Will health care reform be stolen by Wall Street?
The outcome depends on citizen action.

Grassroots action (citizen lobbying) is needed immediately and steadily on the health care issue.

Health care reform is moving rapidly through Congress. The Senate Finance Committee (chaired by Senator Max Baucus, MT) intends to release a proposed bill this week - by May 22nd. House committees are not far behind.

Guess what. They are caving in to political pressure from Wall Street and the insurance industry.

Are we surprised? More than $550 million was spent on campaign cash and lobbying in 2008, by health industry corporate players - $200 million by insurance alone. What are they buying? - self-interest, that's what. We have to respond.

Which headline will we read this fall?

"WALL STREET REAPS BONANZA in revenues and profits from health care reform. Lobbying and campaign cash pays off, terrific return on buying Congress."
OR ...
"MAIN STREET UPRISING brings REAL health care reform to America. Lobbyists disappointed - but average Americans get the health care they deserve."

The time to shape the headline and
the outcome is NOW!

Key points and questions:

For more info, read WPC's Health care reform: Necessary features.

The US spends far more per person than any other country, but has millions uninsured and we're far behind in wellness and health outcomes. Why? Where do our premium dollars go? Over 30-cents of every health care dollar is wasted on administrative inefficiency, marketing, lobbying, profit and commissions in our private insurance system - which profits by insuring only the healthy and delaying or denying claims of the sick.

Congressional studies show a single-payer plan would be the most cost-efficient, covering everyone, and cost the least. But it's hated by the insurance industry, which is spending lavishly to influence Congress. And for now, Congressional leaders have declared any single payer plan "off the table" - not to be considered. (A win for Wall Street. There's no insurance industry profit in single payer!)

Here is what is still unknown, in Congress:

•  Will a public plan be included as an option, in any health care reform package?
•  Will it be a true public (non-profit) plan? Or, will it simply pass enrollees over to private insurance? (Think "slice and dice" of mortgages .. Wall Street has become good at that!)
•  Will a public plan be open to anyone who wants it? - including employee groups? Or, restricted only to those who can't qualify for private insurance?
•  Will it contain good benefits? Real choice of any health care provider? (The health insurance industry wants only weak competition - or none at all.)
•  Will it be affordable? (The health insurance industry argues against any public subsidy - even though they are heavily subsidized by taxpayers through Medicare, Medicaid, veterans benefits, and much more!)

Also, will insurance industry political muscle kill any reasonable plan - or shape it to their benefit - in the back rooms of Congress where campaign cash and lobbyists rule? They seem to have stopped single payer, and are fighting against a public plan option, too.

CITIZEN ACTION - What advocates can do:

•  Contact ALL federal lawmakers. Senator Cantwell is a priority, this week.
  (Contact info is here. Tell them: Support the interests of Main Street voters .. not Wall Street lobbyists!
•  Forward this email far and wide, to friends who worry about health care costs and coverage, and are concerned about what Congress is doing.
•  Become a supporting member of WPC, to support our organizing.
•  Stay informed and involved on this issue. If we sleep, we lose.
•  Download and distribute the flier, "What's it gonna take?"

Here's a sample message for lawmakers.

"We need affordable health care for all, in America - not simply more business profit for the insurance industry. Please listen to the voters, not the Wall Street lobbyists.

"Regardless of insurance industry pressure, please support health care reform that includes a public plan option, available to everyone, affordable, with good benefits, and allowing me to see any health care provider of my choosing.

*A suggestion from WPC: Your own call or email - short and concise, in your own words - is much stronger than a "Click-and-send" canned letter - although any voter action is better than none at all. That is why, for now, WPC does not use the "click-and-send" method.

Become an organizer! Ask your friends: "Do you care about ...

• how much you're paying for health care coverage
• whether you can keep your coverage if you lose your job or change jobs
• whether you have REAL choice to choose (or keep) the providers you want
• whether you'll be covered if a serious illness hits (instead of denied coverage based on fine print in your policy or previous conditions)

Invite your friends to join our movement and insist on health care for people .. not for industry profit. Bystanders won't count, and the issue is important and urgent! We must insist that lawmakers deliver a reform package that meets Main Street needs and pocketbooks - devoting our nation's resources toward wellness and coverage for all, rather than simply more customers and profit for a select industry.

And lastly - friends who care about health care reform must also support public financing of campaigns for Congress, and restrictions on campaign contributions by lobbyists. It's the only way we'll achieve real change in America.

Please remember:

1) What does health care reform have to do with WashClean and campaign finance reform? Everything! The debate in Congress over health care - influenced by fat-cat campaign donors - is the best current example of why fundamental reform is needed in how we finance campaigns.

2) Americans pay far more than necessary for health care coverage, mostly because we finance it through private insurance, and treat health care as a market commodity rather than a public service needed by everyone throughout life.

3) What keeps this grossly inefficient system in place, despite all logic? Of course, it's political favors and lawmaking for sale to the highest bidder, in Congress - combined with insurance industry spending on media/marketing, suggesting that "competition" is how to reduce health care costs.

4) The only way to get - and keep - REAL health care reform, is through publicly-financed campaigns. We have to end the reign of special-interest money on issues such as health care, energy policy, banking and finance, and much more. For now, our influence depends on exposing the undue influence of money in Congress - and on citizen action.

Let's win this struggle for affordable health care for all, and for an accountable government of the people, by the people, and for the people!

~ Craig Salins, Executive Director, Washington Public Campaigns

Contacting your federal representatives

Again, here is a direct link to their email blank forms for you to fill out and use:
CONTACT CONGRESS