Call Congress Now for Real Health Care Reform
We’ve written a lot about the reasons we need health care reform now.
There’s Michelle Morse, who in order to keep her insurance had to continue going to college full time while being treated for the cancer that ultimately killed her. The baby who got turned down for insurance because he was too fat, and the one who got turned down because she was too thin. The words of some of the 42,000 letters Working America and union members sent to Congress. Sylvia from Ohio. The mother who went blind to pay for treatment for her children. The amount of money the status quo is costing us.
Now there’s a bill coming up for a vote – probably on Saturday – that will do a lot to change all those things. What will it do?
Although some provisions of reform will require time to implement, here are key changes that will kick in immediately, providing direct and critical relief to millions of working families:
- An immediate insurance program for high-risk uninsured people to buy into.
- Ending “rescissions”—prohibiting insurers from nullifying coverage when patients file claims.
- Ending the lifetime caps on how much care insurers will cover.
- Allowing young people to stay on their parents’ policies until age 27.
- Allowing workers who have lost coverage because they lost their job to extend COBRA coverage.
- New incentive programs to increase the number of doctors.
- Funding for community health centers.
- Reducing the “donut hole” in Medicare prescription drug coverage—which right now doesn’t cover any drug costs between $2,700 and $4,050.
- A new fund to help employers pay for coverage for early retirees.
And that’s just the beginning. Over time, H.R. 3962 will create an exchange in which millions can buy insurance—including the choice of a public health insurance option to compete with insurance companies. Middle-class families will have real choices and real protections from unfair insurance practices—meaning they and their doctors, not health insurance bureaucrats, will be in charge of their health care. And the House bill includes both real responsibility for employers and subsidies to help families afford insurance.
The bill also includes numerous provisions to make care more affordable and better in quality, including electronic medical records, tools to fight fraud and waste and incentives for better care. It will end denials of coverage for pre-existing conditions and end co-payments for preventative care.
We need that. So let’s do what it takes to get it.
Call your member of Congress and tell them to vote for HR 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Then come back and leave a comment telling us how the call went.
Tags: health care reform
there was no answere when they tried to connect to the rep so i guess that they really dont care they have heath insurance and are
in good health i guess that is all that matters
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Dear Working America:
Please inform the masses that the reason Health Insurance Companies are allowed to get away with abuses is because they have an anti-trust EXEMPTION. In other words, the government allows health insurance companies to have a monopoly, actively restricting competition.
If competition is so good, causing millions of Americans to be out of work because “competitive (third world) forces” are cheaper than American workers, why isn’t it good enough for the health insurance industry. Why aren’t organizations supposedly looking out for the working people even mentioning it in articles, urging their constituency to DEMAND REAL REFORM, starting with ALLOWING FOR FREE COMPETITION IN HEALTH INSURANCE.
Dear Working Americans:
Never, ever trust organizations that claim they are protecting you. These “union” organizations are in bed with government and industry – a middle-class destroying threesome. They may encourage actions to help – help us stay under the thumb of Industry. But meaningful change will not happen until average people, like you reading this, research the news behind the headlines (and withheld from the headlines), form an informed opinion (based on multiple sources of information) and take decisive action.
No one will take care of us. When they say they will, they lie.
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I called my congressman Lathum from IOwa and was told he was on the floor and was going to vote against Health Care Reform I replied “Tell the congressman that I am extreamly disapionted that he intends to do that because it tells me he does not care about the health and welfare of the poor and middle class in Iowa who desperately need this legislation to pass and that it just reaferms to my why I didn’t vote for him and sure will not be in the future.” Then I hung up the line.
Bill F. Proud Retired member of UAW Local 893
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And I’m proud of you!
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I called Rep. Heinrich, District 1 New Mexico. I got the answering machine but couldn’t leave a message because the mail box was full. I do know he is very responsive and supports the bill.
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My senator’s office, David Wu, did not answer. Both my husband I are unemployed. Our health insurnace ended 10/31 so we have no coverage. We have two boys, 11 and 12, one of which is permanently disabled. Doesn’t seem right to me.
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Why can’t we just borrow more of the US dollars that we paid foreigners to make our imported consumer goods back from China and the other industrial nations, and then use these dollars to pay US medical doctors, nurses, hospitals, and medical technicians with these borrowed US dollars to provide UNLIMITED FREE MEDICAL CARE FOR ALL US CITIZENS AND MAYBE ALL OF THE ILLEGAL ALIENS ALSO, and not even worry about it?
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