Main Street

Taking care of each other

by Alicia Bryan—Pennsylvania

I was canvassing in Beaver Falls, PA and an older man opened his door while on the phone and said to the other person, “No, I’m calling for a phone battery!” he turned to me and said, “Come on in. Helen, talk to this young lady. I called this store to find a phone battery and they’ve got me waiting for 30 minutes and no one picks up the phone!”

We got to talking about health care, and they tell me that since they’ve retired, they can’t have a say in their health care provider. In January, their provider and plan were switched, so their medicine bill blew up from $15/month to $60/month! This came out of nowhere, but right in front of their eyes they’re also paying $60 more every month for food.

Breaking their bank are two absolute fundamentals of life: health and food. Regardless, they still found a way to send me off with chocolate and a bottle of water because they understand that people gotta take care of each other.

Tags: Health Care, membership, retirees