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Finish Reform Right: 2 things you can do right now to help

by: spazeboy

Thu Jan 21, 2010 at 12:17:00 PM EST

(We need health care reform NOW! - promoted by ctblogger)

_{(Cross-posted from CCAG.net)}

There is a lot of talk about the recent special election in Massachusetts being a referendum on health care reform. It was not. In fact, Massachusetts has already moved comprehensive reform and 98% of Massachusetts residents have health insurance as a result. It was a referendum on a particular candidate in a climate in which people, hard pressed and frustrated by the economy, are impatient for change.

And nothing has changed.

People still need quality, affordable health care. Our friends and loved ones are still being denied care for pre-existing conditions. We still need to address the health care crisis, and cannot continue to allow medical expenses to bankrupt our country's families and businesses.

It's time to finish reform right. There are two things you can do right now to help:

1. Write a letter to the editor.

2. Send a letter to President Obama and Congressional leaders.

More details on the letter to the editor and the letter to the President below the fold.

spazeboy :: Finish Reform Right: 2 things you can do right now to help

1. Write a letter to the editor.

An election in Massachusetts didn't change the fact that thousands still lose their health insurance every day. People are still going bankrupt. Insurance companies are still denying care. We still need health care reform, and we need it done right.

We voted for change in 2008, and politicians in Washington must deliver that change, or else.

[Click here and enter your zip code to send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.]

2. Send a letter to President Obama and Congressional leaders.

Dear President Obama, Speaker Pelosi & Majority Leader Reid:

After the special election in Massachusetts, I'm sending you this letter again because I feel it is crucial you understand that you must finish health reform right and deliver real change to America.

To finish the job and deliver a health reform bill that meets the needs of America's families, we urge that you and conference leaders resolve a number of critical outstanding issues. These issues may be summarized under two goals:

1. MAKE GOOD HEALTH CARE AFFORDABLE
Low and middle income families must be able to afford health insurance, and employers must be asked to provide good health coverage for their employees so health care is affordable at work. Health care should not be paid for with a tax on health benefits.

2. HOLD INSURANCE COMPANIES ACCOUNTABLE
If the insurance companies win, we lose. Insurance companies must be held accountable with strong regulations and consumer protections, and we must be given the choice of a national public health insurance option available on day one across the United States.

You have my full support in addressing these critical issues before legislation is sent to the White House for a final signature.

Sincerely,

You!

[Click here to sign and send the letter today!]

To make sure you are always first to know about upcoming events, and actions you can take, please take a moment to sign up for the CCAG Action Alert e-mail list by clicking here.

Disclosure: I am the Online Organizer for Connecticut Citizen Action Group (CCAG)

Tags: CCAG, hcan, Obama, Health Care Reform, MA-Sen, (All Tags)

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Finish Reform Right: 2 things you can do right now to help | 10 comments

...and 1 thing you can do next week. (0.00 / 0)

Tessa posted about an event happening Tuesday January 26th in New Haven:

An inspiring evening discussion and speakout about the importance of full reproductive health coverage in whatever health reform legislation is finally passed by Congress and adopted by our states.
As you know, the US House passed a bill with the onerous Stupak language banning abortion coverage outright in the health exchange...even if the consumer pays for part of the premium herself.
On the Senate side, the language is only somewhat less worrisome, and includes a requirement that any private abortion coverage premiums be paid for each time with a separate check.
Join others who find these restrictions outrageous and worth fighting!
Tuesday January 26 from 6pm to 8pm
First and Summerfield Methodist Church of New Haven
425 College Street, New Haven, CT 06511

|Spazeboy.net|Spazeboy's Guide to Political Videoblogging|

by: spazeboy @ Thu Jan 21, 2010 at 17:28:42 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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BMC (4.00 / 1)

We can all Bitch Moan and Complain. We can write letters. We can do just about anything we would like to do. But the POWER lies with the President of the United States.

Obama can STOP this whole thing right now with one simple action.

An Executive Order.

Today Obama can write an Executive Order that Medicare determine Rates for offering Medicare insurance to all those under age 65 withing 30 days, and then, within 50 days publish those rates and allow any American citizen to purchase Medicare Health Insurance at those published rates.

DONE!

It generates no new costs for the government as those costs are absorbed by the rate payers.

You want to give the finger to the GOP. Start by ignoring Congress (who can't do the job) and initiate single payer within 60 days.

But that would actually require a POTUS with a backbone. One who could deliver change we could believe in rather than talk a good game and deliver squat.

The question is not what you are, we already determined that, we are now negotiating price.
electrealdemocrats.com Online since 3/07 -- TimetogoJoe.com Online s

by: Met00 @ Thu Jan 21, 2010 at 21:43:34 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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There is another route in the works . . . (3.67 / 3)

I've seen reports today that Nancy Pelosi intends to go the reconciliation route in the House -- restoring some of the better elements that were bargained away in the Senate:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyo...

There never were 60 votes in the Senate; but now even that myth has been exposed; so it's time to put pressure on Harry Reid. Call his office and pester the life out of him: 202-224-3542. Remind him that if he finally takes some leadership on this issue, it might even help his upcoming Senate campaign. Maybe that's language he can understand.

by: Ann Galloway @ Thu Jan 21, 2010 at 22:56:48 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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And that is why the entire myth (4.00 / 2)

of 60 votes to pass healthcare reform means nothing. Never did mean a thing. Not if they really wanted to solve the problem.

