Need for reform is urgent

Health care reform is essential for small businesses and self-employed entrepreneurs to survive.

As a self-employed owner of a hair salon, I am the sole provider for my family. But I’m uninsured because health insurance is just too expensive.

Two years ago, I fell off a 6-foot ladder. Being uninsured, I couldn’t afford a doctor’s visit and I had to just shake it off to go back to work to provide for my family.

Without health insurance, I have no sense of peace of mind.

If health care reform passes this year, that will change.

Affordable sliding-scale premiums, no more denials because of pre-existing conditions, more affordable choices, including the choice of buying into a public health insurance plan, that’s what health reform means to small businesses and individuals.

From my perspective, it can’t come soon enough.

Tonya Ray

Spokane