Source: ISNA
(Plainfield, IN – August 20, 2009) The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) sponsored, along with over 30 religious organizations, a nationwide conference call with President Obama. Over 140,000 joined the call on August 19 at 5:00 pm, and several participants posed questions, which were answered by the Director of White House Domestic Policy Council, Melody Barnes.
ISNA was represented by Yasir Shareef, a member of the American Muslim Health Professionals’ Task Force on Health Affordability. Dr. Shareef shared his personal experience of finding increasing number of insured persons unable to meet health care needs because of limited coverage. He presented to the call participants cases of patients who were denied health coverage for urgently needed operations on minor technical grounds. “It’s my job to take care of my patients,” he pointed out, “but sometimes it feels as though it’s the insurance company’s job to keep me from doing it.”
President Obama spoke for 10 minutes and underscored the importance of health care reform and the need to provide universal coverage to all Americans. He pointed out the misinformation that plagues the debate, such as the “death panels,” and urged participants to take active roles to inform the public about the basic elements of the Health Reform Plan he put out.
The entire call-in with the president is available at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/40mins4health.
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