My name is Laura Velkei\u00a0and\u00a0I want you to meet my neighbor, Nori.<\/p>\n

A bright and fiercely independent woman, Nori put herself through college and made a modest living as a jewelry designer – just\u00a0enough for a small one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, plus a few extras.<\/p>\n

When I met her 11 years ago, she had already become one of the\u00a0\u00a050 million Americans without health coverage. \u00a0After many\u00a0years struggling with failing kidney\u2019s,\u00a0\u00a0Nori\u2019s\u00a0body gave out.\u00a0No longer able to work or pay for health insurance, Nori maxed out her credit cards and sold off anything of value she\u00a0had.<\/p>\n

In 2001, while driving to the market\u00a0\u00a0in her old VW bug, Nori suddenly lost her vision and collided head on into oncoming traffic.\u00a0 She was rushed to the hospital, her face crushed. Internal injuries destroyed what was left of her kidneys and forced her into dialysis 3-4 times a week for the remainder of her life. She never regained her sight.<\/p>\n

Since then, friends help where we can. I have taken over organizing her bills and dealing with the collection agencies. \u00a0We were able to get her a few hours of in-home care after endless calls to social service agencies.\u00a0 But at the end of the day Nori is forced to live on a grand total of $890 a month. \u00a0$561.00 comes from Social Security and the rest from State Disability Insurance.<\/p>\n

So what does that 890.00 look like?\u00a0 After paying $646 a month for rent, utilities, and weekly ambulance service for dialysis treatments, Nori is left with only $8.13 a day for everything else;\u00a0food, toiletries, clothing, and whatever household supplies she needs.\u00a0 To make matters worse, Sacramento recently cut her benefits by $20.00 a month, leaving her only $7.46 a day to live on.<\/p>\n

Let me repeat that.\u00a0$7.46 a day<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last week Nori called me in tears, saying the Governor was cutting off the state portion of her monthly SSI check. She was terrified she would lose her home of 25 years and end up in the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s not possible\u201d, I said, \u201cLet me look into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To my horror, not only was it possible, it was true. \u00a0In July, the State of California began issuing IOU’s \u00a0to recipients of\u00a0Supplemental Security Income. The Federal Government stepped and in agreed to fill the gap for July and August, but after that,\u00a0Nori\u2019s income will drop by a third.\u00a0 The $561 she would be left with will not even cover her rent.<\/p>\n

How is this possible? I look at Nori and think, “That could be me.” One accident away from becoming profoundly\u00a0dependent on a system more interested in politics than people.<\/p>\n

Who speaks for Nori?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>
\nNot the Republican legislative minority who would rather cut the funds of a blind woman on dialysis than put a tax on oil revenues and cigarettes<\/p>\n

Who speaks for Nori?<\/strong>
\nNot Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said of the budget stalemate in California,\u00a0\u00a0\u201cSomeone else might walk out of here every day depressed, but I don\u2019t walk out of here depressed,\u201d Whatever happens, \u201cI will sit down in my Jacuzzi tonight. I\u2019m going to lay back with a stogie.\u201d This while Nori’s body must take on the added stress from fear of losing her home.<\/p>\n

Who speaks for Nori?<\/strong>
\nNot the Health Insurance Industry, spending $1.4 million dollars a day to strangle comprehensive health care reform.<\/p>\n

Who speaks for Nori?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>
\n<\/strong>Not Senator Dianne Feinstein, who recently stated passing health care reform in the Senate was too \u201cdifficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who speaks for Nori?<\/strong><\/p>\n

WE<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>speak for Nori.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My name is Laura Velkei\u00a0and\u00a0I want you to meet my neighbor, Nori. A bright and fiercely independent woman, Nori put herself through college and made a modest living as a jewelry designer – just\u00a0enough for a small one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles, plus a few extras. When I met her 11 years ago, she had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"templates\/template-full.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meetnori.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meetnori.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meetnori.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetnori.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetnori.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetnori.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104,"href":"https:\/\/www.meetnori.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8\/revisions\/104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meetnori.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}