Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
26082364
label
HRC Health Care Correspondence 93 - Q, R
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
26082364
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
HRC Health Care Correspondence 93 - Q, R
citationUrl
collections
Records of the First Lady's Office (Clinton Administration)
Pam Cicetti's Subject Files
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
26082364
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
otherTitles
42-t-2124771-20140159S-013-028-2015
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
c24d8a593a0303e9
ocrText
Withdrawal/Redaction Sheet
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
001. letter
From: Robin Raiford, To: Mrs. Clinton [partial] (4 pages)
3/8/93
b(6)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
First Lady's Office
Pam Cicetti
OA/Box Number: 13598
FOLDER TITLE:
HRC Health Care Correspondence 93 - Q, R
2014-0159-S
sb281
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - |44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information |(a)(1) of the PRAJ
b(1) National security classified information |(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office [(a)(2) of the PRA
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute |(a)(3) of the PRA]
an agency |(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute |(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information |(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRA|
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy |(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy |(a)(6) of the PRA|
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes |(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA|
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
HRC
HC CORR 93-Q,R
PERSONAL
&
CONFIDENTIAL
DETERMINED TO BE AN
ADMINISTRATIVE MARKING
INITIALS: SWB DATE: 12-4-13
PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
THE WHITE HOUSE
September 23, 1993
Robin S. Raiford, RN, BSN
9015 Mulvaney Court
Springfield, Virginia 22152
Dear Ms. Raiford:
Thank you for your letter and for all
you are doing to care for home ventilator
patients. I am glad you were able to join
us in the Rose Garden last week.
The President is committed to health
security for all Americans, and that
includes long-term care either in the home
or in a community setting nearby. I hope
we can count on your support of the
administration's reform proposal in the
challenging months ahead.
Once again, thank you for your dedi-
cation to your patients and commitment to
providing quality home health care.
Sincerely yours,
Hillary Hillay Rodham Clinton
bee: Robyn Dickey
Withdrawal/Redaction Marker
Clinton Library
DOCUMENT NO.
SUBJECT/TITLE
DATE
RESTRICTION
AND TYPE
001. letter
From: Robin Raiford, To: Mrs. Clinton [partial] (4 pages)
3/8/93
b(6)
COLLECTION:
Clinton Presidential Records
First Lady's Office
Pam Cicetti
OA/Box Number: 13598
FOLDER TITLE:
HRC Health Care Correspondence 93 - Q, R
2014-0159-S
sb281
RESTRICTION CODES
Presidential Records Act - |44 U.S.C. 2204(a)]
Freedom of Information Act - 15 U.S.C. 552(b)]
P1 National Security Classified Information [(a)(1) of the PRA]
b(1) National security classified information [(b)(1) of the FOIA]
P2 Relating to the appointment to Federal office |(a)(2) of the PRA]
b(2) Release would disclose internal personnel rules and practices of
P3 Release would violate a Federal statute [(a)(3) of the PRA]
an agency |(b)(2) of the FOIA]
P4 Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential commercial or
b(3) Release would violate a Federal statute [(b)(3) of the FOIA]
financial information |(a)(4) of the PRA]
b(4) Release would disclose trade secrets or confidential or financial
P5 Release would disclose confidential advice between the President
information |(b)(4) of the FOIA]
and his advisors, or between such advisors [a)(5) of the PRA|
b(6) Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
P6 Release would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of
personal privacy [(b)(6) of the FOIA]
personal privacy [(a)(6) of the PRA
b(7) Release would disclose information compiled for law enforcement
purposes [(b)(7) of the FOIA]
C. Closed in accordance with restrictions contained in donor's deed
b(8) Release would disclose information concerning the regulation of
of gift.
financial institutions [(b)(8) of the FOIA]
PRM. Personal record misfile defined in accordance with 44 U.S.C.
b(9) Release would disclose geological or geophysical information
2201(3).
concerning wells [(b)(9) of the FOIA]
RR. Document will be reviewed upon request.
March 8, 1993
9015 Mulvaney Ct.
Springfield, VA 22152
Hillary Rodham Clinton
c/o The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mrs. Clinton,
I am writing you not because you are the First Lady of our once again united America,
but as a mother, an attorney, but most importantly as the head of the task force to
reform health care in America. I have been a registered nurse for 18 years and now live
in Northern Virginia. I want to share with you the stories of five special families
caught in the trap of the health care system of today's society, and their stories are
SO devastating that it was difficult to edit this text to only four pages. I want to
thank you up front for taking time to read this lengthy letter that expresses the "sound
of a tear" in the hearts full of love as these families help their loved ones survive
today's current nightmare of health insurance loopholes.
