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Update: Tweet the following on Twitter, and get all your friends and family to tweet it, too:
@ChuckGrassley Public option = $256B in savings. Your plan = $32B in added cost. http://bit.ly/VDBH4. Public Option, now. #health_care
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More than 70% of Americans want a public health care option, but the health insurers and others who profit from the current “death by spreadsheet” system are fighting tooth and nail against us.
There are two paths for action, both of which are needed, to get the message across to our elected leadership in Washington.
Path One – Call People in Key States and ask them to Contact their Congressional Delegation
Those making deals with insurers and others to weaken health care need to hear from their constituents (aka: the people who can vote against them in the next election). They need to hear every single day, and the way to make that happen is to make sure their constituents know that these fine folks are planning to vote against the constituents’ wishes.
The Organizing for America Neighbor to Neighbor tool is the key tool for this path. You’ll need and Organizing for America account, if you don’t already have one, but it’s an easy sign-up.
Look for this button when you go there:
Click it, and on the page that appears, choose the state of one of the key legislators. Those states and legislators are listed in the table on this page.
Path Two – Call Key Representatives and Senators Directly
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Update: Tweet the following on Twitter, and get all your friends and family to tweet it, too:
@ChuckGrassley Public option = $256B in savings. Your plan = $32B in added cost. http://bit.ly/VDBH4. Public Option, now. #health_care
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This path is slightly less effective than when constituents call, BUT is still needed in order to let these particularly important folks know that we’re all watching and that campaign funds from us might just find its way to their opponents next time out, if they ignore us on this issue.
Over the fold is a complete repost from today’s DailyKos diary by slinkerwink on the subject. It provides a little background, contact info, and talking points.
We can sit by and despair over how “it’s never going to happen” or we can do our best to make it happen despite the odds. I’m for the latter option.
Get Busy!
Late last night, I wrote over at FireDogLake about a call to Rep. Woolsey’s office to ask her to stay in, help fight for health care reform for us all, and not to go on vacation. Well, guess what the answer was from her office? Here’s the report straight from one of our kossacks here:
Did it, called everyone and a email to the WH. cannot get thru on phone. line is continue to be busy. Lynn Woolsey’s office tried to tell me Congresswoman needs to go home and listen to her voters. I told her that they need to get this done before going on vacation. We are all voters and the voters have spoken.
Apparently Lynn Woolsey thinks it’s okay for Congress to delay the passage of health care reform by insisting that Members of Congress have the right to go on vacation to “listen” to their constituents. So, why is the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus ready to go on vacation and allow this bill to be held hostage by the Blue Dogs? Please call her office at 202-225-5161, and report back with answers if you can.
You know what happens if they allow health care reform to be delayed until after the August recess? These Members go home, they get hit by hundreds of TV ads from the murder-by-spreadsheet industry, and they get phone calls from angry voters about “socialized health care.” Then they come back, scared to pass real health care reform, so they end up passing health care reform that may not include a public option or a national insurance exchange. The stakes are very high this week.
We have to keep up the phone calls from yesterday. We’ve got to let Members of Congress, the Democratic leadership, and the White House know that we don’t want them to go on vacation in August until they deal with health care reform FIRST. We can’t have them be scared by the Blue Dog Democrats and the lying Republicans into cutting back subsidies for Americans, getting rid of the national insurance exchange, and putting in state-based co-ops into the health care reform package.
Please keep up with the phone calls to the Democratic leadership, the three chairmen of the House committees, the leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the members of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and the White House today!
We really can’t allow the Blue Dog Democrats to kill the public option, cut back subsidies for the middle-class, have state-based co-ops, and state-based insurance exchanges. That would cut down the effectiveness of this bill, and the Blue Dogs know it. Also, we’re not going to be calling the Blue Dog Democrats on the spreadsheet today. I’ve been told they just don’t listen to phone calls from “liberals.” Skip the ones that are highlighted in red for now today.
Here are the talking points below:
I’m calling to thank [Name of Member] for supporting the House health care plan, and for supporting the public option and the national insurance exchange. As an American who’s faced denials of claims and has been facing higher insurance premiums, the public option and the national insurance exchange is NECESSARY to hold down the costs of private insurance and give us the kind of care we need. Please DO NOT vote for any amendments during the mark-up process that would weaken the public option and the national insurance exchange! I’ve been hearing that the Blue Dog Democrats want to cut back subsidies for my family, that they want a fake state-based co-op plan, and have a trigger on the national insurance exchange by having it as state-based insurance exchanges at first. What they want is unacceptable for me and my family. Don’t give into their demands. I’m an American who needs the choice of the national insurance exchange and the public option.
