Over the years I have written to several politicians who represent me and my state, asking specific questions or raising specific issues. All I have ever had is stock responses acknowledging receipt, but absolutely no investigation or action whatsoever, and certainly no follow-up.

Last week I sent a question to John Kavanagh from his website. Within a few days one of his staff contacted me to set up a call with Mr. Kavanagh. My issue was with our long-term care policy, which went up an outrageous 29.2% this year, and has gone up 88.3% in the last five years. Mr. Kavanagh did call me and listened to my assertion that this is akin to a Ponzi scheme. I believe that the policy, and perhaps others, sell long-term care policies at low premiums to people who are unlikely to need them for a long time, but as we age they raise the rates substantially in the hope that we will cancel, and thus they will never have to pay out.

Mr. Kavanagh explained the state procedure for approving such rate increases, but went above and beyond by saying that he wanted to investigate this further and would get back to me. This is exactly the type of politician I want representing me – someone who actually cares!