"Big Insurance Makes me Sick" Rallies

Planning "Big Insurance Makes me Sick" Rallies

Date of the event: September 22nd - Time: TBD (should be between 9 am and no later than 3:30 pm to accommodate Media coverage)

The MoveOn.org event planned for September is going to be "Big Insurance Makes me Sick" Rallies

We are looking for people to help us plan this event so please let us know by e-mail if you’d be willing to lend us a hand.

The goal of the Big Insurance: Sick of It Rallies is to highlight the worst abuses of the health insurance industry, thereby putting pressure on congressional targets to support a public health insurance option. The ideal Big Insurance: Sick of It Rally will gain enough media attention that local members of Congress really feel the heat.

The biggest threat to the public health insurance option is private insurance companies, who are spending $1.4 million a day lobbying Congress to block real reform. Insurance companies have made $60 billion over the last eight years alone, and they know that a public health insurance option would force them to compete and drive costs down. Much of the insurance industry's profit comes from denying people coverage--even people who currently have insurance. By shining a bright light on the worst abuses of the insurance industry, we will pressure our targets to stand with their constituents, not the insurance industry lobbyists.
All across the country, MoveOn will organize rallies in front of the offices of health insurance companies that are trying to kill real health insurance reform.
The core of the event is a program of speakers sharing personal stories about how they've been harmed by the health insurance industry and a sizable turnout of members with signs making noise and cheering for the speakers.
We will also build on the success of our "Can't Afford to Wait" photo petition and vigils by asking other participants to make their own "Can't Afford to Wait" signs. And in some places MoveOn will centrally produce large banners to display some of the most compelling "Can't Afford to Wait" images from the photo petition.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

We are looking for at least three and as many as five speakers with compelling personal stories about the abuses of the health insurance industry -- especially experience with the specific health care company we will be targeting, also health care workers talking about their experiences with insurance companies
We also need people to coordinate and supervise many tasks so please let us know if you can help by sending an e-mail to: jc.h.council@gmail.com

Thanks
Rossella Aquila
MoveOn.org Jersey City/Hoboken
Council Coordinator

JERSEY CITY HEALTH CARE VIGIL 9/2/09

View all

Get your own

Photos from the JERSEY CITY INDIPENDENT
http://www.jerseycityindependent.com/

More pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/REDHOT269/HealthCareVigil#

WE MADE THE 11 O'CLOCK NEWS!!!!

On Sep.2nd MoveOn.org organized more than 300 "We Can't Afford to Wait" vigils all around the country. Many of our members attended the vigil we held at Hournal Square in Jersey City, NJ. It was a truely remarkable event. It was our biggest event of the year, a scathing indictment of our broken health care system.

WWOR Channel 9, Mike Gilliam,a My9 News Reporter/Anchor and his crew did extensive interviews and filming at our vigil and then aired a very positive piece on the 11 o’clock news. Take a look:

To hear so many stories, see so many candles, stand shoulder to shoulder with so many other people who care so deeply about health care reform was truly moving.
Remember, it was only three or four weeks ago when it seemed a loud few would overpower the calls for reform from the many.
But throughout August, MoveOn members and other health care supporters turned out in droves to more than 700 town halls and meetings with members of Congress. By the end of the month, most public events were dominated by health care supporters, not the opposition.
And last night we shared stories of people bankrupted by medical bills and shut out by pre-existing conditions.

The New York Times wrote, "Under the banner of 'Can't Afford To Wait,' the vigils...put a human face on the need for" health care reform. Many local newspapers and TV stations prominently covered last night MoveOn vigils and last night they made it on to the front page of the Washington Post's website.
Next week, lawmakers will return to D.C. with these vigils fresh in their minds.

And for all who still have doubts about the necessity of a strong PUBLIC OPTION, I just want to quote here something Robert H. LeBow MD wrote at the end of his book "HEALTH CARE MELTDOWN":

"...Tonight ..... I want you to go to a quiet place and think about what would happen to your community if your local fire and police departments were converted to for-profit, fee-for-service industries. Imagine them being financed with a combination of poorly funded public support, depending heavily on fee-for-service reimbursemnet (or bribery) from people who may or may not have funds to afford their service. Think of the chaos, the inequality, the unnecessary loss of life, the injustice, and the potential for abuse. Think about entire neighborhoods of lower income individuals or remote rural areas with no fire or police protection at all, because they are deemed "unprofitables."

