WHAT I DID TODAY TO PUSH FOR A STRONG HEALTH CARE PUBLIC OPTION.

I get tired and discouraged like everyone else. But today after reading the news I was so upset that I told myself : “..this is no time to stop. This is the time to go even bigger.” But what else can we do? What can we do given our limited money and resources?
Well, we have our votes and our voices. I suggest we use what we've got. When it comes to legislative issues, we have an advantage over corporations--they can't vote. We can.
Politicians cannot be elected without votes. We can put the fear of un-election into them if we deny them our votes. We can also put some respect for the public back into their minds if we express our approval or disapproval of their actions.
The opponents of a health care reform will not let up. Do you think they've stopped haranguing the same Congressperson that's supposed to represent you--the majority of Americans in favor of a public option in health insurance reform? Certainly not.
So if they won’t go away, we’ll have to continue to fight them. We can’t let them win. The stakes are too high. They're counting on us to get tired. They figure they can stall us out, and we'll quit. They want us to get discouraged. They're trying to make us give up. They know we're busy and overworked and overextended, with family concerns and obligations. But they also know we are the majority.
Why not act now in whatever small ways to make sure a piece of legislation with a strong public options gets approved?
One never knows what it takes to move these skeptics but even senators in the past have shown the ability to support laws benefiting the American people. Sometimes fate will toss up an unexpected opportunity, and what do we have to loose?
This is what I did today:

I CALLED SEN. REID

Majority Leader Harry Reid will decide which bill to bring to a full Senate vote—the weak Finance bill with little support, or the strong bill passed with unanimous Democratic support by Sen. Ted Kennedy's committee in July.
I called Senate Majority Leader Reid and urged him to make sure the bill that goes to the floor for a vote is the one passed by Sen. Kennedy's committee—with a public health insurance option. The bill passed by Sen. Kennedy's committee, however, won unanimous Democratic support. And with its good public health insurance option, it's similar to House legislation that's received widespread praise among Democrats

Here's where to call:
Majority Leader Harry Reid 202-224-3542

THEN I WROTE AN E-MAIL TO SEN. BAUCUS OF MONTANA

Ironically, the bill that Baucus delayed so long in the hopes of garnering bipartisan support has the least support of any of the five bills out there. The Baucus bill will not provide you and me with good quality, affordable health care. It fails to ask employers to share responsibility and provide health care to their workers. And it does not keep the insurance companies honest because it lacks the choice of a national public health insurance option.It does one thing, however. It gives the insurance industry a monopoly and millions of new, captive customers. The Baucus bill is the insurance company bill. Need proof? After the bill was released, the Congressional Budget Office said that the bill will not provide competition to the insurance companies.The bill works for them, but not for you. It must be fixed. So even though I live in New Jersey I wrote to Sen. Baucus of Montana at:

http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue

And here’s what I said:

Dear Senator Baucus, I'm from New Jersey but since your proposed bill on healthcare (which by the way is anything but a landmark) will affect all Americans, I think I should write to you directly anyway. I believe you worked really hard on the health care issue but unfortunately you managed to come up with is the weakest possible bill that nobody likes. Your bill will be totally useless because it does not contain a public option, and possibly it will make matter worst for people who can’t afford health insurance. Without a public option there can not be a real reform. Your bill, if passed, will only be a mandate requiring 30 million uninsured to buy private health insurance (if they don't already have it). If they are broke, they may get a subsidy. If they are not broke, but still can’t afford the stiff rates, they will get a fine if they do not purchase insurance. How is this helping the American people? I lived in Italy for 30 years and I can assure you that the health care system in that country is not a perfect system but it is a fair system. At least people don’t have to worry about going broke because of their poor health. Public health is something that Europeans have been talking for granted for many years. America, the most powerful country in the world, deserves better than your proposed bill without a public option. Besides, you toned down the real reforming options to gain support but this bill is not supported by democrats or republicans. Pay less attention to your campaign contributors in the heath industry and more attention to the needs of all the people you are serving. Americans can contribute to your campaign or your opponent campaign even if they don’t live in your state (see Sen. Wilson), and therefore we can make our voices heard in Montana even from as far away as New Jersey.

I ALSO SENT AN E-MAIL TO EVERY SENATOR OF BOTH PARTIES ASKING THEM TO SUPPORT AN HEALTH CARE BILL ONLY IF IT CONTAINS A STRONG PUBLIC OPTION.

Here’s where you can find how to get in touch with them:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Click where it says Web Form

You’ll have to fill out a form for each senator, but if you write a statement and then copy it, then you can quickly paste it on each of their web form. It helps if you use auto-fill to fill out the form. it took me about 2 1/2 hours to e-mail all the US Senators.

Here’s what I said in my e-mail (with slight variations depending if the senator was a democrat or a republican)

Dear Senator,
We the people of this country have been waiting, watching, and hoping Congress will finally provide a humane way to address the health needs of all of America's citizens.
70%+ of the American people support a public option in health care reform. Today I want to urge you to vote for a health insurance reform bill only if it has a strong public option. A health reform bill without a robust public option will not achieve the health reform this country so desperately needs. I would just like to remind you that when all the hoopla dies down, WE WHO FAVOR HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM WITH A STRONG PUBLIC OPTION ARE A MAJORITY. The GOP has no other plan. Their only plan is to torpedo much needed health insurance reform, putting politics over the nation’s wellness. Why not heed President Obama’s call to honor Senator Ted Kennedy’s life’s work by voting for health care reform w/a strong public option? I vote in New Jersey but I can send my campaign contributions to all Senators or their opponents. This is a national issue and I intend to make my voice heard, and my campaign contributions count.

We can get tired, we can’t let up, we have to continue to grind away the resistance and inertia and greed and self-interest that stands in our way. Think of all the stories we heard of lives filled with suffering due to untreated illness. Of all the people who got inadequate or no care simply because they couldn't afford it. Who may have been dropped for the most bureaucratic, bottom-line reasons.

President Obama closed his speech with a call for us to act. To take some final, decisive steps to make health care reform a reality. All we have are our voices and the collective will to raise them. So let’s them hear them!

As President Obama said: “ We did not come to fear the future. We came here to shape it. I still believe we can act even when it's hard. I still believe -- I still believe that we can act when it's hard. I still believe we can replace acrimony with civility, and gridlock with progress. I still believe we can do great things, and that here and now we will meet history's test. "

Come on! Let's do this. Let our voices be heard one more time. Let’s inundate these Senators with letters and faxes and e-mail and phone calls.

And let’s rally together one more time next week on September 22nd in front of the Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Newark to let insurance companies know that we won't let them trying to defeat a strong public health insurance option.
Sign up here:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=98634&id=-8727613-zXE1H4x

Rossella Aquila