Almost There With Health Care

Yesterday, the White House released President Obama's health insurance reform proposal. It bridges the gap between the House and Senate bills, includes ideas from both parties to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse, and puts American families and small business owners in control of their own health care. And it creates a major new authority to help states crack down on insurers who propose unreasonable and unfair rate hikes -- like the ones we saw just last week in California and Maine. It's a proposal that combines feedback from the health debate with the President's longstanding principles on reform -- and it's a bill that any member of Congress can support. But we know Big Insurance won't like it one bit. Before too long, their attack ads will be back up on TV and their misinformation campaign will be up and running. They'll have one goal: convince members of Congress that its bad politics to support reform. So it's more important than ever to show every member of Congress that if they fight for reform now, we'll back them up this election season.

The President's bill makes insurance more affordable, sets up a new competitive health insurance market, lays down commonsense rules to bring greater accountability to health care, ends discrimination against Americans with pre-existing conditions, and cuts the deficit. It also strengthens the Senate bill, adding new provisions to cut down on waste, make sure middle-class families are protected, and closing the Medicare Part D "donut hole" coverage gap.  But health insurance companies don't care what's in the bill. They're fighting to preserve the status quo that benefits them -- even though it's disastrous for our nation.

What does all this mean?... It means reform is moving again, but the clock is ticking. We can't wait to show that insurers are wrong when they claim members of Congress who vote for reform will suffer at the polls.  Call, write, email, shout, visit, text, or anything else you can think of to get in-touch with your Congressional representative, and let them know that they absolutely have to get behind this new health care bill. 

We're closer now than we've ever been before to passing a health care reform bill that will give EVERYONE equal access to health care, no matter what their financial situation may be.  It's imperative that we continue putting pressure on our elected officials to make this dream a reality.

I want history to look back at my generation as the one's who changed this great nation in a positive and profound way.  I don't want history to look back at us as the generation who blew an amazing opportunity to better the lives and health of every single American (present and future).