Here's an in-depth article on Dr. Ami Bera, the Elk Grove physician who is running for Congress in California's 3rd District.  The district is a top target for Democrats as Barack Obama actually carried the district with 49% of the vote and the current Congressman, Republican Dan Lungren, barely won the seat over Democrat William Durston, 49-44%, in 2008. The district has a Cook partisan index of +6 which makes it winnable.

Dr. Ami Bera approaches health care as one would expect of a doctor; with compassion and a desire to make well.

“I trained to be a physician to take care of people,” he says. It’s an attitude he will carry with him when we elect him to congress. Compassion, caring, a person centered approach to solving the very significant issues facing the American people is what we will get with Ami Bera.

“Health care is not a lottery,” Bera told a group of about 50 people gathered in Rancho Cordova to hear his views on health care. But some people want to treat it that way. Health insurance is the ticket. If you have one, maybe you win something. If you don’t – well, you don’t.

Bera told about a couple who divorced over health care, but it probably isn’t what you think. The wife, diagnosed with breast cancer, lost her insurance over a pre-existing condition. Unable to afford the cost of treatment and making too much as a married couple, this husband and wife of some years decided divorce was a reasonable option. (Remember that word option. It plays heavily later.) With no job, no insurance, no income and no husband, the wife could now qualify for public assistance, including health care.

The right will argue that what this couple did was wrong, and perhaps it isn’t the decision most of us would have made. The point is, this loving couple should never have been put in the position to even consider such a drastic solution. It is one thing for the right to be against some people getting married at all, but to be in favor of forcing people into a decision to end a marriage just to get the health care they need — is just plain wrong. It is un-American and it is un-Christian.

Bera has been using his expertise as a doctor to host several townhalls on healthcare. After all, he says that's the reason he is running.

“I’m compelled to talk about it and compelled to hear people’s stories — in many ways these are my stories as a doctor,” said Bera. “Would I be doing this anyway? Yes. Does the focus on health care right now accelerate the need for these conversations? Yes.”

If you're interested in supporting Bera, you can donate here or attend a fundraiser in DC that Congressman Mike Honda is throwing for him.

Photo courtesy of Randy Bayne.