CALL Speaker Nancy Pelosi at (202) 225-4965 and try her local office at (415) 556-4862 if you can’t get through.
CALL House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer at (202) 225-3130
CALL House Majority Whip James Clyburn at (202) 226-3210
Can you please CALL these THREE chairmen in the House of Representatives, with your concerns about the Blue Dog Democrats trying to block health care reform and ask them NOT to listen to the Blue Dogs or give into their demandsl?
Ways and Means Committee Chair Charlie Rangel (202) 225-3625)
Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (202) 225-2927)
Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller (202) 225-3725)
And DON’T FORGET TO CALL THE DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS OF THE ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE with the talking points above.
Also, don’t forget to call the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and ask them to take a strong stand against the Blue Dogs’ actions by asking the House leadership not to give into their demands to weaken the health care reform bill, and especially the Medicare-like public option in the bill.
CALL Rep. Raul Grijalva, co-chair of the CPC, at 202-225-2435
CALL Rep. Lynn Woolsey, co-chair of the CPC, at 202-225-5161
And don’t forget to CRACK THE WHIP on the rest of the Congressional Progressive Caucus so they stand as a strong voting bloc in opposition to the Blue Dog Democrats!
Right now, we really need you to CALL the White House with the talking points and tell them that the Blue Dog Democrats must UPHOLD the majority view of Americans who need a strong, robust Medicare-like public option, and not to give into their demands to weaken the public option in health care reform!
CALL The White House at 202-456-1111 and E-MAIL THEM with the talking points above, and ask for Congress to stay and work on health care reform instead of going off on vacation!
Can you also please help nyceve, Jane Hamsher, me, and others in this fight for health reform by donating? We’re working so hard on this issue, day in and day out.
And donate to dotPAC as well? They’re running Facebook ads against the Blue Dogs about their opposition to health care reform. They’re doing a great service for us progressives in this fight.
Please RECOMMEND this diary so others can see the phone numbers and call today!
Also, let me know how the calls are going today! Please report back about your calls if you can.
Great post. So many helpful links.
Another place to go is to Your Congress Your Health which asks congress to fill out a full questionnaire regarding their views on health. Now, more than ever, we deserve to know what our congressional leaders think about health. Go to the website here
http://www.yourcongressyourhea…
And e-mail congress today.
These are all great links. They will all help. Let’s get on the phones and e-mails. There is also an editorial in free press today seeking thoughts from Vermonters on what their ideas on health care reform are for local health care reform. That’s an open invitation to jump all over the health care spreadsheet people.
This plan is dead. Our president had difficulty trying to explain an unworkable solution to a receptive audience last night and the American public is catching on. His rush will be the undoing of his attempt at health reform. He and the citizens of this country would do well to step back, take a breath, identify the real problem, and create a solution to address that specific problem.
Here is my solution to the real problem… “unchecked cost increases as a result of no cost accountability to the user of the service”
Step one. The state of Vermont creates and mandates a catastrophic insurance plan that covers all Vermonters and is paid for by ALL Vermonters. That’s right, the first dollar of everyones income is taxed at “x”% and that money goes to cover major medical for everyone in the state, no exceptions.
Step two. Private insurance plans are encouraged to offer bridge insurance to individuals or groups to cover any pharmacy expense or boutique service up to the state plan.
Step three. Consumers of health care pay for normal health services out of their own pocket with cash, a check, or a payment plan from their doctor.
Will there be a few people who have trouble under this or any system, yes. That is why we have charity. However, direct accountability for the actual cost of the service is the only way to ever cut the cost of that product.
Jim
Sadly, Obama’s health plan is dead. It never got off the ground. The congress was too deeply embedded with the insurance companies to do otherwise. They do not want change.
Here is a link to the list of VT legislators who have signed on to the Progressive States Network’s letter of support for a public option:
http://progressivestates.org/s…
We’re well-represented.
“Harry Reid’s district to ask Reid to cancel the Senate’s August recess unless a strong Public Option is in place.”
Man, that’s a long shot, but I like it:)
Most Americans do not even get the luxury of a vacation never mind a month-long one, though in other developed countries this is what the typical vacation is. But considering how many Americans are losing their health care every month, Reid and company should work through the entire month or until this bill is passed. Fat chance, I know.
Greenvster,I wish that I believed you, but unfortunately I see it otherwise, that a delay like this will kill it off. I hope that you are right, but am expecting that I am.