Change Crew 07

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I have a couple lists for phone banking. We need to call their Senators (Burr and Hagan) and Representative Brad Miller to voice support for healthcare reform. This needs to be completed by next Thursday the 17th. These should be easy calls as the people on the lists are all supporters.

Please let me know no later than tomorrow, Saturday, if you can help. The more people we have the faster it will go and the fewer calls we each have to make.

My number is 919-389-8678

Email: david {at} both {dot} org – disguised to prevent spammers from scraping it off this page.

Thanks!!

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PLEASE JOIN US AT BCBS

We’ll rally at the headquarters of Blue Cross Blue Shield tomorrow morning, Friday, October 30, at 11:00 am, to protest their use of premium dollars to campaign against health care reform, and their recent mailer that included a pre-paid postcard to Senator Hagan opposing the Public Option. It’s way past time to break up their monopoly on health insurance here in North Carolina, and to create real competition that will make coverage more comprehensive and more affordable for North Carolinians. IF BLUE CROSS AND THE BIG INSURANCE LOBBY WINS, WE LOSE! Help make sure that doesn’t happen.

Here are directions to the action. We’ll look forward to seeing you there.

The BCBS headquarters is at 1700 Chapel Hill Durham Blvd, Chapel Hill, NC.

Click here for directions and parking suggestions or follow this link:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113913562430524315410.0004741526aa947acbbb7&z=19

Here also are links to a story in the News and Observer yesterday on the scurrilous Blue Cross mailer, as well as an excellent op-ed piece by Adam Searing of the NC Justice Center on how Blue Cross has strayed so far from its original mission with its current campaign against health care reform.

News story:

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/local_state/story/161886.html

Adam’s op-ed piece:

http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columnists_blogs/other_views/story/160952.html

STATE OF PLAY IN WASHINGTON

Today’s big news is that the merged bill in the House of Representatives has been introduced. Details remain sketchy, but early reporting indicates that the bill will contain a more moderate version of the Public Option (negotiated reimbursement rates to providers rather than rates tied to Medicare, so higher premiums for Public Option subscribers and less price competition for the private insurance industry); raises Medicaid eligibility to 150% of the federal poverty level; and retains the surcharge on wealthy taxpayers rather than a tax on so-called “Cadillac” plans as a way to pay for the overall costs (we call them “Chevy” plans given the impact this tax, which is included in the Senate bill, will have on millions of middle-class families).

The current talk is that the floor debate on the bill will take place November 4-6, with a vote before the Veteran’s Day recess. HCAN is analyzing the bill to determine how it squares with our campaign’s principles, and we will get that analysis out to you shortly.

You’ll hear from us early next week about Rapid Response phoning and e-mailing to Congress to help improve the final bill. Vital issues around affordability, competition, and financing are all TBD, so stay tuned and stay active.

The Motion to Proceed in the Senate is still expected to come up for a vote next week. HCAN and many coalition partners are working hard in states where we need to confirm votes from wavering Democratic Senators–Louisiana, Nebraska, Arkansas, maybe Indiana. Then we’ll have to fight on the cloture vote after the floor debate. More on that in our next message.  To have a look at the bill, click here or follow this link:

http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf

And here’s a great animated cartoon from the Washington Post yesterday, which says it all about the outrageous role of BCBS and Big Insurance in this historic fight.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/opinions/anntelnaes/

AND A REMINDER:

That the NC Council of Churches and a number of congregations in Raleigh will sponsor a memorial service this evening for those who suffer or have died from lack of health insurance. Here are the details:

Thursday, October 29, 7:00-8:00 pm

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Raleigh
3313 Wade Avenue (2 blocks east of Meredith College)
Raleigh

Click here for the event flier or visit this link:

http://healthcareforamericanow.org/page/-/NC%20Documents/Interfaith%20Memorial%20Flyer-10.pdf

Thanks, and let’s stay strong and tough for these next few weeks!

Cordially yours,

Lynice Williams
for the NC HCAN Steering Committee

p.s.-  Please forward this to your friends and co workers who know that the public option is a necessary component of REAL health care reform.  Together, we can make this happen!

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Lots of stuff is happening and it looks very good. We have a couple things you can do now, and will have more to come.

Health Care insurance reform is making big strides thanks to the grass root work you have been involved in. Today David Plouffe was on the Organizing for America national staff call and was so impressed and supportive of all we had accomplished on this front.

There are rumors circulating that the White House and Senator Reid are pursuing different strategies on the public option. These rumors are absolutely false.

• President Obama has said repeatedly – including during his address to a Joint Session of Congress – that he supports the public option because he believes it could play an essential role in holding insurance companies accountable by increasing choice and competition.
• That continues to be President Obama’s position.
• Senator Reid and his team are working to get the most effective bill possible approved by the Senate.
• President Obama completely supports these efforts and is confident they will succeed, continuing the unprecedented progress that is being made in the House and Senate on health insurance reform.