I have been deeply touched over the last few years by taking care of home ventilator
patients and have accepted the challenge of caring for an entire family that has had
their entire world turned upside down by 13 newly wired heavy duty electrical outlets
and all the hospital equipment that has just brought in to accomodate the life support
system. Small problem--the insurance companies only authorize the "lucky ones" to have
nurses 24 hours a day. Medicaid will authorize 16 hours a day of nurses only and the
family does the rest. The most forgotten kind of patient and families of all are on
"respite care"--and they can have nurses only 12 hours a week, or to the total horror of
a few they have a policy that totally deserts them when in comes to any
home care, let alone staffing a home life support case.
In doing this kind of care, I have met one patient who has touched me deeply and I want
to share her story with you, since I know she will be one more "Face of Hope" for you
and you husband. My patient's name in
(b)(6)
and one horrible day when she was
14 years old she was riding a moped and was plowed into by a drunk driver. With the
moped stuck solidly in the front end of his truck the driver drove off and left her for
dead in the gutter. (b)(6) was found minutes later by a policeman who happened to be
passing by and did not hardly recognize her as a human being, let alone someone who was
alive. The driver who hit her wasn't found until too much time had passed to charge him
with DWI.
Today, almost four years later the man who hit her is out of jail since he was only
charged with leaving the scene of an accident with an injured person, and (b)(6) is a 001
quadraplegic with only slight movement in her thumb, but enough to power a wheelchair.
She had a helmet on that night of the accident, and because of that she suffered no head
2
001
injury and is a full time student at a regular high school in
(b)(6)
just a
few miles west of the White House. The complicating factor in her life is that she too
is on life support and has a ventilator and additional car battery platform hanging off
the back of her wheelchair. Home ventilator patients are rare, and mobile ventilator
patients are almost unheard of. This very special patient had to do something very
special on election day, she had to be loaded into the family van that the city of
Vienna donated to the family after the accident and off she went ventilator and all of
course, because she was so proud to be voting for the first time in her life and nothing
was going to stop her from voting for the Clinton/Gore ticket! (b)(6) cheered
for
a
Clinton/Gore victory with her whole hearted support because she knows her life is
literally in the hands of the Clinton Administration. She needs health care for the rest
of her life and like any high school senior, she wants to go to college.
(b)(6) story of survival from day to day is nothing short of incredible and it is
beyond the comprehension of most health care professions, and totally beyond the
comprehension of anyone who thinks the "devastating" means you got stuck in traffic and
were late to aerobics class The Mother's Against Drunk Drivers organization is very
active in Northern Virginia and
(b)(6)
incredible story of survival is something that I
am sure is behind the bill that is now before the Virginia General Assembly for Virginia
to have one of the toughest drunk driving laws in the nation.
I was at another home ventilator patient's recently when your husband was on television
live with the children in the East Room of the White House. I watched the program with
my patient and his wife, and numerous times all of our eyes filled with tears as we
listened to the children ask your husband some very tough questions about health care
reform in the nation. From the little boy who's brother died of cancer and it could
have been caused from environmental pollution, to the young boy with AIDS, to the little
girl in the wheelchair who wanted your husband to tell the principal of her school to
allow her sister into the mainstream of the school. Each time those children were
reassured that they would not be forgotten. Being forgotten and abandoned by doctors
and insurance companies is an all too familiar occurrence for home ventilator families.
Their needs are as simple as those of young children. They just want to be loved and
not abandoned. They are thrust back into their homes on very short notice when their
bodies "Fail to Wean" due to anxiety or for some reason known only to God, and they are
labeled "Orphans" because many of them do not have diseases that fit into a DRG catagory
to be kept in a hospital. The families fear the care they will receive in an
institution where personnel are understaffed and they will die from infection or
gangrene in a bedsore wound. There are many people on home life support in Washington
area and they represent what is going on nationwide with insurance companies in a
patient's biggest hour of need. While it is certainly horrible for anyone to be without
health insurance at all, it is outrageous that these people are abandoned by the system
of health care in this nation!!
I have never in my life been SO moved to write anyone in the government a letter, let
alone the wife of the President of the United States
But I also have never sensed that
anyone in the government cared enough to listen to the little people of the nation. I
have known since I heard your husband mention the man who pushed his own wheelchair two
miles on election day to work the polls for the Clinton/Gore ticket that I would write
you a letter to tell you about (b)(6) and home ventilator patients. I was deeply moved
when your husband took time to stop and talk to the man who held up the sign that said
"I have AIDS, please stop and talk to me for 3 minutes". I want to thank anyone in the
White House Correspondence staff who might be reading this on behalf of Mrs. Clinton.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I have heard the White House has
been overwhelmed with mail since the election.
