Category: Health Care

Congress returns to work next week. So this is our last chance to tell them:  Let’s Get It Done! Enact Health Insurance Reform in 2009!  We’ve beaten back right wing opposition in the last few weeks and emerged with more support for real reform. Now it is time for the final push. Take part in one of the many Let’s Get It Done events all over Pennsylvania.  Tell your Representatives and Senators that it is time for action. They must go back to Washington and move health care reform forward. And tell your friends about the Health Insurance Reform campaign and these events by clicking here.  (There are 13 events in the next week in Pennsylvnia. Plesae scroll down to find your region of the state) Continue reading

Yesterday, Secretary Sebelius said that the public option is not an “essential” part of health care reform but we do need some mechanism to provide “competition” for private insurers and a “choice” for Americans. Many of us are concerned about what seems like a retreat by the Obama administration from something we’ve worked hard for, a public health insurance plan. But before we freak out, let me point out a couple of things: Continue reading

PA Health Care for America Now, SEIU and Partners Hold Huge Statewide Effort for Health Care Reform Governor Howard Dean kicks-off Aliquippa Event Health Reform Advocates Reach Out to 10,000 Pennsylvanians In Support of President Obama’s Health Care Reform Plan Jenkintown, Upper Darby, Middletown (Bucks County), Allentown, Wilkes-Barre, Pottsville, Reading, Williamsport, Aliquippa, Erie, and Sunbury, PA— The dog days of August did not keep over 400 activists from spending hours reaching out to their neighbors in support of President Obama’s health care reform plan in twelve locations in every corner of Pennsylvania. Canvassers talked to over 5,000 Pennsylvanians and left fliers at the homes of another 5,000. Continue reading

Dear friends, We in Pennsylvania have built a huge movement for health care reform, so it is not surprising that we were one of the first places to witness the right wing’s vicious campaign of lies and intimidation at the Town Hall held by Senator Specter and HHS Secretary Sebelius in Philadelphia last week. We are fighting back. And if you are willing to step up and join us I guarantee that this opposition will not stop our movement for quality, affordable health care for all. I don’t want to take up space here to explain the right wing strategy and how we will overcome it. Click here for detailed analysis of the situation. Instead let me tell you what you can do in the upcoming week to move health care reform forward. Continue reading

Dear Friends, We in Pennsylvania have built a huge movement for health care reform, so it is not surprising that we were one of the first places to witness the right wing’s vicious campaign of lies and intimidation at the Town Hall held by Senator Specter and HHS Secretary Sebelius in Philadelphia a week ago. I’ll admit that we were all surprised by anti-democratic tactics that I had not seen in over thirty years of political activism. But, if we are all willing to work hard and keep to our strategy and take immediate action when we need you to, I guarantee we are going to win health care reform this year. And the right wing craziness is going to help us. Here’s why: The right wing strategy has two parts. The first is to bring small numbers of people to events to get media attention by means of utterly… Continue reading

Don’t make yourself crazy! I generally don’t recommend health care activists follow the ins and outs of the legislative process in Washington. There is always a tug of war between progressives and conservatives and it changes as we move from one field of play to another, that is from one committee to another and then to the floor of each house of Congress. Bills get better and they get worse. There is little that any of us can do to influence the details of legislation at each of these moments. The fundamental thing we need to do is to shape the overall environment in which legislation is being considered by getting the word out about health care reform; building our movement; and keeping pressure on our members of Congress by means of letters, phone calls, emails. We especially need to focus on those who seem to be wavering in support… Continue reading

That’s our goal, nationwide. And we are hoping for 3-4000 from Pennsylvania. Can you help? You can use our on-line tool to send and email to your own member of the House http://healthcareforamericanow.org/page/speakout/affordability Or you can call at 1.877.264.4226 And if you really want to help, you can do phone banking into the districts of PA Blue Dogs. I’ll send you a script and a list of people to call if you contact me at MarcStier@hcanpa.org. Thanks! Continue reading

The Blue Dog leader on Health Care is Congressman Mike Ross of Arkansas. He has been arguing that we need to increase Medicare reimbursement rates in rural areas because they are lower in those areas and have to be raised in order to attract good doctors and to keep hospitals open. We share those concern. But like the Blue Dog idea of negotiating reimbursement rates in the public health insurance plan instead of setting them at Medicare rates plus 5%, Rep. Ross’s solution will raise premiums in the public health insurance plan, not just in rural areas but across the country. It will also cripple the public plan and reduce competition for private insurance, which will also raise premiums. And, because higher subsidies will be required for these higher premiums, the cost to the Federal government and, ultimately, taxpayers will be greater. And, at any, rate it’s not totally clear… Continue reading

Five members of Congress from Pennsylvania—Representatives Jason Altmire, Chris Carney, Kathy Dahlkemper, Tim Holden, and Patrick Murphy—are part of the Blue Dog Coalition, whose demands for changes in the Health Care reform bill before the House of Representatives has gained a great of attention in the last week or so. While at least one of those demands might actually improve the bill, others are deadly to the health care reforms we so badly need around the country. Indeed those demands are so deadly for reforms that will very much benefit Pennsylvanians, that it’s time for us start asking our Pennsylvania Blue Dogs, why are you running with this wrong pack? Continue reading