I apologize, America. My Senator -- much as I hate to admit it -- has said that he would stand with the Republicans to block health reform with a public option. Yup, Joe Lieberman. The guy whom we elected despite the fact that he was trounced in a Democratic primary. The guy who was allowed to keep his committee chairmanships because he promised to vote with the Democrats on procedural motions -- and last time I looked, cloture was procedural. The guy who used to be a Democrat. The guy who supported John McCain for President and still believes we belong in Iraq, and said so in a speech to the RNC.
How the heck did liberal, justice-loving, rights-loving, humanity-loving Connecticut end up with this !@#@!$% as our Senator?
Connecticut is resoundingly in favor of universal healthcare. Indeed, we passed the Sustinet plan which, when implemented in two years, will provide health care for everyone in Connecticut. It passed the General Assembly. The Governor vetoed it. And then the General Assembly overrode her veto. The citizens of Connecticut have spoken.
Joe Lieberman has been around Connecticut politics for a long time. When he beat Ned Lamont, it seems to have emboldened him. So he endorsed John McCain despite the fact that Connecticut voters were strong supporters of Barack Obama. He has maintained his hawkish positions despite the fact that the Democrats voted him out of the party for it. Joe Lieberman seems to think he's invincible.
Let me say this loud and clear. If Joe Lieberman stands in the way of health reform with a public option, as he seems determined to do, I will make it my life's mission to ensure that he cannot be elected to any office ever again in the State of Connecticut. After all, if our Senator really betrays us with such colossal disregard for the views of his constituents, we here in Connecticut will owe all of America a big apology for re-electing him despite knowing that he didn't care about our views on Iraq.
Indeed, maybe we need a constitutional amendment that allows us to recall a Senator who cares so little for what his constituents believe. Jennifer
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Total Calls -- AMAZING!!!
315,023.
That's the total number of pro-reform calls made to Congress yesterday (or those are the ones that were reported -- there probably are more).
To all of you who thought you couldn't make a difference, I think you did. That's a huge number at a time when Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi are in the final stages of drafting the bills that will be brought to the floor of both chambers.
Great job! Jennifer
That's the total number of pro-reform calls made to Congress yesterday (or those are the ones that were reported -- there probably are more).
To all of you who thought you couldn't make a difference, I think you did. That's a huge number at a time when Senator Reid and Speaker Pelosi are in the final stages of drafting the bills that will be brought to the floor of both chambers.
Great job! Jennifer
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
WE DID IT (and are still doing it)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From Huffington Post:
It's not even noon on the West Coast and already Capitol Hill staffers say they're getting nonstop calls from constituents in support of President Barack Obama's health insurance reform. At about 2:15 EST, Organizing for America (OFA) surpassed it's goal of 100,000 phone calls to Congress, each one imploring representatives to vote for reform.
The nationwide "Time to Deliver on Health Reform" event is the most massive outpouring of support from Obama supporters since Election Day 2008.
Senate Democratic aides told HuffPost that their phones have been ringing off the hook. "We're getting completely crushed with calls, jamming our phone lines from the moment we opened," said one aide.
Another said they'd gotten "pretty much non-stop health care calls from OFA." A third also said their office was getting bombed and that four out of every five calls specifically mentioned the public option.
Only one aide contacted said that the calls had not been heavy. "We've had about 130 [health care] calls to the DC office today," said a staffer, explaining that on busy advocacy days the number can climb much higher.
Several aides said the callers seemed less informed about the issue than typical advocates, indicating that Obama is reaching a wide variety of voters who do not typically engage in the political process. Almost all of them called on the senators to support the President's health care plan. Several aides noted with irony that the president doesn't have a specific plan that he has endorsed - to the great frustration, in fact, of many Democrats.
After the election, Obama for America (OFA) became Organizing for America (OFA), an issue-oriented advocacy arm of the DNC whose primary purpose is to help make campaign promises a reality by cultivating public support for Obama's agenda.
Calls officially started at 9:00 AM Eastern, and supporters reached 40,000 calls about noon. From there, the numbers climbed quickly, hitting 85,000 around 1:30 PM and 95,000 around 2:00 PM -- fifteen minutes after that, 100,000.
To generate these numbers, OFA organized over 1,000 phonebank events across all 50 states. Yesterday, OFA said its phonebanks would make hundreds of thousands of calls to voters in order to generate 100,000 calls from constituents to Congress.
