I promised, so.

I’ve sent both campaigns the letters that I promised to send out, and I’m posting them here as well.  I’ve tried to be as even-handed as I could be, given obviously how heated the campaign has been to date.

When it comes to Autism, I really can say that I don’t particularly know what each campaign stands for.  I can look back at President Obama’s promises from the last campaign – they’re all over online – and whether or not he’s lived up to them.  And whether he has or hasn’t is only half of the issue.  Both candidates need to express a point of view on this important issue.

Now, Autism Speaks will tell you that both parties address Autism in their platforms.  They do… to a point.  The GOP states they’d back federal funding of research.  The Democrats say that they’ll oppose cuts in Medicaid.  However, neither party says anything about bolstering insurance benefits by mandating coverage for proven therapies, helping parents pay for treatments not covered by insurance, or how they’d improve the state of federal involvement in research.  So these letters are still necessary, obviously, and that’s why I’m sending them out.

I’ll grant you that I come from a very different position than some of those that they’re trying to cater to with the platform plank – I have fairly generous insurance which covers a great deal of the Monster’s doctor visits and therapy, but even I’m in a position where we’re paying out of pocket for things.  We’re not on public assistance, don’t qualify for Medicaid, and are navigating a mixture of the public and private sector resources for treatment… and that’s why it’s important that I ask these questions.   I imagine many of you are in the same boat.

So I’m keeping an open mind.  I’m not going to interject any of my other political leanings in here – they have nothing to do with the issues I want to cover in this blog – and I won’t comment on the responses until both campaigns have had sufficient time to respond.

For the record, the wife feels – and I agree – that I’m going to get form letter responses from both campaigns.  I’m still going to publish both campaigns’ responses here.

Letter to Governor Romney’s Campaign

Letter to President Obama’s Campaign

—-

Note: Yes, I did redact the letters slightly, to remove personal information – the letters sent to both campaigns were in full.