Sunday, August 16, 2009

ACTION ALERT: Tell Obama & Congress to Keep Their Health Care Promises!

If this is really what they're up to, then the Obama Administration will have hell to pay.

The Obama administration sent signals on Sunday that it has backed away from its once-firm vision of a government organization to provide for the nation’s 50 million uninsured and is now open to using nonprofit cooperatives instead.

Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, said on Sunday morning that an additional government insurer is “not the essential element” of the administration’s plan to overhaul the country’s health care system.

“I think there will be a competitor to private insurers,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “That’s really the essential part, is you don’t turn over the whole new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right thing. We need some choices, we need some competition.”

Her less-than-forceful insistence on a government insurance organization was paralleled by Robert Gibbs, the president’s press secretary.

If they give up on the public option, then I give up in trying to make sure Obama gets a second term. It's really as simple as that. He already gave up on passing a strong climate and energy bill. He already gave up on putting real effort into repealing DOMA & DADT. He already gave up on passing the Employee Free Choice Act AND the Freedom of Choice Act. And supposedly, we needed to accept that these sacrifices had to be made this year so that we could see a health care bill passed with a strong public option and other pro-consumer reforms.

And now we won't even get that? The Administration now thinks we'll sit back and accept what now looks like a government bailout of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies? HELL, NO!

So are you as angry as I am? If so, then we must take action NOW to stop the "health care compromise" train wreck from getting any worse! First, send a message to President Obama that any health care "deal" with no public option, no prescription drug price negotiation, and no pro-consumer reforms is completely unacceptable and is will not be defended by us. Secondly, tell our Majority Leader Harry Reid not to accept this "compromise" as a done deal and work to make sure that the final Senate bill looks more like the HELP Committee (Kennedy-Dodd) bill with real pro-consumer reforms. And if you're lucky enough to be represented by Shelley Berkley or Dina Titus, ask them to support HR 3200 if and ONLY if it has a strong public option and other meaningful pro-consumer reforms. Otherwise, ask them to only support HR 676 and stop the HMO/drug companies bailout.

Get it? Got it? Good! We still have time to get real health care reform passed, so let's not let some weak-kneed politicians pull us down!

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