3
My home ventilator families are aware that I am writing this letter, and they are all
hopeful that cases like theirs will not be forgotten in your new health care reform
proposal your task force will be drafting. My vent families are all anxiously waiting
to see if anyone in the White House writes back or calls me to let me know that you at
least received this letter and you will look into this problem of home life support
cases. What my vent families do not know is that I am asking if there is any way
possible that a brief meeting could be arranged with you Mrs. Clinton and these family
members who represent the full scope of ventilator situations
spouse, child, and
parent
full care, 16 hr/day care and respite care of 12 hours a week only. I am not
sure there are words enough in the english language for me to express the devastation in
the lives of these families.
Another vent family has a 26 year old daughter on life support in the home for over 3
years, and I am their nurse 12 hours a week, and that is all they qualify for in their
insurance. Her father is a doctor and through a corporate invitation went to the
Inaugural Ball at the DC armory. They were thrilled to go, of course
but they had to
pay out of pocket $250 for the "baby sitter" who just happened to have to be a nurse who
could care for their daughter on life support. Their life is functioning in four hour
shifts so they can always be at their daughter's bedside if she needs something done for
her. They are at her side constantly since she cannont speak to communicate.
My last two ventilator patients and their families that I take care of regularly are
also struggling for survival and for sleep. They are the spouses of life support
patients. One 73 year old wife is caring for her 71 year old husband who has Lou
Gehrig's disease and is on life support and they have 8 hours/day of nurse coverage SO
she can sleep only, so they pay $1200/week out of their pockets SO she can have an extra
4 hours/night of nurse coverage.
The last family I want to tell you about is the struggling to survive where the wife has
had Multiple Sclerosis for 24 of their 25 years of marriage and now at age 46 she got
pneumonia and needs ventilator support so her lungs won't fill with fluid or collapse
from shallow respirations. She is trying SO hard to wean off the ventilator since she
was thrown back out into her home with little notice and her 24hr/day nurses stop
tonight and then they will be totally cut off from any home care nurse coverage in 14
days. The system is so crazy he will have to quit his job so she can qualify for
medicaid or risk bankruptcy if he tries to cover it out of his pocket.
Please look into these devastating issues of the health care system in the nation!!
The recent triple murder in the Washington area of the 8 year old life support patient,
his mother and his nurse is truly a tragic example of how desperate these lives can be.
Mrs. Clinton, if there is any way these 5 special families in the local area can meet
with you to express to you the devastation like theirs that is going on in more homes in
America than people realize, I would like to personally pay for any nursing costs for
these families to come meet with you and I will donate my professional time to assist
(b)(6)
parents in transporting (b)(6) and her wheelchair life support system to any
meeting place that could be arranged. 001
If anyone would like to contact me about anything further related to this issue, I can
be reached at my "day job" as a lead clinical nurse at the Kaiser Permanente in
Manassas, Virginia at (703) 257-3001. The rare evenings I am home I can be reached at
(703) 569-1599. By day I am a proud member of the nation's largest HMO system, and at
night and on the weekends I belong to the largest health system in Northern Virginia,
INOVA. My children can certainly relate to the little boy in Arizona who wants your
husband to take care of the economy so he can see his parents more since they are always
at work!!! Being a single parent in Fairfax County Virginia is no easy task, but I am
truly grateful I am in a recession-proof job.
4
001
It would be a thrill of a lifetime for
(b)(6)
to meet you or your husband. She is
an avid President Clinton supporter and she truly knows that her future is in the hands
of this administration. (b)(6) was on "Larry King Live" a couple of years ago and
brought national attention to the victims who survive drunk driving accidents. From where
her spinal cord is severed, she should be able to wean off the ventilator, but when she
goes to the rehab center to wean, she can only stay 21 days or the State will cut her
off from the vent waiver program. It is all crazy!!! She is trying to get on with her
life, but something as simple as a canker sore in the mouth can slow her down, because
they she cannot type with the mouth stick to her computer one letter at a time.
These patients and families are all "Faces of Hope" to me and always are an incentive
for me to not "Stop thinking about tomorrow". Whatever economic barriers confront me as
a single parent, it is nothing compared to one day in the life of a home ventilator
family.
Thanks again for listening and for caring. I know your health care reform package you
will draft will be as fair as it possibly can be considering you are trying to restructure
a monumental mess in today's society. Please help me make a difference in reaching out
and touching the lives of these special people. I applaude the efforts of your
husband's administration so far and your noble efforts to hear the needs of all the
people with regard to health care. The Clinton Administration is truly trying to heal
the world and make it a better place for all the people to live.
