This is the third policy area that I've chosen for this project, and honestly, I never thought that I would pick Healthcare. I've never been interested in the Healthcare industry or profession before, much less the legislation behind it.
Never, that is, until I traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for 4 bills all concerning the healthcare industry with the American College of Rheumatology, an association of rheumatologists and rehumatology health professionals (physical therapists, psychiatrists, physicians, nurses, etc.) that promotes the education, treatment, and research of rheumatic diseases.
What is rheumatism, you ask? Rheumatism is defined as "any of several pathological conditions of the muscles, tendons, joints, bones, or nerves, characterized by discomfort and disability." There are many rheumatic diseases including fibromyalgia, scelroderma, and the most commonly known rheumatic disease, arthritis; but even that isn't saying much as there are over 150 different kinds of arthritis. Many people also think that rheumatism is an "old person's disease" and while the risk for developing several types of arthritis, like osteo-arthritis, increases with age, every form of arthritis can affect children as well as adults.
We traveled to Washington to educate congressmen and senators about this extremely prevalent disease and (hopefully) persuade them to pass legislation to help this fantastic association. I learned so much from the trip about lawmaking and some of the current healthcare issues, I decided to share some of the bills we lobbied for as well as some others I research.
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