Okay folks...lets get busy with Health Care..Its Congress we need to lobby

[Peacetrain]

to lobby and enough with the mucking around. Obama has made his position clear.. now the congress needs to back him up. This is not a dictatorship. If this is to get through, it will be on the back of the senate, and house.

Lets just quit politicking and get it done. We have been at this for over 30 years.

[global1]

1. Given The Bills That Have Come Out Of Committee's In Both The House & Senate......

what is our message as we lobby Congress? Has anybody here really analyzed them to provide us with talking points when we call or Senators and Congressmen? There's seems to be a lot of misinformation floating around about costs and coverages - that I'm not so sure what is fact and what is fiction. Perhaps that's what they want - confusion - so we can't adequately lobby.

Public option to compete with private insurance. Eliminate pre-existing conditions. Emphasis on wellness/prevention. Standardization of insurance forms. Insurance policy moves with person as they change jobs. Are some of the talking points I've been hitting on.

Is there anything new we need to be aware of that they are trying to slip by us?

I want to sound reasonably knowledgeable when I call.

[Laelth]

2. Here's what I can add.

Good things: Insurance companies can no longer refuse to insure someone for pre-existing conditions. Chronic patients will not be denied coverage due to having reached a lifetime benefits cap--that's been eliminated.

Bad things: No doctor and no hospital will be required to take patients with public option insurance. The program will be funded, in part, by a massive new tax on the uninsured of between 1.5% and 11.5% of their gross income (i.e. they will be forced to buy insurance or become criminals). This will cause massive resentment and a backlash that may cost the Democratic Party dearly).

Hope that helps.

:dem:

-Laelth

[global1]

3. Where Are You Getting That Information?........

These are two things I've never heard before. Are they included in any of the proposed bills or is this just hearsay and misinformation to turn the public against health reform?

I've noticed a number of new TV ads that are quite damning - one in particular of a Canadian lady that had I believe brain cancer and had to come to the U.S. because of the length of time she supposedly had to wait in Canada for treatment.

Also - CNN has been blasting the Dems and Obama today saying that they will not be lowering costs with the plan and the small business will have to shoulder a lot of the costs. They are saying that small businesses will resort to laying off people or closing.

We need to have someone or some organization that we can trust to help us understand what is fact and what is fiction related to this health reform. Looks like the rubber is really meeting the road now and big insurance/big pharma/ and the Repugs are beginning to feel the pressure from Obama. They are turning on the heat now to scalding levels to kill this. I think it is going to even get hotter soon.

[Laelth]

5. Link below to the piece explaining that doctors aren't compelled to take public insurance.

Here: http://www.slate.com/id/2222840

As to the 1.5% to 11.5% of gross, that's just what the law says every uninsured person must pay every year to buy insurance if that person makes more than 133% of poverty and less than $43K/year (for a single) or $88K/year for a couple. If you're uninsured and make over those amounts your new tax payment is capped at $5K/year for a single or $10K/year for a couple.

:dem:

-Laelth

[global1]

6. I Don't Know If I'm Dense Or What - But What Exactly Does This Mean.....

....every uninsured person must pay every year to buy insurance....?

I thought that one of the goals was coverage for all Americans. Is this saying that - I - as a person have a choice to remain uninsured - but if I do - I'll will be taxed? Wouldn't this be a good incentive for me to become insured? Hear me out: If I have to pay a tax I might as well get something for my money and purchase health insurance instead.

I know that I heard that perhaps - younger and healthier individuals might opt to not be insured. Perhaps that gives them more disposable income to spend. But I also heard that if all were insured - the pool being 100% - that the cost savings could be extended to all and reduce the premiums.

So I guess what I'm asking here is - isn't this a good idea? If not - what am I missing.

I must say that I'm now 60 y/o. I guess if I was 22 y/o and working I'm might not think that it was such a good deal that I'd be forced to buy health insurance. But I think the message that needs to be conveyed to younger/healthier individuals is that their young status will change with years and their health status could change at a drop of a hat and that it would be in their best interest and the best interest for all to be insured.

Am I making any sense here?

[Laelth]

7. You are making sense.

But people are struggling, especially those who are working but don't have a good job that provides insurance. They are not going to "hear" the message you want to convey to them. If they were wealthy enough to buy insurance, they would have already done so. They're not. They have little if any disposable income. Most of them, instead, have enormous debt already. They will see this legislative mandate as a massive, new tax on them. Even if they choose not to be criminals and somehow scrape up the cash to buy the insurance, they still won't be able to afford to go to the doctor because they won't be able to afford the co-pays. To them, to the struggling middle class that lacks insurance already, this is a massive new tax that will give them very little (if any) benefit.

They will resent that, and they will rightly blame the Democratic Party for it.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Laelth]

4. Done. Just sent a letter to my congress-critter and to the co-Chairs of the Progressive Caucus.

Urging them, of course, to vote against the House bill and any other bill that shifts the burden for health care onto the uninsured. Here's part of what I said:

I write to urge you to continue your fight for the interests of working Americans and vote against the above-referenced legislation. Principally, I would ask you to consider that it is unjust and immoral to pay for health care reform with a whopping, new tax on the uninsured that, for most of us, will amount to between 1.5% and 11.5% of our gross income. Forcing people to buy insurance is no more the answer to a failing health care system than forcing people to buy houses is the answer to homelessness.

In fact, that is insane, and it will create massive resentment that will drive voters away from the Democratic Party.

I know you will continue to support health care reform--so long as all citizens are covered, and no person can be denied access to the public option, paid for by general tax revenues, and requiring no insurance premiums to be paid by participants, i.e. Medicare for all. However, despite the pressure you will undoubtedly receive from the President and the Congressional Leadership, I urge you to vote "NO" on any bill that shifts the burden for health care onto the uninsured.

I don't know if they will listen, but, as usual, I feel better doing my duty as a concerned citizen and letting them know how I feel.

:dem:

-Laelth

[PretzelWarrior]

8. KICKED AND REC'D! Thanks for adding your voice. I think I'm considered too shrill

so despite my best efforts I don't think people are as willing to listen to me.

[Wednesdays]

9. K&R

:kick:

[Doremus]

10. Sorry, if they're going to pass a sham they needn't bother.

I've emailed and called multiple times: My reps, Baucus and his committee. I've signed petitions, sent emails to friends and relatives, all in support of a STRONG public option. (Mind you, I prefer single-payer but in the interest of cooperation don't expect to have everything go my way.)

The ABSOLUTE SHAM that is now being presented as "healthcare reform" not only doesn't solve the problem of rising costs, it's a hollow facade with few real benefits. Pre-existing conditions appears to be the only major concession from the oligarchy. For that we're supposed to bow down and kiss their feet. :puke:

If they insist on passing this piece of crap I'm washing my hands of this party. I wonder how many others there will be like me. More and more with each farcical step toward "progress" I suspect.