Less strident, more reasoned... with a call to action

2. In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance--extremely important, quite important, not that important, or not at all important?
[Question from SurveyUSA’s recent poll. (Results of SurveyUSA News Poll #15699)]

The results?
58% of respondents replied, “Extremely Important.”
19% of respondents replied, “Quite Important.”

58% of Americans believe giving “people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance” is “Extremely Important”!
77% believe this choice to be at least “quite important”.
Seventy-seven percent!!!

Yep – Americans really DO want a “public option”! – They’ve not been fooled by the corporate-funded scare-tactics. They know there’s nothing in the current House bill that would euthanize grandma! They know the current system is broken, and that without a public option, the health insurance companies will continue to screw ‘em!

Meanwhile, back on Capitol Hill, the so-called “Gang of Six” – six members of the Senate Finance Committee, three Democrats and three Republicans – continue to insist on a “bipartisan” solution – a solution guaranteed to include NO provision for a public plan! Every Republican leader in the House and Senate has already stated, explicitly, that Republicans will NEVER vote for the public option. Heck, they won’t vote for ANY reform of the current system!

Our Senator, Jeff Bingaman, is one of the three Democrats in the “Gang of Six.” As a senior United States Senator, Bingaman has the clout to twist some arms. If you are one of the 77% of Americans who want a public option in any health insurance reform bill, call Senator Bingaman. It only takes a minute! His toll-free number is (800) 443-8658. Let him know that you support the public option, and that you expect him to twist some arms to get it!

Just in case you’re not comfortable making this call without knowing a little more, read on!

What is the so-called ‘public option’?
It’s a federally-sponsored alternative to private insurance. If you selected this option, you’d still pay premiums – just like to a private insurance company. BUT – the public plan could NOT deny you coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
It could NOT cancel your coverage when you got sick.
(Private health insurance companies do both! – They deny you coverage for pre-existing conditions, and they can – and do! – cancel your coverage when you get sick!)

Basically, the so-called ‘public option’ extends the benefits of Medicare to all citizens.
I can speak with experience regarding Medicare. My wife was forced to retire due to breast cancer three years ago. As soon as she retired, Medicare became her primary medical insurance. She has stage 4 – metastatic – breast cancer; it’s in her bones and in her liver. She’s on very expensive chemotherapy, and gets full diagnostic scans about once every three months. She came into Medicare with this disease – it was a “pre-existing condition”.
Medicare continues to pay her medical bills. It pays for her chemotherapy, and for her diagnostic scans. It pays for her monthly visits with her oncologist.
It’s great coverage – that she paid for with premiums paid over 30 years of her working life!

Does Medicare tell her what doctor she has to use? No!
Does Medicare require that she complete a living will, or participate in any other “end of life” planning? No!
In fact, she shopped around for an oncologist she likes!

Medicare is an evil single-payer system. Senator Max Baucus, the Democratic chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, took single-payer alternatives off the table even before the debate on health care reform began. (Canada has a fully nationalized single-payer system. Call your friends in Canada – they all love their health care system!)

Okay – so what about the 23% of folks who don’t want a public option?
Well – these are the same folks who think there’s a NAFTA highway coming through their backyards next week. They’re the same folks who believe that reimbursement for end-of-life planning is equivalent to mandatory “death panels” – in short, they’re the extreme right-wing fringe. Let’s not worry about ‘em. They’re the rugged individualists who believe that the federal government has no place in their lives – but they sure like mailing letters with a 43-cent stamp, and I bet they like the idea that their employers won’t maim ‘em on the job! (Oh, yeah – the Occupational Safety and Health Administration – OSHA – is a federal agency that protects YOU at work!)

More to the point – let’s tell Senator Bingaman not to worry about ‘em!
The right-wing fringe and their Republican enablers in the House and Senate will never support true reform!

If you’re one of the 77% of real Americans who believe the public option is essential to real reform, call Senator Bingaman today!
That number again is (800) 443-8658.