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The powerful and deep-pocketed health lobby has managed to delay floor votes on health care reform until after the August recess. It is well known that they intend to dole out huge amounts of money during the recess for the dual purposes of putting huge amounts of misleading advertising on television and to buy the votes of Congress members who can be persuaded to vote against the interests of their constituents.
It is crucial that we fight back and fight hard. Polls continue to show that over 60% of Americans want a public option, and on the rare occasion that pollsters ask about single payer it wins by a large margin as well. I think that a key to winning this battle is for us to publicly question our members of Congress in a way that forces them to confront the fact that the health lobby is putting its massive resources into preserving its disgustingly huge profits that are achieved through denying care to as many citizens as possible.
These questions should be posed both in public events where the Congress members appear and in letters to the editor in local newspapers. Do your research first, and find out how much money your Congresscritter has accepted from the health lobby. OpenSecrets.org is a great site for this research. For example, my Congressman, Cliff Stearns [a Republican bordering on wing-nut], received $45,310 from "health professionals" in the 2008 election cycle. That was out of a total of $806,444 raised, for a total of 5.6% of his total funding coming from health professionals, who were the industry with the highest amount of donations to his campaign.
A few sample questions follow below.
1. "Congressperson X, you have accepted Y dollars from the health lobby. Which is a higher priority for you, getting re-elected or achieving meaningful health care reform? A large majority of the voters in our country want a public option for health insurance, but the money you have accepted from the health lobby makes me think you intend to repay their money with a vote against a public option. Is your vote for sale to the highest bidder?"
2. "Congressperson X, you have accepted Y dollars from the health lobby. Health insurance companies make huge profits by accepting our premium payments and then denying care. Why not return the favor to them? Please take their money and then vote for a public option. That is the only way for you to demonstrate to us that their money is not buying your vote."
I’m sure the creative commenters here at the Lake can come up with questions that are framed much better than my examples. Let’s share ideas and then go out and give it our best shot. Jane and the rest of the folks here at the Lake have been working their tails off to keep the pressure on Congress while they were in session. Now it’s our turn to apply the pressure while they are in their districts, roaming among us.
We may not have a better opportunity to achieve meaningful health care reform. Keep in mind that it has been kept "off the table" since the failed attempt at reform in 1993. How many people have died because they could not afford adequate health care since then?
21 Comments
I suggest you ask them whether they will support practical alternative that everyone knows will work: Medicare for All? And if not, why they are not since Medicare works well and is very popular, and Medicare like programs in many other western nations also work well? Then ask them why they are spending their time and public money creating a complex 1039 page bill like HR 3200, that no one can understand, when they could be voting for a 30 page Medicare for All bill like HR 676 that everyone can understand and that almost everyone will like? And then finally answer their answer to this final question with a simple direct threat. Unless you vote for a Medicare for All bill like HR 676, I will vote against you the next time you run for office.
Why all the news about how horrifying health care is in Canada and the UK ? We have our own health care nightmares and rationed care but don’t hear enough about that, all they want to holler is Obama is going to kill granny. The status quo killed my father. http://www.wisecountyissues.com/?p=62 In Tennessee and Virginia, profit care comes way ahead of patient care.
JimWhite, you rarely get to ask this long a question. Instead, you have to go with short questions, and it works better if there are several of you.
How many times have you talked to lobbyists for insurance companies?
How many times have you talked to constituents without insurance?
Aetna Insurance paid its shareholders $1.8bn in dividends and share repurchases from its $30bn in premiums in 2008. Is that the way we want to spend health care dollars?
Wellpoint says it intends to increase premiums more than the 8% projected increase in medical costs. How does that control health care costs.
Even shorter:
Will you support Medicare for All?
K.I.S.S. …
Actually, and this is what has me worried, I think the answers to both those questions are: “I’m against health care reform because like that sleaze Donna Edwards beat I’m really only involved in this for the lucrative post public service lobbying job.”
