by desmoinesdem, Fri Jun 19, 2009 at 09:37:32 AM EDT
Health Care for America Now launched television commercials in 10 key states today (Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington). Here is one version (click here to view the others):
This is the vision of a public health insurance option. Contrary to Republican talking points, nothing in the proposed plans for a public health insurance option would take away your choices and your relationship with your doctor. Nothing.
It wouldn't hurt to contact your House representatives to let them know we need a public option. If the final bill out of the Senate ends up looking like the latest draft circulating in the Senate Finance Committee, we're going to need House Democrats to vote this sham reform down.
According to this diary by slinkerwink at Daily Kos, the House Democrats' draft health care plan does contain a public option. Thanks, Progressive Caucus!
I don't know whether Grassley and the insurance lobby will be able to scare Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus away from supporting a public health insurance option.
However, after reading the highlights from recent opinion research that Richard Kirsch summarized at the Health Care for America Now blog, I am confident that the American public will not buy rehashed Republican talking points from 1993. For more on that, follow me after the jump.
The longer we delay fixing the health care system - reigning in costs, covering everyone, and fairly sharing risk - the harder it will be to reform the system at all. And it's not just because America is currently facing, in the words of just about everyone, "the largest economic crisis since the Great Depression."As David Lightman and Kevin G. Hall point out today in McClatchy Newspapers, the simple demographics will be against us if we wait:
Beginning in 2011, the first wave of baby boomers - Americans born between 1946 and 1964 - will reach official retirement age. From that point forward, the federal government's finances will be strained, as more and more Americans retire expecting a shrinking number of active workers to pay their promised health and pension benefits.
To put it more starkly: Medicare's trustees project the hospital insurance fund will become insolvent in about 10 years, as its expenditures grow at a 7.4 percent annual rate. The government, the trustees said, will need $342 billion to cover insurance costs during that period.
...
"The longer action on reforming health care and Social Security is delayed, the more painful and difficult the choices will become," said a Government Accountability Office study in June. "The federal government faces increasing pressures, yet a shrinking window of opportunity for phasing in adjustments."
Medicare, the report said, "represents a much larger, faster-growing and more immediate problem than Social Security."
A series of factors are driving up Medicare costs. According to the GAO and the trustees, medical technology is often overused; the health care market doesn't operate on a supply-and-demand basis as people often don't shop for the lowest price; and chronic health problems - such as obesity or substance abuse - require expensive, lengthy treatment.
Medicare (and similarly, Medicaid) face such staggering budget shortfalls to a large extent as a consequence of America's private, patchwork health care system. Preventative care is less costly in the long run, yet, because the health insurance industry has been so deregulated as to allow them to deny care at every opportunity and price care out of the reach of millions, America has 47 million uninsured and millions more under-insured. This means millions of Americans don't see their doctor as regularly as they should to catch medical problems early before they become costly emergencies. And, as the economy sinks, people are cutting back on care, making the problem worse.
Medicare (and to some extent, Medicaid) functions essentially as a high risk pool, a group of people (in this case, the elderly) who are less profitable to insurance companies because they use so much health care. High risk pools, basically by definition, don't work. If the theory of insurance is to spread out risk (everyone in a system all pay into a pot so when one person needs to use their coverage, that cost can be absorbed by everyone), then high risk pools make no sense. Putting everyone who you know are going to use a lot of health insurance into the same pot and asking them to share costs is silly - there are no "low risk" people in the system to absorb some of the cost. And because everyone at some time in their life is "high risk" for large health insurance costs (everyone eventually gets sick or old), Medicare functions as a dumping ground for the private insurance industry. Private insurance takes monthly premiums from the young and healthy all their life, and when they get old and sick (and unprofitable), they are dumped on the government.
Simply getting everybody covered adequately would be a huge step forward. A guarantee of a certain level of care, no matter if you're on private or public insurance plans, would make sure people receive the care they need throughout their life, lowering overall costs. A subsidized public insurance plan that would take everybody would go a long way towards eliminating the number of people in America without insurance. And regulating all insurance plans - public and private - to make sure they cover pre-existing conditions and can't dump "unprofitable" customers would ensure risk is shared fairly, as it is meant to be.
Less regulation on insurance companies to do away with state based insurance, allowing companies to set up shop in the states with the least regulation and forcing Americans to shop on their own for health insurance.
Taxing your employee health benefits, doing away with the employer-based system
Funding a paltry tax credit (which goes straight to the insurance industry) with cuts to Medicare and Medicaid
There is a clear difference here, and that's why it's so important to make health care a priority in this election and immediately after the next president is inaugurated. It seems the nation is waking up to that difference, too. In the past few weeks, health care has been a focus of some excellent debate questions, it has been targeted in campaign advertisements, and the subject of numerous news stories. And of course, Health Care for America Now has thrown our hat into the ring, spending $4.3 million to put advertisements about John McCain's health care plan (as well as 7 congressional candidates) on the air across the country:
America is finally having the health care debate it needs to be having. What's at stake is our economy, our national debt, our health, and our happiness. Let's just hope the urgency is still there in January.
Here's the report I got from our organizer, Kendra Jimenez, who was on the ground (emphasis added):
It's a hot Tuesday morning in New Mexico and a crowd stands outside of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce shouting boos and waving Health Care for America Now signs in response to ACORN member Yvonne Lopez's attacks against American insurance companies. After making our point to the press, three community members from ACORN (the only of our group permitted to enter the sea of suits and ties) walk past suspicious security guards and are greeted warmly by the facilitator, an insurance company ex-CEO, and AHIP CEO KarenIgnagni.
