HealthCareForAmericaNow

It’s crunch time. If we don’t pressure Congress to report health care bills out of committee by the August 3 recess, our opponents will use the delay to try to kill reform. To counter that, we need 1,000 more people across the Capital District to endorse the president’s plan.

1,000?! How do we do that?! Simple: 40 people get 25 signers. Just 40 people across the Capital District. Can we do it? Yes, we can. Do it for someone you care about, who suffered because they couldn’t get proper health care.

(Though this event was designed for one New York region, it’s easy to adapt to wherever you live.)

Here’s how it works: By registering for the event here…
http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpfh2c
…you agree to get 25 signers any way you like by July 31 (8/2 at the latest). You can walk around your neighborhood or town/city center, or attend a local event. (Bring a friend for moral support.) You can talk to people at work, church, a club meeting, or party. Contact friends and relatives.

Anyone who has done this knows how easy it is. You don’t need to convince anyone, because the majority supports the president’s plan. Just ask people, “Would you support the president’s health care reform plan by signing your name?” Some will, some won’t. Thank everyone and move on.

Here are some upcoming events that draw good crowds:
ALBANY
Weekdays (12 to 1): lunch crowds on State, Pearl, and Broadway, and in the park behind the Capitol.
7/29 (10 to 2): Farmers Market, Empire State Plaza.
8/1 (12 to 7): African American Family Day, Empire State Plaza.
SARATOGA
7/27, 28 & 29: SPAC
7/29 and after (1:00): Saratoga races
7/31 to 8/2: Hats Off to Saratoga Festival
SCHENECTADY
7/26 & 8/2 (7:00): Music Haven Concert Series, Central Park
7/27 to 8/1 (matinee & evening): Proctors Theater
7/30 (12 to 1:30): Jazz on Jay Street
SCOTIA
7/29 & 30, 8/1 & 2: Freedom Park Concerts
TROY
7/31 (evening): Troy Night Out
7/31 (5 to 11:30): Rockin on the River
8/1: Troy Farmers Market (on premises with permission or nearby)
ELSEWHERE
There may also be events out in Schoharie, down in Hudson, over in Chatham, and elsewhere. You folks know the local events. And let’s not forget the crowds at Woodstock, Lake George, and Tanglewood. It’s all good.

Just look at all these opportunities! 1,000 signers, piece of cake! Let’s go, Capital District, we can do this! Yes, we can!

Today, Citizen Action of New York released a new report detailing the racial disparities and discrimination within the New York health care system.

Click here to download, or see below, for the full report.

An aide to New York Senator Schumer, a key figure on health care reform, gave an unequivocal answer to a crucial question yesterday. This was the question: “Can we count on Senator Schumer to be a bold advocate for President Obama’s health care plan and support reform only if it includes a strong public option?” The reply was a single word: “Yes.”

The aide went on to make this startling announcement: “He [Senator Schumer] guarantees that there will be a public option. He knows that this is the way things have to go.”

Want to hear it for yourself? Watch the video.

The event was a rally outside Senator Schumer’s Albany office on July 9 to thank him for supporting a public option and call on him to be our advocate in the fight for a strong plan.

The rally was sponsored by MoveOn.org and the centerpiece of the event was the presentation of a petition—380 pages long—signed by some 4,800 New Yorkers. It expresses strong support for the choice of a public health insurance option operating alongside private plans.

The Albany rally was one of some 150 held simultaneously outside Congressional offices around the country.

Schumer’s guarantee of a public option makes clear that we are making tremendous progress in our campaign for guaranteed affordable health care for all this year. In fact the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) just joined several committees in the House by releasing a bill that includes a public plan.

But it is too early to declare victory. Everyone who cares about this must do something to register their ‘vote.’ Sign a pledge, make a phone call, attend a house meeting or rally, go door to door. Tell people you know that there is a nation-wide grassroots campaign to get out the ‘vote.’

The time is now, because right now Congress is writing the future of health care.

Title: Public Option Now! Health Care Rally
Location: Leo O\’Brien Federal Building
Link out: Click here
Description: President Obama has called for comprehensive health care reform this year. At the heart of his proposal is this core principle: \”Every American must have the freedom to choose their plan and doctor–including the choice of a public insurance option.\”

But the president cannot do this by himself. America must show Congress that we want a strong public health insurance plan. Powerful forces oppose it. They have the money, but we have the people.

Everyone who supports quality affordable health care for all this year–with a strong public option–needs to cast their vote by coming to the rally.
Start Time: 12:00
Date: 2009-07-09
End Time: 13:00

Title: Health Care for America Now Rally
Location: Delmar (NY) Four Corners (corner Delaware & Kenwood)
Link out: Click here
Description: A rally to support quality affordable health for all this year will be held after the farmer’s markets service event. Everyone is welcome.

Signs will be available, but you are encouraged to make your own, especially if you are a health care provider, small business owner, or minister, or have no insurance, lost insurance, or were denied coverage.

Car-pooling is advised. Parking is available in the municipal lot on Kenwood just west of Delaware. If that lot is full, additional parking is 100 yards further west at the First United Methodist Church. (If the front lot is full, go to the back lot by heading toward Delaware on Kenwood, right onto Adams St., right onto Nathaniel Blvd., and right into the lot.)

Arrangements have been made with the Bethlehem police. Please obey all traffic and pedestrian rules. Stay on the side-walk, cross at the lights, and don’t obstruct shop entrances or shoppers.

There are many eating options at the Four Corners and just up Delaware Avenue.
Start Time: 13:30
Date: 2009-06-27
End Time: 14:30

My wife Liz and I recently hosted a meeting at our home to kick off President Obama’s grassroots campaign for health care reform. I’ve described the meeting in a separate post.

