Ed Schultz is one of the few media members who is consistently using his soap box in support of single-payer health care. That's one reason why I'm a big fan of both his radio show and his tv show! If you have never heard the Ed Show on the radio, he allows anyone to call in. Democracy in action! All voices get heard.
Thus, today as I was listening, Ed had a couple of conservative callers take to the mic. The first one, Michael, demanded to know from Ed who had no health care in this country. He insisted that it was a 'few' and not a big deal. Since 'most' had insurance, there was no need for an overhaul of the system. He felt that the few without insurance could be tucked into existing programs. And he was confident since we were 'already forced to pay for illegal alien's health care' that there were no others who might possibly be uninsured.
I can honestly say that I was so enraged inspired to call and rebut his talking points. He wanted a list of 'non-aliens' who were uninsured, then I'd give it to him!!!
So I dialed away until eventually I got through.
"Would you like to talk to Ed?" his call screener said.
"Yes, I'd love to speak to Ed in response to Michael's call."
So.....
I ended up on hold for quite a while. In the meantime, a different caller, Will, gave his support to Michael's point of view. He went on to say how "he has insurance but as a responsible dad, he takes care of his family! He "did not want to pay for other people via a government program even though he probably already pays for those people who don't pay..."
You can only imagine the steam coming from my ears upon hearing his viewpoint.
Essentially, if you don't have insurance it's because you're irresponsible. In fact, he even tried to build that into his argument by pointing out that he knows a few people who chose to not have insurance! Only a few. Not many, of course! But, regardless, he was standing firm on his viewpoint: there is nothing wrong with the current system and it doesn't require an overhaul.
So, steam out my ears, face red as a lobster, hands shaking, I brewed and stewed, and listened to the show as I waited my turn to talk to Ed. While I waited, I heard Debbie Stabenaw insist that she will not vote for any plan that doesn't have a strong public option. She spoke of the lobbyists in DC each and every day. "You can't turn around without running into one." So she set up a 'health care lobby' for us on her website where she asks for you to submit your story to her.
There were more callers. Like a small business owner in New York who employs 22 people. He said, "Health insurance is the biggest part of my budget. It is killing the small business owner! " (I could agree with that!) He also mentioned how health care impacts his choices of employees. "If two employees are equal but one has insurance via the spouse and the other needs my insurance, then you know which one goes..."
And then there was Jan. Jan is a insurance sales person. She's worked with people like the NY business owner. She brought up many, many important things. I could list many, but I'll try to list the key things:
- The health care and pharma lobbies are the biggest in DC.
- They have Sen. Grassley and Sen. John McCain 'bought and paid for..." What this means is they will do exactly as the insurance wants them to because if they don't, they already have 2-3 people lined up and ready to primary against them.
- The insurance company keeps pushing the envelope on health care co-pays and out of pockets. A few years ago, a family could get by with a thousand. Then when Bush was in office, the health care out of pockets became $2,500. And now, they are insisting per the current bill that there be a $5,000 dollar automatic out of pocket before insurance will kick in. That's 5k per person, not per family! Imagine needing the $5,000 dollars per year per 'insured' person before the insurance even kicks in! How many people really have that kind of money easily assessable?
This is what having a strong lobby and having your representatives in their pocket does to your pocketbook! And if that doesn't convince you that single-payer helps families no matter what the tax cost, then listen to Jan's family's journey. (#4)
- Then, Jan told the story of her own family members who died due to lack of insurance and due to not qualifying for government help. Her brother recently died of throat cancer which could have been caught when it was in its early stages had he had insurance. He was a week away from qualifying when he died. Before he died, he asked her to write an $8,000 dollar check so that his survivors wouldn't have to pay for his bills upon his death.
Another family member died of stage 4 aids--without insurance of course.
There was of course much more to her interview than what I have posted. And she was a hard act to follow, but red face and nerves and all...I did.
I had to put all my thoughts into a few sentences. So I said, "Michael and William, you have bought into their lies. There are responsible people who still have no health care. The private insurance company murders people each and every day by denying coverage, upping premiums, committing fraud, and getting between the doctor's orders and the patient's well being."
I quickly told a personal story. "I had insurance at the time when my daughter got very ill. We spent over thirty thousand dollars in ten months to keep her alive. It took us four or more years to pay off that balance. All of that thirty thousand went to the profits of the private insurance company and their CEO's. Now, if given a choice of spending thirty thousand for insurance profits or giving thirty thousand to save your child's life, I would opt to save your child's life! It is about being humane. It's not about people choosing to be irresponsible and lazy."
And at that point, my turn for the mic ended.
I don't know that Will or Michael listened me, or heeded Jan's words, or heard the small businessman, but we tried to lay it on the line. They--the insurance industry and our Senators and Representatives in our government--are killing the American people. The wait for real health care reform is killing us!
And it has to stop now!
There is no excuse for letting this murder-by-spreadsheet industry thrive and cost millions of peoples' lives. Ed is standing on his soap box each day on the radio and each night on tv and demanding justice and true health care reform. He, and all of us, must keep pushing until we force each member of Congress and President Obama to do the right thing as 76% of Americans want them to do.