After the initial rhetoric we finally get to the Q&A where ACORN's Mouath Baesho poses the first question to Karen, asking if she can explain the quote from fellow insurance CEO that, "Profitability is priority over membership." Karen profusely thanksMouath for the question (an obvious filler as she figures out what to say next) and begins a long tirade of words so confusing and seemingly off-point that even the people of the industry seem perplexed.
From there on out, we from ACORN have been identified as anti-AHIP, and our hands are obviously ignored as they call for new questions. Eventually, other community members and health care professionals get in other "difficult" questions and at one point success is clear: we have flustered the AHIP CEO. A comment that insurance companies are playing games and separating themselves from patients left Karen ferociously taking notes and nodding in a bobble head fashion, obviously taken aback.
At the end, after the token thank yous, we realize that the facilitator of the event is sternly calling us over. He pulls us aside and asks where we are from. When we explain we are concerned community members, he says that it is necessary for the insurance industry to make profit to cover costs. This sets off Kristy Theilen from ACORN. She rips into AHIP, accusing it of being untrustworthy. "Are you really working for the people? Do you really want reform?" she asks. "You've crushed reform efforts in the past, and your profits are unbelievable!" Heads from the crowd snap to watch as the frightened facilitator stumbles back over someone with his hands up saying, "Kristy...Kristy...calm down...!"
The point has been made, and New Mexico Representative Mimi Stewart approaches and thanks us, saying, "We need more concerned citizens like you!"
Out in the hall we check out what's for lunch. Kristy gloats loudly, "You think insurance companies could afford better lunches!" Another CEO nervously laughs and walks away as we eat our soggy sandwiches and smile at our success.
I think I'll go ahead and say the truth came on in New Mexico on Tuesday.
The first time AHIP released their "listening tour" dates, at their very first stop in Columbus, Ohio, an SEIU member and Health Care for America Now supporter Kim posed tough questions to the insurance industry (the video is really worth watching). After that confrontation, the insurance industry was running scared for a while. There were a few stops on the "listening tour"that were announced the day of, without location information, to discourage our protests. And then there was a series of online forums that were heavily moderated.
It was clear that the health insurance industry was only "listening" to the side of the story it wanted to hear. AHIP didn't want to hear about profits before people. They didn't want to hear about rising costs and lowering benefits. And when they did, they got flustered, unable to spin their way out of the truth.
After pressure from people all over the country, the New Mexico event was announced in advance, and once again, despite AHIP's evasive maneuvers, they couldn't help but hear about the health care crisis in America, the one they caused.
This issue can't be sugar-coated. The lines can't be blurred. No matter how hard the health insurance industry tries to shut out real voices in this debate, the truth comes through: The insurance industry is the enemy of health care reform, and America knows it.
We've heard AHIP has postponed the next leg of their tour, scheduled for Providence, Rhode Island, indefinitely. I think that's a sign that maybe they're getting the message that we all know this "listening tour" is nothing more than propaganda.
P.S. Health Care for America Now is hosting over 300 house parties this Sunday, September 14th (that's tomorrow!) to watch a new documentary from Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films about the health care crisis called Diagnosis: NOW!. We're also hosting a virtual house party online at FireDogLake.com with special guests Jim Gilliam, who's story is featured in the film, Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future, and California Representative and health care champion Pete Stark! The virtual house party is at 7 pm EST.
82% of Americans think our health care system needs a "major overhaul." On top of that, over 90% of Americans [pdf] think the next President and Congress should improve the quality and affordability of health care.
With the worsening economy continuing to be the top issue for most Americans, this hope for change isn't hard to understand. American health care spending is projected to reach a full 1/5th of our GDP by 2015, which means by then, we'll be spending twenty cents of every dollar we make on health care. Health care premiums have risen 86% between 2000 and 2006 while wages only rose 20%, putting the strain on working families. Health care costs continue to be the #1 cause of bankruptcy in America.
"Rapidly rising health care costs are not simply a federal budget problem," the GAO report says. "Growth in health-related spending is the primary driver of the fiscal challenges facing state and local governments as well. Unsustainable growth in health care spending also threatens to erode the ability of employers to provide coverage to their workers and undercuts their ability to compete in a global marketplace."
Quite simply, with rising health care costs (including $50 billion per year to pay for insurance industry advertising) being born out by working families and American businesses, health care is a top economic concern. To keep American workers at their best, and to keep American business competitive in the world, something has to change.
Nancy Pelosi has recently declared health care expansion to be #2 on her list of legislative priorities, right after ending the Iraq war. In the past month, tens of thousands of Americans have told us they want quality, affordable health care for all. Now it's time to ask Congress.
So, Congress, which side are you on? Are you with us for quality, affordable health care for all? Or are you with the insurance companies, working to preserve our broken system?
We've set up a quick and easy way for you to contact your Members of Congress and ask them if they support our vision for health care reform. Just click here and enter in your phone number and address. Choose the elected official you want to talk to and in a few moments, we'll call your phone and connect you automatically.
Over the next few weeks, we want to make 100,000 calls to Congress, asking every Member which side they are on. We need your help to do it, so please click here to call!
Once your done with your call, tell us what happened so we can keep track of where Congress stands. As of today, we're proud to announce Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), are with us. The rest, so far, are unknown. You can see the full list here.
Health care is a priority for the American people. It's a priority for Nancy Pelosi. It's up to us to make sure it's a priority for Congress as well. Please take a moment, call your Members of Congress, and ask them which side they are on.
Oh, and if you have a blog or website, you can help spread the word about this campaign by embedding the widget you see above on your site. Just copy and paste the code here.
jeromearmstrong Our Polarized and Money-Driven Congress: Created Over 25 Years By Republicans (and Quickly Imitated by Democrats http://bit.ly/ewXlXI #bblue
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