UPDATED: ACT NOW for National UNIVERSAL MEDICARE for ALL • House Passes “Reform Bill” • Senate “Proceeds” • So What Now?
WE WANT FULL UNIVERSAL MEDICARE FOR ALL PEOPLE!
TODAY’S THE DAY TO MAKE THE PHONE CALLS!!!
There’s still time to make it better — much better — but not a lot of time.
We need to call ALL CONGRESS MEMBERS — in the House AND the Senate, to insist that the Kucinich Amendment be put in the bill, and DEMAND THAT CONGRESS AMEND THE BILL TO ALLOW STATES TO ENACT SINGLE-PAYER UNIVERSAL MEDICARE FOR ALL. Pelosi reneged on her deal with Rep.Weiner — see the video below here of Rep. Weiner taking a promise from Rep. Henry Waxman.
To reach every member of Congress, House or Senate
PHONE TOLL-FREE TODAY 800.828.0498
This connects you to the Capitol Switchboard,
which in turn connects you to legislators’ offices.
The Capitol Switchboard direct number is 202.224.3121
You can also phone your law makers TOLL-FREE at
877.323.5246 — 877.3AFLCIO
— PHONE Representatives’ offices — PHONE Senators’ offices —
27 November 2009 — WE MUST CONCENTRATE OUR CAMPAIGN ON SENATORS
Mary Landrieu (Louisiana), Blanche Lincoln (Arkansas), and Ben Nelson (Nebraska)
— and Joe Lieberman (Connecticut) — He won’t change,
but we can at least bury the bastard with phone calls!
80% of 83,954 people — 67,163 voters — voice full
support for a “50 state public option” in a November 13th poll
ASK FOR THE CONGRESS MEMBERS’ AIDES ON HEALTH CARE &
TELL THEM “We want single-payer Universal Medicare for ALL!”
Some of the “gang” that holds our future in their hands includes:
• Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Washington, DC, office 202.225.4965
San Francisco office 415.556.4862
• Majority Leader Steny Hoyer: Washington, DC, office 202.225.4131
Greenbelt office 301.474.0119; Waldorf office 301.843.1577
• Rep. Henry Waxman: Washington, DC, office 202.225.3976
Los Angeles office .323.651.1040
• Rep. Charles Rangel: Washington, DC, office 202.225.4365
New York office 212.663.3900
• Rep. George Miller: Washington, DC, office 202.225.2095
Concord office 925.602.1880; Richmond office 510.262.6500; Vallejo office 707.645.1888
BuzzFlash — 7 November 2009 — DEMOCRATIC REFORM HEALTH PLAN JUST PASSED THE HOUSE! With all its flaws, which we can work hard to correct in the future, celebrate a milestone. Vote was 220-215. See http://bit.ly/48OAkF
Editor’s note: The bill does not provide universal health care, medicare for all. It doesn’t resemble Rep. Kucinich's superior bill HR 676 hardly at all. The bill passed late Saturday night is a small, tentative start, but it’s a small improvement over what was. It’s really much kinder to the insurance companies than it is to people of the United States. Don’t break out the champagne yet. We’re not there. We need to concentrate and re-double the good work to strengthen the things that remain. What do we need to do?
WE NEED TO KEEP OUR PRESSURE ON!!!
We must keep phoning the congress members, in both the House and the Senate, to state our support for MEDICARE FOR ALL, and for HR 676. PLEASE KEEP CALLING! The more of us who phone Washington, the sooner the politicians will move in the direction of common human decency.
Huffington Post — 7 November 2009 — by Lee Stranahan — Don’t be a patsy. — If enough of us stand with Dennis Kucinich, maybe we’ll actually get real health care reform. If we don’t, maybe we don’t deserve reform.
THERE WERE PLENTY OF COWARDLY VOTES IN THE HOUST LAST NIGHT, BUT THERE WAS ONE TRULY BRAVE ONE. The unsung hero of the night was Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich.
Despite enormous pressure to support H.R. 3962, Rep. Kucinich did the right thing and voted ‘no.’ Unlike the Blue Dog votes against the bill, he did it for all the right reasons.In a principled and practical statement, Rep. Kucinich said what a growing number of progressives have realized as we've watched real health care reform be compromised again and again.
