Karl at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania

Karl at the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania
Originally uploaded by walk4healthcare

Karl, a volunteer Ambassador at the Flight 93 Memorial, told me he doesn’t believe in a government-run system. According to him, the ‘free-market’ is the best though he acknowledged that having insurance linked to employment was a problem. “Empower the individual,” Karl explained to me.

“So how about your own situation,” I asked.

“We're not well-to-do,” he said. “I get my health insurance from the state, a plan called ‘Special Care’ which is in between Medicaid and private insurance.”

“And how’s it going with that?”

“Very well actually,” he answered. “It’s not connected to employment status so I have the freedom to change jobs without changing my health coverage.”

[On a side note, Karl, in his presentation to the thirty some-odd gathered visitors at the memorial explained how about $40 million more was needed to complete the permanent Flight 93 Memorial. I recalled how anti-reform industry groups were spending (as reported by the Wall Street Journal) about $1.4 million a day in their selfish and grasping efforts to thwart (or worse manipulate) healthcare reform. That means that about a month of that spending (the time it took for me to walk from Chicago to DC) would cover the remaining cost of the Memorial—a tribute, as most know, to Americans who gave the last full measure of sacrifice for their fellow citizens.]