Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) uses stories and exploits children to sell HCR

(Photo: Screen Shot – Seattle’s Marcelas Owens visited with Senator Murray to discuss his trip to Washington D.C. to advocate for passage of health care insurance reform.)

Telling Sad stories has become a political strategy to sell Obamacare.  Obama has some sad story to share in every speech.  The most offensive of the sad stories comes from Patty Murray (D-WA) who uses a child and a distorted story to sell her constituents on the immediate need to pass HCR.

In a February 26th article, “Health Care Summit notable moments with Patty Murray” I reported that Murray’s contribution to the Health Care Summit appears to be collecting and telling sad stories about our health care system. Her chosen focus story introduced the nation to a young boy named Marcelas Owens, an “insurance abuse survivor”, from Washington State.  Marcelas is a young child with 2 siblings who lost their mother, Tifanny Owens, when he was 7 years old.

Marcelas shares his story of how his mother, Tifanny Owens, was working as an assistant manager at Jack in the Box.  How she became sick in September of 2006. The following month she lost her job and insurance as a result of missing so much work due to illness.

According to Murray,  Marcela approached her in 2009 to tell her his story. Senator Murray had been promoting the need for such stories from her web site:

Your Voice is Needed!

Help Reform Our Broken Health Care System

Senator Murray believes that making meaningful reform happen this year will take more than members of Congress – or even President Obama – calling for change. It will take Americans across Washington state and the nation standing up and demanding it. That’s why she is asking Washington state residents to add their voice to this debate by signing up and/or sharing their health care stories at her new site.

Marcelas and his grandmother participated in a small anti-health insurance industry protest in DC last week, which was organized by left-wing labor groups.  His entire family have been longtime members of the Washington Community Action Network, who are his sponsors and have paid for them to be at this event in DC.

On March 12th, the Democrats used Marcales as their centerpiece in a press conference following the left-wing anti-insurance protest.  Senator Reid began his introduction of Marcales by noting that our system is beyond broken and it can certainly be illustrated by what happened to a woman by the name of Tifanny Owens, Marcelas’s mother.

Marcelas shared his story, followed by Dick Durbin who quickly pointed out that Republicans tell us to go slow, start over again and take your time; Durban asks “how much time can we take”.

Senator Schumer then spoke stating that the Democrats are simply asking for an up or down vote, that this is about Marcelas Mom, it’s about peoples lives. Murray followed Schumer telling us that the system we have in place today doesn’t provide options for people when they are just at the edge. That Marcelas was here to remind all of us what this debate is about.

And now for the rest of the story…

Health Care Reform is something both Democrats and Republicans believe is needed, the difference is how we accomplish that goal.  Almost 74% of Americans are now against the current bill, have spent the past year making their voices heard but the liberal left seems to be deaf.

Recently, I was admonished  by a liberal member of AARP for not being moved to support passing the HCB after listening to this child.  Her conclusion was that conservative people like me were callous, heartless and beyond hope.

What Patty Murray and the Democrats are not telling the public is that Marcelas mother received medical care, possibly better than her insurance would have provided, after she lost both her job and her health insurance.

According to an article in the Seattle Times, “Boy who lost mom takes health-care story to D.C.” She received care twice from Swedish Medical Center’s Central Area campus.  Her first trip was to the emergency room where  she was diagnosed  with pulmonary hypertension.  The second visit was a month later where she was hospitalized for 8 days. Her final visit was to University of Washington Medical Center. After a week of unconsciousness, she died at age 27.

Pulmonary hypertension is a result of some other illness and usually has an identifiable cause. If able to find  the underlying cause, it can be treatable. However, there is no cure for pulmonary hypertension, in severe cases lung transplants and/or a surgical procedure called Atrial septostomy may be the only possible options.

According to WebMd.com, Causes of Pulmonary Hypertension:

Many different conditions can cause pulmonary hypertension. In different ways, each of these illnesses may lead to high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries:

* Congestive heart failure

* Venous thromboembolic disease (blood clots in the lungs)

* Human immunodeficiency virus infection

* Illegal drug use (cocaine, methamphetamine)

* Cirrhosis of the liver

* Appetite suppressant medications (fenfluramine, dexfenfluramine, diethylpropion), which are no longer available in the U.S.

* Autoimmune diseases (lupus, scleroderma, and rheumatoid arthritis)

* Heart shunts (abnormal blood flow between heart chambers)

* Chronic lung disease (emphysema, chronic bronchitis, or pulmonary fibrosis)

* Obstructive sleep apnea

For more details on Pulmonary Hypertension you can visit WebMd.com section:  “Lung Disease & Respiratory Health Center”