About eight people gathered Thursday, Oct. 1 in front of Carper’s office on The Circle in Georgetown where they held posters reading “Public Option Now” and “Senator Carper: Delaware demands a strong public option”, before taking stacks of paper – 2,500 letters – into Carper’s office.

Before going in, participant Robin Wright of Lewes told her story, which emphasized the need for healthcare reform with a public option plan and Carper’s support.

“Wright said she had been distraught because the cost of her pregnancy was threatening her family’s future.

As an owner of a small child-care business, Lotus Blossom Learning Center, Wright, 35, said health insurance wasn’t affordable and coverage under her husband’s insurance policy would have cost $666 a month plus $135 a day for each injection.

Wright said because of stress, she had already lost three pregnancies, and the health insurance and medical situation also caused a marital separation.

She said during the separation, she found out that she was pregnant again.

“With us being separated, I was able to qualify for Medicaid. Fortunately, Medicaid paid for my medical procedures and the prenatal care I needed during my pregnancy,” Wright said.

She said she and her husband reconciled, and they feel blessed to be the parents of 3-year-old daughter, Journey Wisdom.

“It’s a very stressful and complicated situation to have to consider whether you’re going to pursue a family if you don’t have proper health insurance.

“As small business owners, I think that’s one stress that we should be able to put aside,” Wright said.

Scott Sneddon, Delaware staff director for Working America, a New Castle-based AFL-CIO affiliate, said he represented 6,000 Delawareans who had also sent handwritten letters to Carper urging his support of “real healthcare reform.”

“The individuals who wrote the letters are aware that reform must include a public insurance plan option. It must include employer responsibility, and it must not tax our healthcare benefits,” Sneddon said.

He said the letters also urged Carper to support a public option plan.

“We’re calling on Senator Carper to make sure that employers provide healthcare for their employees, or pay into a system to make sure that everyone is covered,” Sneddon said.

Tim Winstead, director of Carper’s Sussex County office, accepted the letters and suggested using email as a means of communicating concerns to the senator.

“The same information can come electronically. We’d prefer that option,” he said.

Carper has said he favors a plan that provides incentives to stay healthy.

Jeff Pittman, a strategic communications specialist with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) AFL-CIO, said Carper’s voting record on the public option plan has been a “mixed bag.”

“He voted for one bill, Sen. Schumer’s, (D-New York) that included a public option, but he also voted against another measure by Sen. Rockefeller, (D-West Virginia) similar to the public health option. Carper said he voted against it because it would have tied reimbursement rates for doctors to Medicare reimbursement rates. So he’s voted on one bill that’s for it and one that’s against it,” Pittman said.