At the meeting we shared our personal stories about why we decided to join the campaign for quality affordable health care for all this year. The accompanying brief video tells one such story.

I think you’ll be as amazed as I was to learn how a recent tragedy for all America became one for one American and his family.

This story could have happened to any of us. Please join the campaign, so this kind of unnecessary tragedy doesn’t happen again. Won’t you sign up right now? Upper right of your screen.

President Obama called on Americans across the country to hold local house meetings on June 6 to kick off his grassroots campaign for health care reform. My wife Liz and I hosted one in Delmar NY (near Albany) for a capacity crowd and were excited to see so much support.

I thought I’d have to contact everyone I knew and advertise the event—no need, the registration was full within days. I thought only local people would come—they came from around the Capital District.

It’s clear that there is a tremendous amount of grassroots support for quality affordable health care for all this year that includes a public health insurance plan. But what too many people don’t appreciate is that we’re only going to get it if everyone gets involved. I can say why in three words: health insurance lobby.

It is powerful. It is wealthy. And it is stalking the halls of Congress. There’s only one way to stop it, by standing up to it. Call it civics. Call it democracy in action. Call it sticking up for yourself and the people you care about.

The accompanying brief video is an example of what that looks like. And our meeting may have had the youngest campaigner in the nation. Check it out.

By the way, it’s not too late to attend a kick-off meeting. We are hosting another one on Sunday, June 14 from 7:30 to 9:00 p.m. For details, go to http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gpcwdg

Title: Health Care for America Now
Location: Farmer\’s Market, Delmar NY & elsewhere
Link out: Click here
Description: Volunteers from around the Capital District will be visiting local farmer\’s markets to address health issues and spread the word about the campaign for health care reform.
Start Time: 09:00
Date: 2009-06-27
End Time: 13:00

I am among the fortunate: My family can afford its health insurance premiums and none of us has been seriously sick or injured. So I have not personally shared the agony of those who cannot afford to pay for the health care they need or have been cruelly denied coverage by the insurance policies they pay for. My commitment to quality affordable health care for all is on behalf of all of us.

When Senator Obama received the nomination for president, I looked in the mirror and asked myself how I would feel if he lost the election and I hadn’t done my part to elect him. So I started working in his campaign. After he was elected, I looked in the mirror again and asked myself how I would feel if I didn’t help bring about the change for which he was elected. I picked the issue about which I felt most strongly and started working on health care reform.

As a result, I have talked to lots of people, and many of them have spoken to me of their struggles to get proper health care for themselves, for their children, for their parents. Many of them are not well off financially, but plenty of them are. Yet, even with so-called good policies, they are denied coverage. Or they lost their coverage when they lost their job. Or, with premiums rising so much faster than their income, they worry some day soon they won’t be able to find the money.

I know any of those stories could become mine. Some day I could look in the mirror and see a haggard face. If that day comes, I don’t want to have to admit that, when I had the chance to help cure our sick health care system, I passed it up.

I’ve been wondering why the campaign for health care reform has found so much support in Congress for a public health insurance plan and much better private insurance. I don’t know about you, but I’m not used to that.

I certainly don’t want to take anything away from Health Care for America Now (HCAN), which is proving to be a very well thought out and executed national grassroots campaign. It’s just that I have trouble believing that any grassroots campaign that takes on the powerful interests working against it could win so much support in so short a time.

I think I found the answer. It’s on page 23 of the May 18 issue of Business Week magazine. “‘CEOs overwhelmingly want out of this business [of offering health insurance benefits],’ says Benjamin Sasse, an Assistant Secretary of Health & Human Services under President George W. Bush…” In other words, not all the powerful interests are working against us. Some are secretly on our side.

Is this really true? Is big business really one of our strongest allies, albeit a silent partner? That’s what Catherine Arnst argues in Business Week. “Health reform experts say many CEOs would secretly love the federal government to take on the burden—and some don’t bother to hide it.” We could be forgiven for not noticing. If you go to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce web site, for example, you’ll find plenty of reform-friendly talk, all right, but not real reform. I guess that’s what makes it secret. It’s also possible the Chamber of Commerce is as out of touch with its constituents as the Republican Party.

That’s the claim of former Assistant Secretary Sasse. He says “many CEOs he has talked with would even pay a new tax if it got them out of the insurance business.” And according to Business Week, “although insurance companies hate the idea (of a new, federally funded insurer), opposition from other businesses has been muted.” Why? Len Nichols, director of health policy at the New America Foundation, a think tank, says it’s because “CEOs know high health care costs put U.S. companies at a competitive disadvantage.”

I think this explains why so many members of Congress are throwing their arms around HCAN’s proposals that preserve choice of coverage while turning a cold shoulder to the ‘single payer’ folks, who have been working diligently for a single government health plan that would eliminate private insurance: ‘Single payer’ is too big a pill for business to swallow.

So this begs the question, “How happy are we to have big business for an ally?” Are our interests completely aligned, or are we likely to find important differences as the details of reform are worked out in Congress?

How concerned is business that employees lose coverage when they leave the company? Or that people who don’t work for the company are uninsured? Or that their employees are paying more and more for less and less?

The ‘bottom line’ (as business has taught us to say) is that the grassroots campaign for reform can’t let up for a moment. We have to do everything we can to reach out to more and more people, to make sure no one in Congress ‘forgets’ what we want: quality affordable health care for all. That includes a strong public health insurance plan.

If you’re reading this and you haven’t signed up yet—top right of your screen—to let Congress know what you want, don’t be surprised if you don’t get it.