The Purple Bus & the Purple Bus Lady are going into the shop!

The Purple Bus pulled up lame after six months on the road when the transmission started slipping really badly. The good news is that I was able to shift out of second gear, and we made it home safely from Kentucky.

So the Purple Bus is about to go into the shop for a new transmission. The bad news is that it won’t be cheap. We could use your help to get the Bus out the shop and back onto the road! Please consider making a tax deductible donation to VoteHealthcare.org today! Click here to donate through our secure server.

I’m going into the shop, too. I am donating a kidney to my friend, Dan Krinsky, chef-owner of Tierra, a restaurant in my neighborhood. Shortly after hearing that Dan had developed polycystic kidney disease, I ran into him at our local taco stand. I could see instantly that he was deathly ill and needed a kidney transplant, and I told Dan then and there I would give him one of mine.

It took almost a year to complete the medical tests, but we are finally ready to go. Tomorrow, Dan and I will undergo the transplant surgery at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta. I should be back up to speed and ready to hit the road in a few weeks. Dan’s recovery will take a little longer, but with his nearly new kidney, he should be feeling much better immediately.

26 million Americans have chronic kidney disease, and the number is growing. According to the National Kidney Foundation, demand for kidneys far outstrips supply. More than 80,000 people are waiting for a kidney, of which about 4,500 die each year. Living donation rates have declined recently, with only about 6,000 donations last year. For more info, go to http://www.kidney.org/.

Healthcare Industry and Congress: We're on to You, and We're Not Going to Take It Anymore

This piece originally appeared in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Why would an otherwise sane Atlanta soccer mom brave hail, snow and tornadoes to drive across the nation inspiring others to petition lawmakers? What possessed throngs of Montanans to surround their U.S. senator's offices in protest? Why would thousands of Seattleites march through the streets, with one lady brandishing an "Inadequate Coverage" sign, clad in a hospital gown, buns exposed?

The answer is that people are desperate for real solutions to the soaring cost of healthcare. They grow increasingly frustrated as members of Congress emerge from their marble corridors for obligatory listening tours, only to offer timid, half-hearted measures. To borrow a word coined by our last president, politicians misunderestimate the will of the American people.

This troubling disconnect is the biggest lesson of my 20,000-mile journey across 30 states to the District of Columbia. I am THAT otherwise sane Atlanta mother. Never before politically active, I got off the sidelines when insurers refused to sell reasonably priced policies to my children because of their "pre-existing conditions." My son Chris, 27, suffers from Type 1 diabetes, and my daughter Caitlin, 25, has epilepsy. So my husband fixed up a little school bus we bought on eBay and painted it purple to represent a mixture of the red and blue factions that too often divide our country. Then I launched a real listening tour.

Folks in Austin, Los Angeles, South Bend and Des Moines greeted me like a hero. Omaha commuters jumped out of their cars to join our roadside rally. Some started calling me the "Purple Bus Lady" as they shared their despair over insurers charging premiums that exceed mortgage payments and using fine print to escape paying medical bills.

My reception inside the Beltway set quite a different tone. For starters, a law-abiding citizen cannot park her little bus anywhere near the great halls of democracy. Once in the Capitol, the frustration intensifies. Upon conveying our health care ordeals to the staff of Republican Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, our delegation received caring looks and bags of peanuts, but no solutions.

Senate Democrats seem just as tone deaf as they reel from sticker shock at the price of their private insurance-based reform proposals. We the people don't need the Congressional Budget Office to tell us that a system geared towards maximizing insurance and pharmaceutical profits is unaffordable.

What politicians fail to grasp is that voters are wise to these insatiable Cookie Monsters who, according to the Washington Post, are paying lobbyists $1.4 million each day to defeat meaningful reform. Like the throngs surrounding the Montana offices of Sen. Max Baucus, people everywhere are outraged that their representatives accept millions of dollars from insurance and pharmaceutical interests but refuse to consider a quality, affordable public health insurance option.

The overwhelming majority of us want a robust public plan option because we know it's the only way to keep private insurers honest and make them compete for our business. Every single person I met along my journey is willing to pay his or her fair share. But when our elected representatives show no fortitude to rein in these voracious corporate interests, our anger grows. My journey outside the Beltway shows that lawmakers should no longer assume
people will quietly take their lumps and resign themselves to spaghetti suppers to pay off back-breaking medical debts. The ground is shifting.

This week as Congress reconvenes to hammer out the details of health reform, I invite Republicans and Democrats alike to ride in my Purple Bus. Come talk to people whose health insurance premiums exceed their mortgage payments. Then try telling us our nation can't afford to fix health care.

Believers are everywhere.

A reporter asked me recently if I ever got lonely traveling in the Purple Bus. My response was not often, and that's the truth. When you're driving the Purple Bus, people aren't shy about asking questions, and before you know it, they've told you their life story.

I was bone tired when I arrived at the Lazy R Campground in Sheridan, Wyoming, late Tuesday evening. I had driven four hours that day (and had for days on end), making stops in Bozeman and Billings, Montana.