Two, I think our only countermove is for the progressive caucus to start going after things that the Blue Dogs are for, such as just about any military spending or farm bill that comes down the pike. What would be even better is if the progressive caucus were to use their same reasons such as “budget concerns” and “deficit control”. I think they would get the point.
Philip Shropshire
http://www.threeriversonline.com
This set requires several people. The point is that we make them answer questions about specific parts of the bill.
The current legislation contains provisions for research on best medical practices. Do you support that?
How much in dollars should Congress appropriate for that purpose?
What specific program will you cut to pay for that?
Should we raise taxes to pay for that?
What incentives are there in the current system for cost control?
What are the incentives for the insurance companies to force cost control? ans. None. The more health care costs, the more money goes through their hands and the more sticks to their wallets.
What are the incentives for doctors to control costs? ans. None. That isn’t their charge. They get paid to do stuff, not to not do stuff.
What are the incentives for the politicians to control costs? Hmmm? It looks like they get their money from the other people with no incentive to control costs.
Great questions, thanks. The long questions still can be posed in letters to the editors in local papers. Jane says those letters have a huge impact. The more, the better!
The longer questions also work in close quarters. If you can get a meeting with just a very small number of people, you can try them. They can be used to show that you know more than your congress critter about this specific issue, and won’t put up with talking points.
In public settings, you have to use short ones.
Do you know the term: healthcare free rider? It means people who have enough money to buy insurance but who don’t because they bet they won’t need it, and they figure if they do, the system will pay, or they’ll file bankruptcy.
Is that something you support?
What do you think we should do about that?
How long should we have to wait to rein the the abusive insurance company practices?
Do you agree that the House bill requires the government to interfere in end of life issues? If yes, ask where they got that ridiculous idea.
Do you want to kill my grandma? Does Obama?
Have you seen Obama’s birth certificate?
Dude, where’s my surplus? [Recycling my entry in the Bush memoirs naming contest.] Can you use that to fund health care?
Do you have a will?
Do you have a living will?
Have you prepared any medical advance directives (ie. “Do not resuscitate” or “keep me off that &$*%^ respirator” orders)?
Is there someone other than your spouse/partner that you have legally provided with a medical power of attorney to make decisions on your behalf?
(If the answer is yes, they’ve had some end of life consultations with somebody!)
Here’s an example of a letter to the editor from Skagit County, WA:
I like letters like this because they are so clearly the result of citizens coming to their own conclusions, and not talking points manufactured by K Street lobbyists.
Bow
There was a clip of a VERYanti-Obamacare crowd at a packed Town Meeting of Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Secretary of HHS Sebelius. The crowd was quite outspoken against any one of the government health care plans pending before either House. I think these town meetings for all critters are going to work against the legislation. It won’t matter about lobbyist expenditure. I haven’t seen this kind of work-up since HillaryCare went down.
You can ask them how they will vote on the single-payer bill?
Liberals will get single-payer vote on House floor
http://thehill.com/leading-the…..07-31.html
“Seeking to dampen liberal anger about deals cut with centrists, Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said House leaders have agreed to allow a floor vote on a government-run, single-payer system.“
Something else you can do, point out the distortions that your Congresscritter is spewing out.
FACT CHECK: Distortions rife in health care debate
http://tinyurl.com/lp6mq9
I wrote this about a personal reason for health care reform and when was re-posted elsewhere, one woman commented
It is important for congresspeople to realize that health care reform wears a very human face; that treatment for many is out of financial reach; that ERs are being used as doctors’ offices because those on limited income can’t afford even a low cost health clinic–and those costs are passed on to tax payers; that there is a whole class of people who make too much for the limited insurance offered by their states but not enough to afford insurance or basic medical, dental and vision care for themselves and their families; that even with insurance the deductibles are often too high to make using insurance viable unless it’s a catastrophic illness–one that might have been treated less expensively if doctors visits had been in the realm of affordability…
Thank you Lisa. It is so sad and enraging that we have lost so many individuals like your Mom because the corporations are so greedy and heartless and the politicians are so greedy and weak. I’m so sorry for your loss.