“During the debate, when the interests of insurance companies would have been effectively challenged, that challenge was turned back. The “robust public option” which would have offered a modicum of competition to a monopolistic industry was whittled down from an initial potential enrollment of 129 million Americans to 6 million. An amendment which would have protected the rights of states to pursue single-payer health care was stripped from the bill at the request of the Administration. Looking ahead, we cringe at the prospect of even greater favors for insurance companies.”
Personally, I supported President Obama in the primaries and the election but do not support him on this corporate giveaway built on broken campaign promises. I voted for the Barack Obama who opposed the individual mandate, who said the negotiations would be televised on C-SPAN and who campaigned against backroom deals with PhARMA.
Conservatives have expressed outrage for months about the way the health care bill was handled. Their anti-government anger is misplaced because the lets the insurances and drug companies who really helped drive this bill off the hook. But I understand their sense that this bill was passed despite the people.
Progressives should be every bit as upset that President Obama lied to us to get his historic health bill. The citizens of this country did not have a seat at the table. Proponents of the Single Payer didn’t have a seat at the table. Under the guise of health care reform, we watched as the insurance industry got a bill passed that entrenches and enriches them.
Don’t let anyone fool you that this bill is a good start. It’s got a poison pill “Public Option” that is designed to fail. As the brilliant RJ Eskow wrote recently about the House bill’s public option,
“The plan will have low enrollment and little power to negotiate, causing the CBO to state as fact what I’ve long considered possible: That the public option could become a dumping ground where private plans jettison sicker people, while lacking the efficiencies of scale or negotiating power to get better rates or administer itself more economically.
“As a result, says the CBO, a public plan’s premiums might be higher than private insurance. While the CBO’s word isn’t gospel, it’s entirely possible that they're underestimating the cost of any “public option” we’re likely to see this year. The likeliest political outcome, once the House and Senate bills are combined, is a non-robust “public option,” with a state-by-state opt out. The CBO didn’t consider the opt-out when it came up with its shocking — to some — estimate.”
Even if it passes in its weak form, this Public Option will be the target of the GOP for years and they won’t rest until it is dead. As the Public Option kicks into gear, they will find stories of ‘strationing’ and denial of care they can highlight, true or not. They will use the higher costs as proof of the Public Option’s folly. They will grind away at the Public Option relentlessly but they will leave the Individual Mandate alone. If anything, once the Mandate is in place, the Republicans will make sure the insurance industry is ‘free to compete’ and unrestricted.
The corporate interests that spend millions to influence the media and both political parties want you to ignore Congressman Kucinich. Too many Democrats unwittingly help them. Don’t be a patsy.
People like Dennis Kucinich, Ralph Nader and Michael Moore have been made pariahs by establishment Democrats. They have all been marginalized and made fun of...but check their records. They have been considered ‘fringe’ because they are telling us the truth about corporate abuses of power long before most of the rest of us catch up to the reality of what's happened.
If enough of us stand with Dennis Kucinich, maybe we'll actually get real health care reform. If we don’t, maybe we don’t deserve that reform.
Read more at Huffington Post
Text Copyright © 7 November 2009 Huffington Post
Act Blue — 5 November 2009 — It takes courage, and we need to show them how much we appreciate them for doing so.
THESE ARE THE PROGRESSIVE MEMBERS OF CONGRESS WITH GUTS TO STAND UP to Big Insurance, Big Pharma and to the pressure from their own party bosses. They stood with the American people and ordinary working families when push came to shove and both political parties decided propping up a disastrous health care system and a corrupt Insurance Industry was more important than keeping the promise made over and over to working families. These were the men and women who promised to vote against any health care reform bill that didn't include, at the minimum, a robust public option. 60 signed a letter to Secretary Sebelius and 18 took the FDL Pledge.
Democratic members of Congress need to understand that a healthcare reform bill with a Public Option is simply not an option — it’s a requirement. The congress members on this list have said in no uncertain terms that they will not vote for a bill without a public option all the way through Conference. That takes courage, and we need to show them how much we appreciate them for doing so. Thanks for everything else you’re doing for the public option.