SAVE THE DATE

On Wednesday, November 4, Organizing for America will be holding a reunion and 1st anniversary celebration of our amazing victory last year. It will be held at OFA HQ at 130 E.Morgan St in downtown Raleigh. I believe it will start at PM. More details to follow but it looks like it will be a great event. More details as they emerge.

Postcards from the Edge

Many of you, we think anyone who has health insurance through BCBS, have received a card from BCBS with an attached postcard that can be sent to Senator Kay Hagan. This mailing is AGAINST the public option. This one really made me angry and I know it has many other people furious as well.

OFA has suggested that we use the postcard ourselves. Mark out in RED on the return postcard to Senator Hagan the words “Oppose government run healthcare” and write in RED-”SUPPORT THE PUBLIC OPTION,” and mark out in RED “doesn’t need” write in RED “NEEDS.” We might as well use the paid postage and send our message. I like the irony of using BCBS postage paid cards against them.

Of course call and complain to Senator Hagan’s office about this tactic.

If there is going to be a public event, which we are trying to organize, I will pass on that information.

If you received one of these cards from BCBS, and are NOT a customer of their health care, please let me know ASAP so we can determine how widespread the BCBS mailing is. Thanks!!

More Postcards

I have another set of postcards printed by OFA and calling for “Health insurance reform NOW.” These are regular postcards and you can write your own message and address it to Senator Hagan yourself. Or senator Burr if you prefer. It requires postage and you can add the postage yourself or if you return the postcard to me I can get it back down to OFA HQ and they will add the postage.

Please let me know ASAP if you want one of these cards because I only have a few. We can make arrangements for you to stop by and get one. You can either fill it out while you are here and I can make sure it gets back to HQ or you can take it home and fill it out there.

More to Come

We will be organizing “quick response phone banks” to make calls to our congresspeople and senators as votes on healthcare are scheduled. If you are interested in participating in this please let me know and I can get you on a special list just for this effort.

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The goal of Organizing for America yesterday, October 20th, was for 100,000 calls to congress to support President Obama’s health care plan including a strong public option.

How many calls did we make? 100,000 calls? Actually, we had made 100,000 calls by 3:15PM yesterday.

200,000? 300,000?

No! As of 6:45 this morning we have made over 315,500 calls to congress! And they are still being tallied.

You rock!

You are so fantastic to more than triple our original goal. Thanks for all your hard work yesterday, today, and every day!

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Jenny U. from Missouri did what any parent would: When her son needed a kidney, she donated one of hers. But she didn’t realize insurance companies would use her kindness as an excuse to never cover her again, calling her donation a “pre-existing condition.”

My name is David Both and I am currently trying to get healthcare. My job at Cisco Systems went to India and I am currently trying to get coverage under my wife’s healthcare insurance. They tell me I have a “pre-existing condition” but have not specified what it is. They have asked for “proof of continuous coverage” from my ex-employer.

• Why should “continuous coverage” make a difference?
• Why should a “pre-existing condition” make a difference?

These are the abuses that we are fighting to change.

Now, insurance companies are spending millions on a campaign of lies to kill health reform that would help folks like Jenny and me. So, today, with crucial negotiations taking place in Congress, we’re raising our voices and making it clear: It’s time to deliver on reform.

We’ve set a big goal: 100,000 calls to Congress made or committed to in a single day. To hit it, we’ll need your help — will you take 3 minutes to call Congress now?

Call Congress Now

Call your representatives and tell them: It’s Time to Deliver on health reform. If you live in North Carolina’s 13th congressional district with me. Please call:

Sen. Richard Burr’s Rocky Mt office at (252) 977-9522
Sen. Kay Hagan’s Raleigh office at (919) 856-4630, or her Washington, DC office at 202-224-6342
Rep. Brad Miller’s Raleigh office at (919) 836-1313

(Not your representatives? Click here to look yours up.)

Health insurance reform is finally ready for consideration by the full Congress, and hundreds of insurance company lobbyists on Capitol Hill are working overtime to kill it. Calling is quick and easy, but effective — and your voice has tremendous power at this critical moment.

After you make your call, tell the staffer who picks up where you live and that you’re counting on Congress to deliver on health reform. Let them know that Americans like you support the President’s plan — and that if your representatives are working to pass it, they have your thanks.

