By Donna Smith

My cancer won’t wait and doesn’t care about what nine robed judges in Washington, DC, say about healthcare.  Cancer doesn’t care.  Obamacare.  Romneycare.  No matter.  Cancer doesn’t care.  But the nurses do.

Unrelenting and not fearful of any CEO’s rage or the loss of a political contribution, cancer, illness and injury march on.  It is with that sort of fearless and unwavering force that the nurses of National Nurses United and the patients for whom they advocate are advancing the cause for healthcare justice.

We’re on the road in California bringing the message that it doesn’t really matter what the Supreme Court announces about the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that we all purchase private insurance or pay fines for not doing so.

I know, I know.  All the hoopla.  All the drama.  All the buildup by the Republicans and the Democrats and the media falling all over themselves to say what the Supreme Court’s ruling means for November’s presidential election.  But you know what?  My cancer doesn’t care.

It doesn’t matter which way the Supremes take this.  So long as the private insurance giants are in my life and in my body, those insurance companies do what they do to keep their costs down and make money.  Making me healthy and whole again is not their concern or their primary motivation.

The nurses care, though.  And that is why the bus tour through California is bringing the message of the only way we can begin to make our care truly be our care – Medicare for all for life.  Improved, expanded and providing a single standard of high quality care Medicare for all for life.  For all and without financial barrier.  That’s healthcare.  And that’s care that will help me and millions of others facing cancer or other illness and injuries know that we are the ones who are served by our healthcare system not any presidential candidate her or other politician or media giant.  Healthcare.  Not Supreme Court decision care.

So join us.  We’re making our way through California, and we’d love to have you join us.  Tonight in San Bernardino and then on to a city near you – Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, Stockton, Chico, San Rafael, San Jose, Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, San Luis Obispo, Glendale, Los Angeles,  Santa Monica, West Covina.  All in the next few days.  Watch for the bus.

Because until our demands are louder than the billows of hot air, the counting of profits, and the shouting of the pundits and  surrounding all the political maneuvering, cancer doesn’t care.  Do you?  I do.  Let’s do the right thing so that if and when illness strikes, we aren’t waiting for any judge – in black robes or in business suits working for the insurance companies – to say what our healthcare will be.

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