Text copyright © 5 November 2009 Act Blue
Healthcare for All — 3 November 2009 — The Kucinich Amendment must be put back in the health care bill to protect the rights of states to pursue single payer, and to protect the rights of consumers to be free of the economic death grip of the insurance companies.
On the floor of the House of Representatives, Congressman Dennis Kucinich today fought to save the right of States to secure a single payer plan.
“Even though insurance companies make money not providing health care, the so-called reform bill gives so much power and money to the insurance companies that we are giving far too much for the few benefits which the bill may confer.”
“The insurance companies get at least another 26 million customers.”
“They will receive at least an extra $50 billion in new revenue.”
“They will be able to raise premiums 25%, even though in each of the last four consecutive years the industry has raised premiums by double digits.”
“As long as there are for-profit health insurance companies, there will be no effective way to protect consumers against ever escalating premiums, co pays and deductibles, unless the insurance companies know that people at a state level will always have a choice to reject the insurance companies and establish a single-payer not-for-profit system.”
“That is why the Kucinich Amendment must be put back in the health care bill, not just to protect the rights of states to pursue single payer, but to protect the rights of consumers to be free of the economic death grip of the insurance companies.”
Progressive Democrats of America —2 November 2009 — by Tim Carpenter — We’ll do our best to make this bad bill better in the House and in the Senate. Then we’ll take this fight to the states.
The Kucinich Amendment, which would give the states a clear path for enacting their own single-payer legislation, was stripped from the bill.
The Weiner Amendment, which would substitute the clean, clear language of HR 676 for the behemoth of a introduced, may not be given its vote in the House — in spite of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s promise.
You can see and rate the video HERE
While single payer hangs in the balance, PDA will continue to fight for single payer at the state level. Meanwhile, we have a small window of opportunity to get the Kucinich Amendment back in the bill and to make sure that Speaker Pelosi follows through on her promise to allow a vote on single-payer — the first ever in the House.
Democratic House leaders can insert what is called a “Manager’s Amendment” into legislation, even when it is closed to any other amendments. The managers are the majority and minority members who “manage” debate for the bill on each side. See Center for Policy Analysis
We need to call these “managers” and insist that the Kucinich Amendment is restored into the healthcare bill. We also need to urge these leaders to exert pressure on Speaker Pelosi — and exert it on her ourselves — to follow through on her promise to put the Weiner Amendment to a vote. We’re all frustrated by the Affordable Health Care for America Act — HR 3962 — the House’s lamentable healthcare reform bill, if you can call it reform at all. We think of it as tweaking a badly broken system — at best it’s a band-aid on a hemorrhaging system — although, it does appear to be drawing fewer flies than the Senate version. It’s crucial for everyone to make these calls, and to tell others to make these calls. TODAY! Be polite, but let them know you’re angry, and that you vote. So many of us have poured our heart and souls into Medicare for All; our disappointment could lead us to give up. Any right worth having is worth fighting for , so the fight goes on. We’ll do our best to make this bad bill better in the House and in the Senate. Then we’ll take this fight to the states. Susan B. Anthony, William Lloyd Garrison, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King didn’t give up — neither will we. Please, make those calls. The Nation —29 October 2009 — by John Nichols — “If this is the best we can do, then our best isn’t good enough and we have to ask some hard questions about our political system: such as Health Care or Insurance Care? Government of the people or a government of the corporations.” — Dennis Kucinich But, in the reform legislation debuted Thursday by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the compromise was even more compromised than had been expected. Pelosi says the legislation is “historic,” and celebrates the fact that is does still include a public option — a component many pundits had said was destined for abandonment. But, while there is a public option, it is anything but robust. Progressives believe Pelosi has bent to far to the right. And The New York Times suggests as much in its analysis, which declares that: Under pressure from moderate-to-conservative members of the House Democratic caucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has decided to propose a government-run insurance plan that would negotiate rates with doctors and hospitals, rather than using prices set by the government... Ms. Pelosi said the public plan, which she prefers to call a “consumer option,” would compete with private insurers. But the speaker was apparently unable to muster the votes needed for the ‘robust’ liberal version of a public plan, which she has repeatedly said would save more money for consumers and the government. Translation: The “public option” Pelosi and her team have