Jaxsicle

There's air-conditioned, and then there's "you could store meat in here" cold.

My office is painfully close to the latter.

Rally Revisited

I got some cool photos today from our June 25th rally that I am totally reposting without permission. I know. I'm a rebel. Here you go:

Talk Radio

It did get a little heated. You can listen here. I would have liked even more time to get everything out, but for what we had, I'm content.

Call Congress

No excuses. It's free.

Today is our National Call-in Day. Please be polite. Ask to talk with someone who can tell you the Senator's or Representative’s position on health care.

Call 1-877-264-HCAN (4226) to be connected to your Members of Congress.

Here is a sample of what you could say to Senators:

I’m calling from Health Care for America Now to make sure that Sen. _____ knows that we need real health care reform in 2009.

Please tell ____________ to support the legislation from the HELP Committee that provides:

* Coverage we can afford
* Comprehensive benefits we can count on
* Choice of a private or public health insurance plan
* Equal access to quality care

Here is a sample of what you could say to Representatives:

I’m calling from Health Care for America Now to make sure that Rep. _____ knows that we need real health care reform in 2009.

Please tell ____________ to support the legislation from the House Leadership that provides:

* Coverage we can afford
* Comprehensive benefits we can count on
* Choice of a private or public health insurance plan
* Equal access to quality care

Now Back To The News

In case you missed it, Reid steps up:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Tuesday ordered Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) to drop a proposal to tax health benefits and stop chasing Republican votes on a massive health care reform bill.

Reid, whose leadership is considered crucial if President Barack Obama is to deliver on his promise of enacting health care reform this year, offered the directive to Baucus through an intermediary after consulting with Senate Democratic leaders during Tuesday morning’s regularly scheduled leadership meeting. Baucus was meeting with Finance ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) Tuesday afternoon to relay the information.

According to Democratic sources, Reid told Baucus that taxing health benefits and failing to include a strong government-run insurance option of some sort in his bill would cost 10 to 15 Democratic votes; Reid told Baucus it wasn’t worth securing the support of Grassley and at best a few additional Republicans.

Nice. Continuing to court Senator "Go work for the government" Grassley is a rotten idea, and the more pressure support Baucus gets to go in the opposite direction, the better.

Got Perspective?

I know I can't be the only one who thinks the MJ thing is gross. For the record, this is what I put up on Facebook:

Unacceptable

UPDATE 2: Our statement:

Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now:

“Today, President Obama unequivocally reaffirmed his commitment to a public health insurance option as part of comprehensive health care reform this year. We believe too that a national robust public health insurance plan that is ready on day one is central to lowering costs, injecting competition into the health insurance market, ensuring access to care in every corner of the country, and keeping the insurance companies honest. We look forward to working with the President and Congressional leadership to accomplish these goals.”

UPDATE: Instant damage control? Just add email:

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 7, 2009

Statement from the President on Health Care Reform

"I am pleased by the progress we're making on health care reform and still believe, as I've said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest. I look forward to a final product that achieves these very important goals."

The headline links to today's WSJ article that reads:

Mr. Emanuel said one of several ways to meet President Barack Obama's goals is a mechanism under which a public plan is introduced only if the marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own. He noted that congressional Republicans crafted a similar trigger mechanism when they created a prescription-drug benefit for Medicare in 2003. In that case, private competition has been judged sufficient and the public option has never gone into effect.

Untrue. The Medicare part D trigger was designed never to be pulled. It only mandates a public option be introduced if there are less than two private competitors in a market. It says nothing about price or quality or access. It's a handout to insurance companies and drug companies. It's rotten for consumers. But wait, there's more:

On Monday, Mr. Emanuel said the trigger mechanism would also accomplish the White House's goals. Under this scenario, a public plan would kick in under certain circumstances when competition was judged to be lacking. Exactly what circumstances would trigger the option would have to be worked out.

94% of the health care markets in this country are considered 'highly concentrated,' meaning one or two large companies control access and set prices and determine what they will and won't cover. Every 30 seconds, someone in this country declares bankruptcy due in part to medical debt. How bad does it have to get before we do something substantial. No more wait and see. The insurance companies have had years to get their act together. In 1993/94, they said, "There has to be a better way." Really? Where's that way? Because they've managed to run health care in our country into the ground.

No more "if they can't do it." No more "one last chance." We need to fix it now and fix it right.