I was still exhausted when I got up early the next morning so I could arrive on time at my next stop. It was raining and chilly. No NPR because my radio is broken. No one stirring in the campground. I must confess to feeling a little down and very alone.

I dragged through my departure checklist -- drawers latched shut, curtains pulled, clutter stashed, and all movable objects battened down for blast-off -- when I heard a knock at the door. There stood the man in this photograph. His name is Cleve, and he was my next door neighbor.

Cleve told me that he and his wife, Barbara (who wasn't dressed yet) were thrilled to awaken to find a "magic bus" parked next door. They got on the internet to take a look at our website. Cleve said they wanted to make a donation, and he handed me a $20 bill. About then, Barbara opened a window to say they loved the magic bus and believed in healthcare for all.

I thanked them both. The clouds lifted. I cranked the magic bus, and we found our way to the next stop down the road.

Those Profiteers Bearing Gifts -- NOT!

The "promise" was a big one:  $2 trillion in 10 years.   Officers from six health industry lobbying organizations stood behind the President, proudly nodding their heads up and down as he proclaimed their agreement to voluntarily reduce costs by 1.5 percentage points each year for 10 years.  

It's all there in this video.  The White House website posted red-white-and-blue charts illustrating the savings.  

But now we learn that they had their fingers crossed, according to the New York Times.  The President of the American Hospital Association was in the dog house big time when he went back to the office and began fielding calls from irate members.  Another officer of that organization issued a statement clarifying:  "No such reform plan exists at this time."  [Outright denial by officer running for cover].

Karen M. Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, told the New York Times that "the savings would 'ramp up' gradually as the growth of health spending slowed" [hedge, hedge by lobbyist experienced in double-talk].  David H. Nexon, senior executive vice president of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, a trade group for makers of medical devices, said the lower growth rate was a "target over a 10-year period,” [fudge, fudge by another lobbyist accustomed to "reframing" the truth] according to the New York Times.

I was pretty disappointed when I heard that the White House was rolling out the red carpet for lobbyists and trumpeting these supposed voluntary "promises" as game changers.   Mr. President, you got burned.   

Rachel Maddow on the Players in the Healthcare Power Struggle

Rachel Maddow gives the 411 on Rick Scott, Founder of Conservatives for Patients Rights, and interviews Howard Dean on the healthcare reform fight, including the exclusion of single-payer advocates from the negotiating table.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Beware of Health Industry Profiteers Bearing Gifts

[My comments in brackets.] The Associated Press reports tonight: "Industry reps offer $2 TRILLION in health savings." [Geez, that's a lot of money to give up... They must really be making a bundle.]

The leaked report says: "Top representatives of the health care industry plan to offer $2 trillion in cost reductions over 10 years in a bid to help pass President Barack Obama's health overhaul [yeah, right] a source familiar with the negotiations said Sunday." [I can't imagine who is leaking this information?]

"In a rare move before the administration has unveiled all the details of its proposal, the industry groups are trying to strike a deal now with Obama officials to help get coverage for all Americans [and who's going to make money on that?] in the hopes they can stave off legislation that would restrict their profitability in future years." [Something stinks around here.]

One Mother's Dream

When I close my eyes and think about a mother’s love, the first memories that come to my mind are my mother’s rituals in caring for my two brothers and me when we were sick.

The main stays for our mother’s sick day love were ginger ale, saltine crackers, and chicken-and-rice soup. My brother, Tim, reminded me years ago after her death of the small kindness of ice chipped from cubes by hand with a spoon.

In case of a bad cough or cold, our mom fastened a Vicks Vapo-Rub poultice to our PJ’s and served up a cough elixir of few sips of bourbon mixed with sugar. When – God forbid – we had the throw-up bug, she always stood by ready with cool wet cloth to hold to our head, a glass of water to rinse our mouth, and hand on the lever to flush as needed.

As a footnote, I do remember two things about our mom's sick day rituals that I did not enjoy. No matter how sick we were, we always got a full scrubbing before going to the doctor. I say “full”, but that didn’t include washing our hair. Our mom believed that washing hair when sick could cause a “chill” that could make us sicker. I didn’t believe that part about the hair. I always felt sicker with dirty hair.

Our parents provided a comfortable life for me and my brothers, but we didn’t take many vacations and had few extras. Yet, I don’t recall a single time when my parents couldn't afford to take us to the doctor.

So when I had my two children, I readily adopted all of my mother’s sick day rituals, except the prohibition against hair washing. And, because we were blessed with sufficient resources, there was never a time when we were unable to afford to take them to the doctor.

On this Mother’s Day in America, moms of nine million children greeted the day knowing that they can’t afford to take their children to the doctor, hoping against hope that they will stay well.

We pray that they do stay well and that this Mother’s Day brings us closer to a time when every mother can rest assured that her children will get the care they need.

Moms, join me in making this dream a reality. It won’t happen if we don’t demand it.