Privatization of those services is unconscionable!

Now think about our health care system. Why should medicine be any different?"

Let's Celebrate & Plan for the Senate!

Let’s celebrate! ACES passed and MO can take a lot of credit for making that happen! More than 44 Representatives signed the letter to Speaker Pelosi, asking for the three amendments we wanted.

The JC-Hoboken Council was responsible for getting Rep. Rothman to sign it! Thank you Glenn for getting our meeting with his aide!

But the bill passed the House by only seven votes, and the Senate will be tough; we will also strategize what to do in August.

If you know anyone who would like to get involved, invite them to RSVP.

Next Thursday, July 9 @ 7PM we'll get together to celebrate and discuss the next steps. (at the moment we have not yet decided where we will meet, so check back at the link below for further details)

Here is the link to sign up for this brainstorming event:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/hosts/index.html?event_id=94188&id=-10000761-HvxU2cx

From MoveOn.org: DON"T LET THEM DERAIL HEALTH CARE REFORM

This is the communication received from MoveOn.org:

Last week Republicans on Capitol Hill held a strategy summit on how to defeat key parts of the president's health care plan.
At one point, Republican pollster Frank Luntz declared, "You're not going to get what you want, but you can kill what they're trying to do."1
Luntz wrote a confidential memo that laid out the Republican strategy:
Pretend to support reform.
Mislead Americans about the heart of Obama'splan, the public health insurance option.
Scare enough people to doom real reform.

Since most people don't know much about the public health care option,these lies could take root if we don't fight back. Can you send this outto all your friends and neighbors?

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OBAMA'S PUBLIC HEALTH INSURANCE OPTION
The choice of a public health insurance plan is crucial to real healthcare reform. But right now, it's being smeared by conservatives andinsurance-industry front groups. Here's what you really need to know:

1. Choice, choice, choice. If the public health insurance option passes,Americans will be able to choose between their current insurance and ahigh-quality, government-run plan similar to Medicare. If you like yourcurrent care, you can keep it. If you don't--or don't have any--you canget the public insurance plan.2

2. It will be high-quality coverage with a choice of doctors.Government-run plans have a track record of innovating to improve quality,because they're not just focused on short-term profits. And if you choosethe public plan, you'll still get to choose your doctor and hospital.3

3. We'll all save a bunch of money. The public health insurance optionwon't have to spend money on things like CEO bonuses, shareholderdividends, or excessive advertising, so it'll cost a lot less. Plus, theprivate plans will have to lower their rates and provide better value tocompete, so people who keep their current insurance will save, too.4

4. It will always be there for you and your family. A for-profit insurercan close, move out of the area, or just kick you off their insurancerolls. The public health insurance option will always be available toprovide you with the health security you need.5

5. And it's a key part of universal health care. No longer will sickpeople or folks in rural communities, or low-income Americans be forced togo without coverage. The public health insurance plan will be availableand accessible to everyone. And for those struggling to make ends meet,the premiums will be subsidized by the government.6

We all need to speak out to make sure we get real health reform. Please pass this on, then call your senators and ask them to support the choice of a public health insurance plan.

The public health insurance option is a big part of the change we fought so hard for last fall. We didn't let the smears beat Obama then. And we can't let new lies beat us now. Please forward this to everyone you know.

Thanks for all you do.
--Patrick S., Joan, Wes, Laura and the rest of the team

Sources:
1. "Words Designed to Kill Health Care Reform," Huffington Post, May 7,2009http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51414&id=16121-2676425-lENgN.x&t=10
2, 3, 4, 5, 6. "The Case for Public Plan Choice in National HealthReform," Institute for America's Futurehttp://www.moveon.org/r?r=51396&id=16121-2676425-lENgN.x&t=11

HEALTHCARE AS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE

Extracts from:www.pnhp.org

Memo to Obama by John P. Geyman, M.D., is professor emeritus of family medicine at the University of Washington, and past president of Physicians for a National Health Program. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine.

"........My special concern, however, is for our failing health care system and how it is pricing health care beyond the reach of ordinary Americans. Our system has come to the point where none of the many incremental reforms will work. The business model of insurance has failed, and we need to rebuild the system on a social insurance model.

Let me be direct. Although we have many dedicated health professionals, an abundance of the latest technologies, and many fine hospitals, health care has become just another commodity to be bought and sold in a deregulated market based on ability to pay, not medical need.

