You have the power to save a life instead of only "crafting healthcare reform." This is a call to not just support changes in our healthcare system, but to stand up and say that one man's life is more important, under any circumstances, than insurance company paydays and hospital red tape.

I am asking you to pay attention to the epitome of why our healthcare system has failed: The story of Eric De La Cruz.

Eric De La Cruz's death should not happen on our watch, to our citizens in this country. This is a country by the people for the people, of the people.  Whether we live or die should not be decided by employees, for a profit, of a healthcare or insurance company.

Eric needs a heart transplant due to severe dilated cardiomyopathy. He has only days to live. He has Medicaid, but Medicaid will not cover it.  He lives in Nevada where there are not any transplant centers.

After years of advocacy, he has been transported to a hospital in LA. Hospitals will not perform the operation without supplimental insurance. Eric can not aquire supplemental insurance because his heart condition is a pre-existing condition.

Due to his family's unbelievable courage, an army of online activists and superstars such as Nine Inch Nails who have raised an additional $900,000.000, Eric is now on the donor list. The battle does NOT end here.

He recently had VAD surgery to keep him functioning. With access to proper care years ago this could have been avoided.

You must place Eric in your heart, as thousands across America did, to craft effective healthcare reform.  The 5 million uninsured or underinsured citizens never have the chance to be "consumers" or "patients" for critical and lifesaving procedures. Yet, consumer groups, insurance companies and members of the healthcare field are the stakeholders at your roundtables and summits.

You do not listen to us. We notified you of this weeks ago. Yet it was the advocacy of his family and the public that helped save Eric's life. The government, the healthcare field and the insurance companies were useless in his case.

Fight for better and fight with no compromise. The American public is done with vast ineffectiveness.   

Visit http://www.WeLoveEric.com for more information.

Thank you,