Annie Tsai

Last Thursday local time, I was on a flight home from Asia in the middle seat with my four year old daughter to my left and my eleven year old son to my right. They were both deep asleep as it was technically past their bedtime and hours into a twelve hour flight back to SFO. My daughter was having an especially tough time. 

She’s as stubborn as I am, and as you can imagine it is impossible to reason with a four year old me. So after refusing to eat and refusing to nap and then refusing to stop watching Bluey, she collapsed into my arms exclaiming, “Mama, I’m so tired,” and passed out. And a few minutes later, we experienced a level of turbulence that I have never in all my years traveling experienced. It must have been a vertical elevation drop as I could feel myself being lifted off my seat and I have never held on as tightly to my children as I did in those quickly passing moments. Thankfully, we all had our seatbelts on. And for the remaining hours of that flight home through several more hours of turbulence, whether they will ever know it or not, I had one arm firmly around each child.

It was also around the same time that I was clutching onto my children for dear life when the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson was killed in New York City on his way to an investors meeting. While impossible to confirm the motive for what is widely believed to be a premeditated attack, seeing the words “depose”, “delay”, and “deny” etched into shell casings left at the scene of the crime sends a pointed message. As well, knowing that United Healthcare has the highest insurance claim denial rate in the country at 32% and seeing the thousands and thousands of stories shared of seemingly inhumane claim denials, the internet universe has put one and one together to the point where even the entire online sleuthing community has proactively decided to opt-out of participating in identifying the suspect. 

The often debilitating cost of healthcare in the United States has financially savaged families over the past 20 years, during what were many of privatized insurance companies’ most profitable years. Many of us personally know people who have been financially crippled from medical bills, and we have seen the emotional and physical burden it puts on people who have had to watch their life savings disintegrate while still feeling the crushing burden of medical bills they may not in their lifetimes pay off. It should never take an act of hate (even if potentially catalyzed by an act of love) to force change, but here we are, faced with the opportunity of turning a tragedy into an opportunity. Perhaps now that Taylor Swift has finally officially ended her 149 concert, 50 city, 5 continent, 20 month Eras Tour, she can kick off a new era of healthcare reform?

And then the next day, in more local news, ABC7 News solely reported that San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus declined an offer from the county to step down from her post for $1M and four years of medical coverage. While such an offer was never authorized by the County, it is fair to say that a settlement of this magnitude would still cost the County significantly less than funding a special election in March 2024, where ballot arguments are due by 5 pm today.

Is it pride? Ideology? Love? A desire to get more? Some combination of all of the above? Until Corpus testifies under sworn oath – where last week she was formally invited to do today with chosen counsel at the County Board of Supervisors regular meeting – the people may never understand her true motives and perhaps will only have the opportunity to judge the impact of her decisions. Given no such agenda item exists on the December 10, 2024 regular meeting agenda, for now the people will be left wondering. 

It does not seem in our cards that these final weeks of 2024 will go by quietly, and 2025 is only destined to kick off with a grand splash. So to answer Tina Turner’s 1984 question, there are so many reasons why we make the choices we do every day – in all of these choices, what doesn’t love have to do with any of it? Love is fueling hugs, you clocking in on time, our community advocacy and donation drives. Love is fueling the rage and catalyzing action or even sometimes inaction. So, for love of friends and family, community, country, and humanity – 

Do not go gentle into that good night. 

Rage, rage (and love!) against the dying of the light.