Category: Public Policy

A group of Pennsylvanians are Marching from Philadelphia to Washington, DC between February 17 and 24 in honor of Melanie Shouse. This is why. Recently, our friend, Melanie Shouse lost a long battle with breast cancer after missing out on critical treatment because she, like thousands of others, could not find affordable health insurance. Melanie did everything she could to fight for health care, not just for herself, but for all of us. President Obama, who knew Melanie as a volunteer on his campaign, said: “She was fighting that whole time not just to get me elected, not even to get herself health insurance, but because she understood that there were others coming behind her who were going to find themselves in the same situation and she didn’t want somebody else going through that same thing.” It was a long road for Melanie, but she never gave up. A lot… Continue reading

The fight for health care reform is continuing. Join us at two events as we ratchet up our campaign to enact health care reform in the next two months.   A major rally in Philadelphia at a place still to be determined in Center City on Wednesday, February 17 at 12:00 noon. Click here to RSVP. March to the Finish Line, a march of health care activists from Philadelphia to Washington beginning at the rally and ending up in at the Capitol on Wednesday, February 24th right before President Obama’s health care summit. Click here to sign up for any part of the march.   Why are we marching to Washington? To show our leaders that they have lost touch with us. Continue reading

The National Moment In my previous post, I said that there is still a way forward to health care reform that is good if not great. Having said all that, there is no question that after Massachusetts, Virginia and New Jersey statewide elections, after a decline in Obama’s popular support and in the Congressional poll numbers (where the Democrats are in a dead heat with Republicans, ten points below where they were a year ago), we Democrats are not doing as well right now as we were a year ago. Why not? There are two leading theories, which lead to two radically different conclusions about what Obama should do now. The right is saying that Obama overreached and is trying to force major changes, and especially health care reform, on a country that did not elect him for that purpose. The left is saying that Obama has compromise too much… Continue reading

Breathe. Take a step back. You need to make sure you don’t get caught up in perhaps the most damaging features of our public life: our inability to look beyond the day’s news and put each day in perspective. The world and American politics did not change dramatically last night. The prospects for health care reform are not all that different than they were yesterday. Continue reading

Note: this is about 1800 words long. You might want to print it out. The health care reform legislation that will be enacted by Congress later this month contains a number a different elements. It’s not easy to grasp it in its entirety. But there are a few key parts that you should understand for two reasons: first, because there is still time to make the legislation better and second because you should understand how much this legislation will accomplish, even if it doesn’t contain everything we want. Let me say one word on the last point before jumping into the details. We are not going to get everything we want in this legislation. But don’t let your disappointment about that blind you to how much we will accomplish, especially if we get most of the best provisions of the House and Senate bills in the final legislation. We will… Continue reading

There have been many moments in the campaign for health care reform that have been hard and frustrating. But two things have kept me going: the stories I’ve heard about people who are suffering or have died for lack of health insurance and the effort so many Pennsylvanians have made to push Congress to enact good reforms. I’ve been inspired again and again by these stories and by the hard, thankless work so many people have done on behalf of reform. On December 17 I took part in an event that moved me more than anything else I’ve done in the 18 months of the campaign because it joined both of these elements. Continue reading

Published in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, December 31, 2009 http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2009/12/holden_needs_to_get_facts_stra.html It’s sad but not unusual to find big insurance companies misleading people in their fight against health care reform. But it’s distressing to see a member of Congress, Tim Holden (D-Schuylkill), repeating these same misleading claims to justify his vote against legislation that would benefit so many people in his district. Congressman Holden said he voted against the health care reform bill because it included cuts to Medicare and Medicaid benefits. This is what the big insurance want people to believe. It is what their misleading TV ads directed toward seniors say. It is simply not true. Continue reading

Published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sunday,  December 20, 2009 http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09354/1022041-109.stm   A smaller and smaller percentage actually goes to health care, reports MARC STIER of Health Care for America Now Do you know where your health-insurance premiums go? Fifteen years ago, the answer to that question was easy. Whether you got insurance from a for-profit insurer, a nonprofit insurer or Medicare, the answer would about the same: 95 percent of your premiums (or, in the case of Medicare, your tax dollars) went for health-care benefits. Fast forward to now and things are very different. Continue reading