This morning's email to OFA members said, "If we hit 100,000 calls made or committed to, we'll send an unmistakable signal that this time, families must come before insurance companies. We'll be tracking progress toward our goal publicly -- make sure to report your call back to us so we can count it." (See the current count.)
President Obama will speak to OFAers across the country today at 8:00 PM Eastern to kickoff the evening phone banks. Sources within OFA say they are going to raise their goal to 150,000 calls to Congress but no official word yet.
Pick Up the Phone NOW!
Today is a national call-in day for health reform. Call the Capitol switchboard and ask to speak to your members of Congress. The number is 1-866-210-3678.
Pick up the phone. Now. Jennifer
Pick up the phone. Now. Jennifer
Monday, October 19, 2009
Don't Rely on What You Hear/Read
We sent out an email blast today encouraging people to call their members of Congress tomorrow, the national call-in day for health care reform. I got the following response:
I am both suprised [sic] and shocked that someone with such a serious illness and a person running a non for profit would use public funding to promote your own political agenda. I am really dissapointed [sic] and wonder if those who give you funding would approve of what you are doing....personally if I was forced into what you are promoting, my son who has crohns disease may not be alive today as no hospitals "on my plan" in this area would give him the treatment he needed because of insurance. Because I pay for a plan that allow, I am able to go "out of network" to get the best possible care. If you read ANYTHING about health care reform, it is those with cronic [sic] illness that will be the most effected. Did u not hear congressman ERIC Cantors [sic] speech?
First, we don't receive one dime of public funding to fund our day-to-day work. In 2009 and 2010, we will have received a small grant to fund the chronic illness survey we are working on with the University of Michigan Center for Managing Chronic Disease. That's all the public funding we receive.
Second, supporting health care reform isn't about politics in the sense of Democrat or Republican. Indeed, Bill Frist, Mike Bloomberg, Bob Dole and Arnold Schwarzenegger all are prominent Republicans who are publicly in favor of health reform (although they have not endorsed any particular plan). However, Eric Cantor -- the person this emailer wants me to listen to -- is the House Minority Whip, the second-in-command Republican in the House of Representatives. Any question that he's a politician with an agenda? I don't think so.
Third, I have read the health care reform proposals, and this writer clearly has not. Let me say it again -- nobody is being "forced into" a public option. An option is just that, an option, a choice. People would be allowed to choose between a publicly run plan and a private plan. There would be several private plans from which to choose, some of which no doubt will cover out-of-network benefits. There is NOT ONE WORD in the health reform bills I've read that would eliminate out-of-network coverage, as my correspondent suggests.
I emailed her back. I sent links to factcheck.org; the Kaiser Family Foundation's health reform page; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation health reform page; the White House health reform page.
Do you think she'll read anything I sent her?
It scares me when I see people -- people who've called here for help, so they know something about chronic illness -- opposing health reform because they don't understand it (not to mention assuming that I, who do this for a living, would not have read up on it myself).
So really, my message to you here is just this: Don't believe me OR Eric Cantor. Read, listen, judge for yourself. Read not only the New York Times (i.e., liberal): also read the Wall St. Journal (i.e., conservative).
This may be the most important public policy debate of our generation. Don't have a knee-jerk reaction. Don't label the "fors" Democrats and "againsts" Republicans. Don't assume Eric Cantor is right any more than you assume Nancy Pelosi is right. Don't assume anything. Educate yourself enough that you can make an informed choice.
I'm confident that I've studied this well enough so you can count on what I've told you the various drafts say, but don't assume I'm truthful or accurate. Read. Listen. Hear diverging views. When Betsy McCaughey or Sarah Palin talks about "death panels," check it out. After all, Ms. McCaughey said it appeared on page 425 of the House Bill, so it was easy enough to prove that no such thing appeared on page 425, section 1233 (they posted it without page numbers so you have to scroll down to section 1233, end of life consultations -- which, as you can see, would have reimbursed Medicare providers for talking to patients about things like living wills, but which would NOT have created panels to decide when to "pull the plug"). If you don't have time to read for yourself, then go to the non-partisan cites linked above, and the always-reliable independent factcheck.org.
I'm not telling you to just take my word for it. I'm so sure that I've been accurate in my statements in this blog that I welcome your researching and reading. I've told you when I've been unhappy with Senator Baucus's bill. I've told you that I favor a public option and why. But please, don't take my word for it.