It's time to put an end to the profit-by-murder health insurance industry. There is bi-partisan support in the USA for single-payer and a strong public option! Furthermore, as Ed says, "Forty people shouldn't be able to obstruct real health care for more than 76% of our country!" Remember, the strong-public option IS the compromise! But we can not let it become compromised to the point that it is ineffective for all Americans!
So, from this day forward, we need to be on our soapbox. We need to be heavily involved each and every day! (We can not rest!) Start on June 25 to rally for single-payer or a strong public option!
And while we're at it, we can grab the sponge and detergent and clean out DC from all the lobbyists, their scum, and the corruption within our government. Let's do what the murder-by-spreadsheet people do: set up qualified and reliable people to primary off the DINOS.
H/T to Silverwink for these numbers.
Tell Senator Dodd to STOP PLAYING POLITICS to appease the Republicans and release the details public option in the HELP committee bill draft!
CALL Senator Dodd at (202) 224-2823
You can e-mail the HELP committee as well here at help_comments@help.senate.gov.
Also, don't forget to CALL these Senators on the HELP Committee with the talking points above and why you WANT the HELP committee draft to have a strong, robust Medicare-like public option, that is NOT THE SCHUMER COMPROMISE OR THE CONRAD CO-OP proposal!
Tom Harkin (IA): (202) 224-3254
Barbara A. Mikulski (MD): (202) 224-4654
Jeff Bingaman (NM): (202) 224-5521
Patty Murray (WA: (202) 224-2621
Jack Reed (RI): (202) 224-4642
Bernard Sanders (I) (VT): (202) 224-5141
Sherrod Brown (OH): (202) 224-2315
Robert P. Casey, Jr. (PA): (202) 224-6324
Kay Hagan (NC): (202) 224-6342
Jeff Merkley (OR): (202) 224-3753
Also, tell President Obama at the White House not to pursue bipartisanship for bipartisanship's sake with the public option as a bargaining chip in health care reform, especially when Rahm Emmanuel was the one behind the "7-year trigger" compromise proposal. Let's make President Obama know that we don't want the 15% that is traded away for "bipartisanship" to be the public option.
This is what President Obama has told visitors in private at the White House:
The president has told visitors that he would rather have 70 votes in the Senate for a bill that gives him 85 percent of what he wants rather than a 100 percent satisfactory bill that passes 52 to 48.
Tell President Obama not to sacrifice the public option for the sake of bipartisanship. It won't be real health care reform without a strong public option that helps keep insurance companies honest.
CALL the White House at: 202-456-1111 and E-MAIL them as well!
Please especially CALL Jeff Bingaman to support a strong, robust Medicare-like public option, and Kay Hagan to support a strong, robust Medicare-like public option!!!!
Please CALL Senator Max Baucus at (202) 224-2651
Please CALL Senator Olympia Snowe at (202) 224-5344
Please CALL Senator Charles Schumer at 202-224-6542
Please CALL Senator Edward Kennedy at (202) 224-4543
Please CALL Senator John Rockefeller at (202) 224-6472
Please CALL Senator Ron Wyden at (202) 224-5244
Please CALL Senator Kent Conrad at (202) 224-2043
Please CALL Senator Jeff Bingaman at (202) 224-5521
Please CALL Senator John Kerry at (202) 224-2742
Please CALL Senator Blanche Lincoln at 202-224-4843
Please CALL Senator Debbie Stabenow at (202) 224-4822
Please CALL Senator Maria Cantwell at 202-224-3441
Please CALL Senator Bill Nelson at 202-224-5274
Please CALL Senator Robert Menendez at 202-224-4744
Please CALL Senator Thomas Carper at (202) 224-2441
Also, can you please CALL these THREE chairmen in the House of Representatives, especially Rep. Waxman who's leading the charge on health care reform below?
Ways and Means Committee Chair Charlie Rangel (202) 225-3625)
Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (202) 225-2927)
Education and Labor Committee Chair George Miller (202) 225-3725)
TOLL FREE NUMBERS FOR THE SENATE, HOUSE, AND WHITE HOUSE:
Capitol Hill 800-828-0498
1-800-828-0498
1-866-338-1015
1-866-220-0044
1-877-851-6437
Remember again, this is the three options for the public option in the HELP Committee draft:
Option A: A public health insurance plan operated by the Federal government with a payment schedule that is set in statute and is based on Medicare.
Option B: A federal health insurance plan that is operated under contract from HHS but would play by the same rules as commercial health insurance carriers. The federal government would contract with an entity to administer the plan as well as provide start-up costs (e.g., 6 month reserve). The plan would be required:
(1) to be a non-profit or cooperative entity
(2) charge premiums at a level to cover costs of paying claims, making quality improvements, and administering the plan and (3) re-pay initial start-up costs. Every state gateway must offer the federal public plan. In addition, States would be permitted to operate their own public plan if the plan meets requirements established by the Secretary.
Option C: Drop public plan option. [That's it. That's the whole thing.]
I'm in favor of Option A in the HELP Committee draft, which is basically a strong, robust Medicare-like public option.
If you want a strong, robust Medicare-like public option, then the time to fight is here and NOW! Let's not stop on making these calls!
A strong, robust Medicare-like public option is the line in the sand for me. Is it the line in the sand for you as well?
Please REC this diary up so others can see the phone numbers and make the calls today! Also, please ask your friends and family to CALL today! The more people that call, the better it will be for the public option in health care reform.