Sincerely yours,
Robin S. Raiford, RN, BSN
THE WHITE HOUSE
November 15, 1993
Mike Rankin, M.D.
Chief, Psychiatry
& Mental Health Services
Department of Veterans Affairs
Mental Health Clinic
427 13th Street
Oakland, California 94612
Dear Mike:
It was so good to hear from you
again. I deeply appreciate your kind
words of encouragement and your support of
our health care reform effort. I'm
enclosing a copy of Health Security: The
President's Report to the American People.
I hope you find it useful.
With warm personal regards, I remain
Sincerely yours,
Hillary Hillay Rodham Clinton
bee: MarshaScott Maisha Scott
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Mental Health Clinic
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS STATES
427 13th Street
Oakland, CA 94612
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
November 2, 1993
In Reply Refer To:
Hillary Rodham Clinton, Esq.
The White House
Washington,
D.C.
Dear Counselor,
Brava!!
Hillary, as a physician for 30 years, and a consumer of
health care for 56, I cannot agree more with your comments about
the health insurance cartel. It needed to be said, and you
said it well. Outstanding!
What you have done through all of this, of course, is to
give the country a crash course in health economics. You've
changed the debate on health care reform from "whether" to
"when," and I'm most grateful. So are many of my progressive
colleagues.
During the campaign, Marsha, Martha Whetstone, and Willie
Fletcher asked me to speak to the Jewish, Vietnam veterans,
gay/lesbian, and physicians groups, since I hold leadership
positions in all four. The gays, Jews, and veterans were great.
The docs were a pill, and many still are. But give us a little
time--the best of our profession are already with you. If we
have to drag the rest with us, kicking and screaming, so be
it. And on a personal note, I like what's envisioned for the
VA health system very much. I think that's exactly the way
to go.
I'm sorry we didn't have a chance to talk when you were
in San Francisco to speak to the Union of American Hebrew
Congregations at our Biennial (B.J. Tannenbaum isn't the only
Arkie on the U.A.H.C. Board of Trustees. I'm a second, and
Rodney Angel might have joined us in time. That would have
been remarkable--two on the Board from Lake Village, which has
a Jewish population of about 5!).
I hope you know how much you are admired in our Reform
Jewish movement, Hillary. I've never seen such excited
anticipation before a keynote speaker, and we've had some good
"America is #1 - Thanks to our Veterans"
- 2 -
ones. Even you had a hard act to follow - Marion Wright Edelman
spoke to us the evening before, so we were on a high even before
you arrived. It was quite a convention, thanks to the two of
you.
And I'm glad you and the Sapersteins are friends. I've
worked with David since I joined the Commission on Social Action
of the UAHC several years ago. He's my rabbi too, and as you
said, a mensch.
So, I might add, are you.
Sincerely,
Mike nike Rankin, M.D.
Chief, Psychiatry and Mental Health Services
Oakland, CA, V.A. Medical Center
ps It was good to meet Vic Fleming when the President was
In town for the AFL/CIO speech. Susan's grandparents,
the Burnsides, lived next door to us in Lake Village,
but I'd never met Vic.
THE WHITE HOUSE
September 1, 1993
Arnold O. Rholl, M.D.
528 Janalyn Circle
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55416
Dear Dr. Rholl:
Thank you for your letters regarding the need
for greater accountability in the health care
system. I appreciate your willingness to provide
this information to the President's Task Force on
National Health Care Reform.
Eliminating fraud and abuse are important parts
of the President's health care plan. While the
legislation will soon be transmitted to Congress,
this is just the first step toward implementation of
a new health care system in which every American has
the security of quality, affordable health care. We
will need the sound advice of people like you at
many points during this process. I hope that you
will write again after the plan is released if you
have suggestions on how to strengthen accountability
measures within the legislation or through its
implementation.
Again, thank you for writing.
Sincerely,
Hillary Hillary Rddham Clinton
cc: Representative Jim Ramstad
THE WHITE HOUSE
September 1, 1993
Mr. Peter Rizzo
204 Water Street
Streator, Illinois 61364
Dear Mr. Rizzo:
Senator Paul Simon forwarded your
suggestions on health care reform to me.
The President's health care reform
proposal will achieve many of the same
objectives as your own reform proposal. I
appreciate your taking the time to write and
share your views.
Sincerely,
Hillary Hillary Rodham Clinton
CC: Honorable Paul Simon