This legislation will affect every single person in the United States. If ever you were going to get informed and involved, now's the time. I trust you to make the right decisions once you know the facts. So go get 'em. Jennifer
I am both suprised [sic] and shocked that someone with such a serious illness and a person running a non for profit would use public funding to promote your own political agenda. I am really dissapointed [sic] and wonder if those who give you funding would approve of what you are doing....personally if I was forced into what you are promoting, my son who has crohns disease may not be alive today as no hospitals "on my plan" in this area would give him the treatment he needed because of insurance. Because I pay for a plan that allow, I am able to go "out of network" to get the best possible care. If you read ANYTHING about health care reform, it is those with cronic [sic] illness that will be the most effected. Did u not hear congressman ERIC Cantors [sic] speech?
First, we don't receive one dime of public funding to fund our day-to-day work. In 2009 and 2010, we will have received a small grant to fund the chronic illness survey we are working on with the University of Michigan Center for Managing Chronic Disease. That's all the public funding we receive.
Second, supporting health care reform isn't about politics in the sense of Democrat or Republican. Indeed, Bill Frist, Mike Bloomberg, Bob Dole and Arnold Schwarzenegger all are prominent Republicans who are publicly in favor of health reform (although they have not endorsed any particular plan). However, Eric Cantor -- the person this emailer wants me to listen to -- is the House Minority Whip, the second-in-command Republican in the House of Representatives. Any question that he's a politician with an agenda? I don't think so.
Third, I have read the health care reform proposals, and this writer clearly has not. Let me say it again -- nobody is being "forced into" a public option. An option is just that, an option, a choice. People would be allowed to choose between a publicly run plan and a private plan. There would be several private plans from which to choose, some of which no doubt will cover out-of-network benefits. There is NOT ONE WORD in the health reform bills I've read that would eliminate out-of-network coverage, as my correspondent suggests.
I emailed her back. I sent links to factcheck.org; the Kaiser Family Foundation's health reform page; the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation health reform page; the White House health reform page.
Do you think she'll read anything I sent her?
It scares me when I see people -- people who've called here for help, so they know something about chronic illness -- opposing health reform because they don't understand it (not to mention assuming that I, who do this for a living, would not have read up on it myself).
So really, my message to you here is just this: Don't believe me OR Eric Cantor. Read, listen, judge for yourself. Read not only the New York Times (i.e., liberal): also read the Wall St. Journal (i.e., conservative).
This may be the most important public policy debate of our generation. Don't have a knee-jerk reaction. Don't label the "fors" Democrats and "againsts" Republicans. Don't assume Eric Cantor is right any more than you assume Nancy Pelosi is right. Don't assume anything. Educate yourself enough that you can make an informed choice.
I'm confident that I've studied this well enough so you can count on what I've told you the various drafts say, but don't assume I'm truthful or accurate. Read. Listen. Hear diverging views. When Betsy McCaughey or Sarah Palin talks about "death panels," check it out. After all, Ms. McCaughey said it appeared on page 425 of the House Bill, so it was easy enough to prove that no such thing appeared on page 425, section 1233 (they posted it without page numbers so you have to scroll down to section 1233, end of life consultations -- which, as you can see, would have reimbursed Medicare providers for talking to patients about things like living wills, but which would NOT have created panels to decide when to "pull the plug"). If you don't have time to read for yourself, then go to the non-partisan cites linked above, and the always-reliable independent factcheck.org.
I'm not telling you to just take my word for it. I'm so sure that I've been accurate in my statements in this blog that I welcome your researching and reading. I've told you when I've been unhappy with Senator Baucus's bill. I've told you that I favor a public option and why. But please, don't take my word for it.
This legislation will affect every single person in the United States. If ever you were going to get informed and involved, now's the time. I trust you to make the right decisions once you know the facts. So go get 'em. Jennifer
Friday, October 16, 2009
National health reform call-in day
Tuesday October 20 will be a national health reform call-in day. Please mark your calendars. You can find contact info for your member of the House here, and your members of the Senate here. Or you can use the toll-free number to the Capitol switchboard, 1-866-210-3678.