proposed a plan that would not make payments for care based on Medicare rates, as the Congressional Progressive Caucus and key Senate Democrats have proposed. Rather, under the Pelosi plan, the rates be tied to those of the big insurance companies. That’s a big, big victory for the insurance industry, as it will undermine the ability of the public option to compete — and to create pressure for reduced costs. Pelosi's plan also drops a number of provisions that had been advanced at the committee level to promote consideration of “Medicare for All” models and to allow states to experiment with single-payer plans. That's an especially bitter pill for House progressives, who has won support for state-based experimentation in committee votes. Groups such as Progressive Democrats of America were quick to raised alarm bells because some of the most innovative responses to the health-care crisis are being forged at the state level. While single-payer proposals are being blocked at the federal level, PDA national director Tim Carpenter says the single-payer fight is ramping up in the states. “Last week, members of the PDA national team traveled to Pennsylvania for a rally at the capital rotunda in Harrisburg, in support of Healthcare for All Pennsylvania and their single-payer bill,” notes Carpenter. “The momentum for single-payer healthcare grows daily. It appears Congress will have to be forced to follow the lead of states like Pennsylvania, California, Illinois, Ohio and Massachusetts — all working to implement single-payer healthcare at the state level.” House progressives were quick to express disappointment, as they were counting on the House to advance a strong alternative to the Senate Democratic leadership's very weak public option proposal — which would allow states to opt out of the plan. Reviewing the details of Pelosi’s plan in a passionate speech on the House floor, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich, one of the chamber's most ardent advocates for reform asked: “Is this the best we can do? Forcing people to buy private health insurance, guaranteeing at least $50 billion in new business for the insurance companies?” “ Is this the best we can do? Only 3 percent of Americans will go to a new public plan, while currently 33 percent of Americans are either uninsured or underinsured? “Is this the best we can do? Eliminating the state single payer option, while forcing most people to buy private insurance. “If this is the best we can do, then our best isn’t good enough and we have to ask some hard questions about our political system: such as Health Care or Insurance Care? Government of the people or a government of the corporations.” “It’s not even the fourth quarter,” said Woolsey, who noted the public option had only recently been dismissed as dead by many pundits. “We will be insisting on (the option) being as strong as it possibly can be.” Woolsey and other progressive Democrats are set to meet with President Obama Thursday. “He needs to hear from us that he needs to support the public option,” Woolsey told the Los Angeles Times. “He’s not saying it loud enough. We want to make sure he lets the Senate know he wants a public option in the bill.” The focus on Obama is appropriate. He has the authority, as a man with a bully pulpit and a veto pen, to tell Pelosi that a soft public option is insufficient. At the same time, he can and should be more involved in challenging the absurd proposals — advanced by conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans — for “opt-outs” and “triggers,” which threaten to weaken the public option to the point of meaninglessness.
Pelosi’s Not-So-Robust Public Option
The public option was always a compromise for serious supporters of health-care reform, who — like Barack Obama when he was running for the Senate in 2003 — knew that a single-payer “Medicare for All” system was what America needed to provide health care to everyone while controlling costs.
Kucinich continued:
“Is this the best we can do? Government negotiates rates which will drive up insurance costs, but the government won't negotiate with the pharmaceutical companies which will drive up pharmaceutical costs.
Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chair Lynn Woolsey, D-California, said she and her allies would continue to battle to muscle-up the public option.
You can also view and rate this video HERE
WASHINGTON — Friday, 30 October 2009 — On MSNBC Congressman Kucinich stated that he is fighting to get single-payer back into the health care reform bill. Several members of Congress have signed a letter to House Speaker Pelosi requesting that the Kucinich Amendment be restored to the bill.
Congressman Kucinich declared that the American people are being mandated by private insurance … if you read the bill ... and that people are going to end up paying. “The insurance companies can raise rates up to 25% right off-the-bat if you read the language of the bill ...” This is a bailout for insurance companies based on tens-of-millions of Americans premiums. We must put the Kucinich Amendment for single-payer back into the health care bill.
The Kucinich amendment has been added to H.R. 3200 in the Education and Labor Committee, the amendment would permit states to enact a single-payer health care system.
WHEN WE PULL TOGETHER WE CAN WIN REAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL
You can also view and rate this video HERE
SIGN THE PETITION!
For more information see
MobilizeForHealthCare.org