As you well know, industry profits handsomely from the status quo, raking in money through insurance, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and so on. Industry has a war chest to defend itself and demonstrates its political power each time any new reform is brought up.

But the situation has become dire. There is no end in sight in controlling health care costs as they soar upwards at three or four times the cost of living and family incomes. We have had three decades of incremental attempts to rein in costs, including managed care and consumer-directed health care. None have worked. We have a solution in plain sight — single-payer National Health Insurance (NHI). Market stakeholders are fighting it fiercely, but it’s the only real reform that has a chance to work.

Most of your advisers will likely caution you that NHI is too radical for Americans to accept, that you need to be more centrist, and that it is not politically feasible. But therein lies your trap. You will be persuaded to add one more incremental attempt to fix things, which will not work, will cost more than ever, will delay real reform, and will add to the pain of so many along the way. Your moment of opportunity will have been lost.

Beyond ideology, these facts support NHI as the treatment of choice in 2009.

• Premiums alone for private health insurance have grown by more than 100 percent since 2000, and are projected to consume all of average household income by 2025, clearly an impossibility way before then.
• According to the Milliman Medical Index, the typical American family of four spent $15,600 on total health care costs in 2008, fully one-quarter of the typical combined family income of $60,000; most consider 10 percent of family income to be the threshold of underinsurance.
• The administrative overhead of private insurers is five to nine times higher than not-for-profit Medicare (average for commercial carriers 19.9 percent, investor-owned Blues 26.5 percent, Medicare 3 percent).
• The inefficiency and bureaucracy of our 1,300 private insurers are not sustainable (e.g., according to the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, there are 17,000 different hea1th plans in Chicago).
• Private insurers offer much less choice than traditional Medicare; there are near-monopolies in 95 percent of HMO/PPO metropolitan markets, enough to trigger anti-trust concerns by the United States Department of Justice.
• Because of costs, about 75 million Americans are either uninsured of underinsured, with large segments of the population forgoing necessary care and having worse health care outcomes; the United States now ranks nineteenth among nineteen industrialized countries in reducing preventable deaths from amenable causes.
• Wall Street is already questioning the future prospects of the private insurance industry; as of November 18, 2008, the average share prices of the top five private insurers were down by between 60 percent and 77 percent, compared to the Standard and Poor’s 42 percent.

I expect that none of this is news to you, but what is neglected by almost all economists, “experts” and pundits is that there is already plenty of money in the system, that we waste about one-third of our health care dollar on our inefficient multi-payer financing system and on unnecessary care, and that NHI will save money, not cost more. NHI is the most fiscally responsible thing we can do now about health care. The Conyers bill in the House (H.R. 676) will be financed by payroll and progressive income taxes that will be less than what individuals and employers now pay. The health insurance industry is being propped up by government subsidies to the employer-based system and to privatized public programs. NHI can save some $350 billion through administrative simplification, while offering coverage for all necessary care, full choice of provider and hospital, and mechanisms for cost containment through bulk purchasing, negotiated fees, and global budgets.

NHI by itself will not solve all of our health care problems, but it will provide a structure (as no incremental approach can) to enable other necessary steps. These include acceptance of health care as a right, transition to a not-for-profit system, reimbursement reform, rebuilding of primary care, evidence-based technology assessment, and quality improvement. None of this will be possible by using reforms that leave an obsolete private insurance industry in place, as is more fully discussed in my recent book “Do Not Resuscitate: Why the Health Insurance Industry is Dying, and How We Must Replace It.”

FDR almost went for NHI in the mid-1930s, but he backed off, mainly due to the AMA’s opposition. Today, the AMA is marginalized with a membership of no more than 30 percent of physicians, and a majority of American physicians now support NHI. Implementing NHI in your presidency can be your FDR-size legacy. It has become an economic, moral, and social imperative. Overnight NHI can bind us together as one society, all of us in the same boat. We can afford it. Yes, we can!"