What should you say? Well, as you know I'm strongly in favor of a public option. This is not a government take-over of health care. What would happen is that all the private plans would be offered through the exchange, a marketplace where you could view and compare available plans. In addition to the private plans, a public plan would be offered. If you wanted to choose the public plan, you could. If you're happier sticking with Blue Cross or United Healthcare or Aetna or CIGNA -- if you're one of the lucky ones who doesn't see coverage denials on a regular basis -- you can stay with them. But the public option would cost less because no executives would be paid $1.5 billion bonuses for denying coverage. Administrative costs of a public option would, therefore, be less and so premiums would be lower. In order to compete, the private plans would then have to lower premiums.
There are other ways to force private plans to lower premiums, but they're not even on the table. You could limit executive pay, for example. You could cap premium rate increases at the same rate at which incomes grow each year. But a public option that would compete with private options is more in synch with free market ideals. And a public option would save over $25 billion over 10 years, or even more if reimbursement rates -- the rates paid to doctors, hospitals, labs, etc. -- were tied to Medicare rates.
So if you agree that it's important to have robust competition, you might tell your members of Congress that you support a public option.
If you have a story -- if you've suffered at the hands of health insurers -- tell your story.
If you feel strongly about elimination of pre-existing condition exclusions and eliminations of lifetime caps, say so. If you want these sorts of insurance market reforms to take effect immediately, that's a really important point because otherwise, they won't take effect until 2013.
If you agree that private plans that administer Medicare shouldn't be paid any more than it costs for the government to administer Medicare (a savings of about $220 billion), chime in.
And if you just want to say we need change now, that would be great.
What you should NOT do is nothing. If everybody who reads this makes a call to his or her two Senators and one member of the House of Representatives, we may actually make a difference. Three phone calls. They'll be short -- the staff on the Hill doesn't want to have long conversations. It won't take you long. Indeed, if you'd rather email than call, go for it. But please do something.
If you care about chronic illness, you have to be for reform. It's as simple as that. Jennifer
What should you say? Well, as you know I'm strongly in favor of a public option. This is not a government take-over of health care. What would happen is that all the private plans would be offered through the exchange, a marketplace where you could view and compare available plans. In addition to the private plans, a public plan would be offered. If you wanted to choose the public plan, you could. If you're happier sticking with Blue Cross or United Healthcare or Aetna or CIGNA -- if you're one of the lucky ones who doesn't see coverage denials on a regular basis -- you can stay with them. But the public option would cost less because no executives would be paid $1.5 billion bonuses for denying coverage. Administrative costs of a public option would, therefore, be less and so premiums would be lower. In order to compete, the private plans would then have to lower premiums.
There are other ways to force private plans to lower premiums, but they're not even on the table. You could limit executive pay, for example. You could cap premium rate increases at the same rate at which incomes grow each year. But a public option that would compete with private options is more in synch with free market ideals. And a public option would save over $25 billion over 10 years, or even more if reimbursement rates -- the rates paid to doctors, hospitals, labs, etc. -- were tied to Medicare rates.
So if you agree that it's important to have robust competition, you might tell your members of Congress that you support a public option.
If you have a story -- if you've suffered at the hands of health insurers -- tell your story.
If you feel strongly about elimination of pre-existing condition exclusions and eliminations of lifetime caps, say so. If you want these sorts of insurance market reforms to take effect immediately, that's a really important point because otherwise, they won't take effect until 2013.
If you agree that private plans that administer Medicare shouldn't be paid any more than it costs for the government to administer Medicare (a savings of about $220 billion), chime in.
And if you just want to say we need change now, that would be great.
What you should NOT do is nothing. If everybody who reads this makes a call to his or her two Senators and one member of the House of Representatives, we may actually make a difference. Three phone calls. They'll be short -- the staff on the Hill doesn't want to have long conversations. It won't take you long. Indeed, if you'd rather email than call, go for it. But please do something.
If you care about chronic illness, you have to be for reform. It's as simple as that. Jennifer
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Breaking News: Finance Committee Passes Reform Bill
The Senate Finance Committee passed its health reform bill on a vote of 14-9. Senator Snowe was the only Republican voting for the measure.
For the first time in the history of the United States, all five committees with jurisdiction have passed health reform, paving the way for consideration by the full House and Senate.
We are making progress. Jennifer
For the first time in the history of the United States, all five committees with jurisdiction have passed health reform, paving the way for consideration by the full House and Senate.
We are making progress. Jennifer
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