If we hit 100,000 calls made or committed to, we’ll send an unmistakable signal that this time, families must come before insurance companies. We’ll be tracking progress toward our goal publicly — make sure to report your call back to us so we can count it:

http://my.barackobama.com/TTDCall

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Having lost my job at Cisco and been on COBRA for some time, I had my wife try to get coverage for me on her Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) plan at her work. Imagine my surprise when we received a two page letter today stating that I have a ONE YEAR WAITING PERIOD for some unspecified pre-existing conditions. Although we are going to try to get this figured out next week (it is almost 4PM Friday) this is exactly the behavior that we are fighting to end. And many other people, including several in the North Raleigh Change Crew 07 organization are in far worse shape than we are.

Please support meaningful health care reform with a public option now! We cannot wait another 100 years for the change we need. See the previous post, Its Time to Deliver, and sign up to host or participate in a phone bank next Tuesday the 20th.

Thanks again for all you do.
David Both

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Next week we will be having a nation-wide effort to call congress in support of true health care reform. Now is the time we need to put on our biggest push since the campaign.

Here is an opportunity for you to help by hosting or participating in a phone bank. We will be calling people who are already on-board so it should be easy to merely ask them to contact their elected representative and senators.

We would like to have as many phone banks as possible on Tuesday the 20th to make it easy for people to get to one near them. If you can host just a few people in your home that would be very helpful. The information below will take you to the Organizing for America web site where you can sign up to host or attend a phone bank. If there is not already a phone bank near you, please consider hosting one.

We will post details here on our web site and on our mailing list about our own phone bank as they firm up. We try to use the list sparingly and only when there is some action for you to take, so please keep abreast of other news and information here on the web site.

We, Vickie and David, thank you for all you have done. Your hard work made it possible for us to elect President Barack Obama and other progressive Democrats. Now is the time to bring about the change we seek.

Go to our Time To Deliver Call Party page for details on hosting or to attend a Call Party.

“Yes we can!”

David Both
Vickie Takei

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Looking for something to do? Check out the local political Events for the week of September 20.

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Here are the unequivocal reasons why we don’t really need Health Care Reform in the US:

1. Although efforts have been made and failed to reform the healthcare industry since 1912, we should not be too hasty and rush into enacting change.
2. The federal government has no business interfering in people’s healthcare decisions, unless a woman is trying to terminate a pregnancy, go on contraception or the patient’s last name is Schiavo.
3. The government is incapable of running anything efficiently, and if allowed to offer a healthcare option, will run healthcare so efficiently that it will put private insurers out of business.
4. We are a Christian nation, and we don’t believe in helping the least among us. Some people just don’t deserve healthcare. Getting sick is God’s punishment for doing something wrong.
5. The current system, with 47,000,000 uninsured, a million medical bankruptcies annually, and 18,000 deaths annually due to lack of insurance, is working just fine. In fact, we have the best health care system in the world!
6. Even though many older couples are forced to divorce in order to avoid catastrophic financial losses due to medical expenses, it’s the homosexuals who are destroying families.
7. A conversation with your doctor about end-of-life issues is an opportunity for your doctor to convince you to kill yourself.
8. We can afford to spend more on our military than all other nations combined, but we can’t afford universal health care.
9. Single-payer, government-run healthcare is good enough for our men and women in uniform, for whom nothing is too good, but single-payer, government-run healthcare will offer substandard care to the rest of us. Besides, to offer the same healthcare to the general public that our armed forces, govt workers and their families already get would be socialism.
10. Pooling our resources to provide roads, schools, clean water, military, police, and fire protection for each other is not socialism. Pooling our resources to provide each other health care is socialism.
11. Socialism is bad. Very bad. Bad! Did we mention it’s bad?
12. Health care is an issue best handled by individual states; like slavery.
13. We can afford to subsidize Israel, Iraq, and Afghanistan, all of whom have universal healthcare, but we can’t afford it ourselves.
14. Money and corporate profits are more important than people’s health. Sure, reforming the insurance companies would save thousands of lives, but shareholders’ portfolios might be damaged.
15. Freeing people from holding on to their dead-end jobs for the insurance and allowing them to become entrepreneurs would bankrupt our country and devastate our markets, which depend upon entrepreneurial innovation.
16. Someone like physicist Stephen Hawking would have been allowed to die under the British healthcare system. Oh, he’s British? And he’s alive? — Never mind.
17. We already have universal health care: it’s called the Emergency Room. Uninsured people can go there for all their health needs (checkups, cancer pre-screening, chemotherapy, etc.), and it only costs the taxpayers a few thousand dollars per visit.
18. The Obama healthcare initiative is part of the liberal-communist-Nazi- socialist-Islamofascist-gay-atheist-zombie-transsexual-cannibal-feminist- sociopath-evolutionist agenda to take away your freedom! If this plan is passed, abortions will be mandatory, schoolchildren will be raped by their teachers, and Negroes (many of them born in some other country and only posing as citizens) will murder your Grandma with her pillow!

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