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Marcelas Owens: Our Youngest Health Care Lobbyist

Posted by: Tara Bostock on Mar 15, 2010

 

 

When I was in elementary school, I spent my time playing inmy backyard or running around with my friends on the playground, I certainlydidn't think much about health care. But that's probably because I didn't haveto: I was always covered through one of my parents' jobs and so was my entirefamily.

Marcelas Owens is a different kind of kid. When Marcelas was just 7 years old, hismom passed away fighting a condition called pulmonary hypertension, or abnormallyhigh blood pressure in the arteries that supply the lungs. Since he lost hismom, Marcelas has become one of America'syoungest health reform advocates.

Marcelas's mom, Tifanny, worked as an assistant manager atan area Jack in the Box, where she had health care. Then she got sick. She gotso sick, she could no longer go to work. As a result, she lost her job, andwith it, her health insurance. Tifanny didn't qualify for Medicaid, so sheavoided getting care-even when she was throwing up blood-because she couldn'tafford it. When things got really bad, she went to the emergency room and washospitalized. The second time this happened, she was diagnosed with pulmonaryhypertension. When she was hospitalized a third time, she slipped intounconsciousness and died.

Marcelas has turned his own tragedy into a fight for healthcare for all. He told his story to his U.S. Senator, Patty Murray (D-WA), andshe in turn, told it to President Obamaat the Health Care Summit that took place two weeks ago. And this week, Marcelasflew to Washington, D.C.from Seattle, Washington to advocate for health reform by attendinga rally,visiting Congress members (including a fun visit to Sen. Patty Murray's office,see picture below), and telling his story to lawmakers and the press.

In an interview with CBS,Marcelas talked about his mom's struggle, "She ended up passing away becauseshe didn't have the equal rights to health care as some people with more money."He also gave a heart-wrenching interview to MSNBC, where he said, "everybody deserves health care."

We are lucky to have such a strong young man to voice theimportance of passing health reform to the members of Congress. But having togo through a tragedy like this at such a young age is devastating. Marcelas'smom would have benefited greatly from health care reform. She would have been ableto go to the doctor for preventive care, instead of to the emergency room whenshe had no other choice and needed treatment. And Marcelas wouldn't have totalk about -- or even think about -- our health care system; he could justenjoy being a kid.

Photo of Marcelas is courtesy of Sen. Patty Murray'swebsite.