Drinking Liberally in New Milford
ePluribus Media

by: Connecticut Man1 @ Thu Jan 21, 2010 at 23:41:05 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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Bingo! (0.00 / 0)

It's a myth.

The House and the Senate and all the rest are all BS.

At any time Obama could have issued an executive order and bypassed the legislature completely.

Since there is NO additional spending on the part of the government by offering a "paid" option for anyone to purchase Medicare just like any other medical insurance policy there is absolutely NO reason that the executive branch can not order it to be done.

There is only one reason this has not been done. We needed FDR, we elected someone who speaks like JFK and he governs like Carter.

The question is not what you are, we already determined that, we are now negotiating price.
electrealdemocrats.com Online since 3/07 -- TimetogoJoe.com Online s

by: Met00 @ Thu Jan 21, 2010 at 23:54:58 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Please don't use the "C" word... (0.00 / 0)

Too many Republicans I know are drooling with the hope they can render Barack another Jimmy.

fwiw.

by: AndersonScooper @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 03:24:17 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

While I don't know if Met00 is right about the Medicare expansion (4.00 / 1)

... it's totally and obviously true that Obama's administration had created the conditions for their own failure by allowing every interest but the majority of public opinion to hold reform hostage -- Lieberman, Nelson, AHIP, PHRMA, etc. -- and by passively accepting both a "60 vote bill" requirement and seven months of stalling by conservatives.

Carter's great crime was being ahead of his time. Obama's is just the opposite -- being behind too far behind the times.

–7.25 / –7.28 | http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tw...

by: mattw @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 03:35:53 AM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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Obama... (0.00 / 0)

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com...

Nate Silver is one of the greats at reading the tea leaves. He is succinct in his detailed analysis of what Obama has wrought upon himself and the party.

Financial reform isn't what gets any Democrat out of bed in the morning. Things like health care, a climate bill, expanded rights for gays, women, and lesbians, a fairer tax code -- those are the things that signify progress, the promise of which keeps people motivated for the long run. The risk is that, when we get to November, the base looks at the fact that significant progress has not been made on any of those core, defining issues, that the political and procedural hurdles are immense, that Democratic majorities will (at best) shrink, and that the party leadership seems nonchalant in good times and panicky in bad ones. And they'll conclude that the progressive party is incapable of making progress.

So, where are we as a party after a year of Obama's leadership?

Health Care = Failed.
DADT = Failed.
DOMA = Failed.
Progressive Tax Code = Failed.
Transparency in Government = Failed.
Consumer Protection = Failed.
Climate Bill = Failed.
Investment in Green Jobs = Failed.
Close GITMO = Failed.
Out of Iraq = Failed.

In fact, the only promise he has seemed to be able to keep was to increase troops in Afghanistan.

And he was able to fail on all the above in an off-election year with filibuster-proof majorities in both houses of Congress.

Compared to Carter his first year doesn't even come close. I was being NICE by saying he was Carter.

The one thing he focused on, "the economic recovery" is not an economic recovery, it was just putting the breaks on the fast moving train. There was no re-regulation to rein in the industry that brought the country to the brink of financial collapse. The stimulus package was too small to reverse the trends, and was watered down even further in the hope that somebody would be stupid enough to think that 2 GOP votes would define it as bi-partisan. --- read http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.c... Krugman or google Stiglitz - two Pulitzer Prize winning economists who got it right, and see what they are saying today.

He told the base that we didn't matter. So, why the hell should I get off my "you don't matter" ass and vote when you don't stand up for anything I believe in? The base is demotivated because we believe we voted for change we could believe in, and instead we got bupkis. Nada. Nothing.

Was he better than McSame? Like saying bread and water is better than starvation. But he promised us steaks and shakes, and delivered bread and water.

The question is not what you are, we already determined that, we are now negotiating price.
electrealdemocrats.com Online since 3/07 -- TimetogoJoe.com Online s

by: Met00 @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 07:17:42 AM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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I know that Obama can (4.00 / 2)

drop the age of Medicare to the day you are born with an executive order and then leave it to Congress to fund it. Then it becomes a matter of pushing funding of it through regular mechanisms of Congress or reconciliation as strictly a budget issue. The big question was only whether Congress would act to fund it. And the likely backlash if they didn't.

This is something we have known and discussed since before this debate really began.

I can't see it being any different to just open it up with a salesman going straight to the public? It just takes all of the levers out of Congress' and their lobbyists hands.

But, clearly, Obama is just as guilty of playing for lobbyist money.

Drinking Liberally in New Milford
ePluribus Media

by: Connecticut Man1 @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 14:17:13 PM UTC

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by: you @ soon

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BINGO! (4.00 / 1)

an EO that lowers the age and allows the government to charge COST to the consumer.

it would tie the GOP into knots.

it would change health insurance and the delivery of healthcare in theUnited States.

All it takes is the stroke of Obama's pen.

So, let's put the pressure where it belongs, at the feet of the man who has failed the progressive cause.

The question is not what you are, we already determined that, we are now negotiating price.
electrealdemocrats.com Online since 3/07 -- TimetogoJoe.com Online s

by: Met00 @ Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 20:58:55 PM UTC

[ Parent ]