HEALTHCARE REFORM

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is a member of the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Health Care, which is holding a hearing tomorrow morning, Tuesday, May 5.
Call his office or e-mail him to tell him you want a public option (just like Medicare) as a part of the healthcare reform bill to be passed this year. This option will allow Americans to have a health care option like Medicare. Without this option in the bill, America will be stuck with private insurance plans that are crippling our country.
Tell Sen. Menendez you want a public healthcare insurance option! Please pass this on to friends and family in NJ!
ideas@menendez.senate.gov.
OFFICE LOCATIONS:528 Senate Hart Office BuildingWashington, D.C. 20510202.224.4744202.228.2197 fax
One Gateway Center,Suite 1100Newark, New Jersey 07102973.645.3030973.645.0502 fax
208 White Horse Pike, Suite 18Barrington, New Jersey 08007856.757.5353856.546.1526 fax

WEBCAST at our Organizing Meeting

Connect to a MoveOn.org national conference call where we'll hear an update on the Power Up America campaign -- including recent successes in our small business organizing drive, and what lies ahead in the next few weeks.

http://s3.moveon.org/audio/webcast.mp3

HEALTHCARE UNDER ATTACK

Conservatives are running $1 million in ads, starting today, to crush the public health insurance option (1) —the heart of Obama's health care plan. And they've promised to spend tens of millions more.(2)
To win against the powerful insurance lobby, we'll need to be everywhere. Hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members have already made calls, signed petitions, faxed Congress, rallied at events—and we'll even run our own ads soon—all in support of the public health insurance option.
But with the insurance industry in all-out attack mode, we now need to go even further. Can you drop by your senator's local office today or tomorrow to tell him or her to stand up for a public health insurance option that would guarantee coverage and reduce costs by up to 30%? (3)
Here's the office closest to you (or at least we hope so; see the P.S. for other options):
Sen. Frank Lautenberg's District Office One Gateway Center, 23rd Floor Newark, NJClick here to print out your flier and let us know you're going:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSNJ_1.FSNJ_2&cp_id=891&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=4



Just stopping by your senator's office for two minutes has more impact than a call, an email—even more than a handwritten letter. And if enough of us show up at the local office, a staffer will call Washington to explain how strongly voters back home are feeling.
Dropping off a flier is easy:
Write a short, personal note on your flier. Your visit will be more effective if you tell your senator how saving 30% on health care will have a positive impact on your life.
Bring a friend if you want, but you totally don't have to. Don't worry about coordinating with other volunteers—just get to an office! The more individuals who stop by the office, the more powerful the message will be to Congress.
Tell the staffer that you're there to express support for the public health insurance option. Be polite and friendly, and don't feel like you need to stay more than a minute. Just stopping by is a huge statement.
In this economy, the public health insurance option is especially crucial. Saving up to 30% on high-quality coverage could help families struggling to pay for their insurance—and those with no coverage at all right now.But with insurance companies using their vast resources to attack Obama's plan, we can't just sit back and hope Congress does the right thing. We all need to speak out for the public health insurance option to make it a reality.
Can you stop by your senator's office today?
Thanks for all you do.

P.S. Can't make it to that office up above? Here is another office near you:
Sen. Robert Menendez's District Office One Gateway Center, 11th Floor Newark, NJ

P.P.S. If you'd like to look up office addresses yourself, you can do so here: http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=173&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=5" target="_blank">http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=173&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=5


Sources:
(1). "Health group launches $1M ad buy," Politico, April 27, 2009 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21746.html
(2). "Group launches health care offensive," Politico, March 3, 2009 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19542.html
(3). "The Cost and Coverage Impacts of a Public Plan: Alternative Design Options," The Lewin Group, April 6, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51315&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=6


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Jersey City - Hoboken MoveOn.com Council: Healthcare reform

Jersey City - Hoboken MoveOn.com Council: Healthcare reform

Healthcare reform

On April 15 NPR aired this wonderful piece on the Healthcare system in Taiwan.

Link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89651916

I think getting as much information as possible about healthcare systems in the world should help us see which are the options that would work better in the USA once our governament tries to reform the current system.

Personally I think that anything else but a single payer system is not going to give us the results we are seeking, but a single payer system is not being considered by anybody, not the Obama administration, not Congress, not the media and not even MoveOn.org!

They are all too afraid of upsetting the apple cart of the insurance companies and HMOs.
The industry says they will not be able to compete...but why should the interest of the industry be put ahead of the interest of the people? Because they would close down and loose many jobs? The people fired by the private sector would be reabsorbed by the public sector. Only the shareholders and top administrators of the private companies would loose money.

Here's a link to a nonprofit organization promoting single payer universal health care:

Link http://www.health-justice.org/

You can make your voice heard by faxing letters to politicians and even to MoveOn to make them aware that there are many of us out there that will not accept anything less than a single payer program.
Link http://www.1payer.net/campaigns/efax-pelosi-single-payer-agenda.html