32 to my providers.
I must repeat, in 2009 my insurance company received $6075.24 in premiums and paid out only $953.32! Incredibly I have just been notified that my premium for next year 2010 has been increased over 40% to $8496.24 ($708.02 per month)!!!! This is the same insurance company I have been with for over 11 cancer free years!!!
I need your Health reform bill to help me!!! I simply can no longer afford to pay for my health care costs!! Thanks to this incredible premium increase demanded by my insurance company, January will be my last month of insurance.
I live in the house my mother & father built in 1958 and I am so afraid of the possibility I might loose this family heirloom as a result of my being forced to drop my health care insurance. The health insurance industry technically has not denied me insurance directly, but indirectly they have by increasing my costs. They perceive me as becoming a higher risk factor to them despite being a loyal customer. I will never be able to obtain new health insurance due to the lack of real competition.
We are talking about Anthem who apparently has no respect for your attempts to reform the health insurance industry.
Please stay focused in your reform attempts as I and many others are in desperate need of your help.
Sincerely,
Natoma Canfield