Dear Mr. President, Please Keep Your Promise on Health Care

OK, I did it. I found a way to get to the President and write to him on health care. I was just told by a friend that info@barackobama.com is the best way to write to President Obama. OFA staff actually read the emails that go there, and forward them on up. And since info@barackobama.com is the same email OFA uses to send fundraising requests and other "asks" in support of President Obama's agenda, they can immediately tell that you are a donor and/or volunteer.

So I just wrote my letter. I'll post it below if you need inspiration. But please, please, please write your own letter and make sure you send it before tomorrow's big health care speech! There is still time to make sure our voices don't get drowned out in the health care debate.

(And btw, send a copy to Harry Reid and Dina Titus/Shelley Berkley [depending on which one represents you] as well!)

Dear President Obama,

My name is Andrew Davey. I volunteered heavily for your campaign, first making calls to swing states before traveling to Nevada to help deliver those five electoral votes your way and elect Democrat Dina Titus to Congress in what was previously a "red district". I convinced some of my previously Republican friends and family to vote for you precisely because you offered real solutions to the problems we faced, problems like the recession and the lack of good health care.

I'm writing to you today about that promise you made on health care. You didn't just promise to do something or get a bill passed that the big name media pundits would call a "success". You promised to actually solve the problem, and that's why I not only voted for you but also worked hard on your campaign.

You promised to give us the consumers real choices, including the choice of a Medicare-like public option that would give us the care we need at a price we can afford. People like me are counting on this choice. I fear that not even I could afford to be forced into a costly HMO plan if one of the current "compromise" plans with no public option and no real cost controls passes. How is this change I can believe in? Or change I can afford?

Please, Mr. President, please don't forget all of us who worked so hard for your victory last November. We believed you then, and we still want to believe you now. We want to believe that change can happen here in America, and that working-class Americans still have a chance at a good life without worrying about medical bills, HMO premiums, and prescription drug prices.

We have already given the HMOs and the drug companies chance after chance to change their ways and be more fair to consumers. They haven't done so yet, and I doubt any more "stern warnings" without real action will make them change. Democrats have already compromised in foregoing a "Medicare for All" single-payer plan that would actually bring serious reform to our health care system by putting an end to HMO misdeeds and letting consumers call the shots. The least you and Congress can do is let us decide the plan we want, and not forcing us to buy any more ineffective and ridiculously expensive private insurance.

I hope this is what you will be saying tomorrow when you give your speech on health care. Please don't forget the promise you made to us. Please deliver on that promise and pass real health care reform with real choices, including a strong public option.

Thank you.

Andrew Davey
My Address
Henderson, NV 89074
(702) My phone #

P.S.: I now live here in Nevada, and I promise to do whatever I can to ensure my members of Congress vote for your plan so long as you keep your promise. Deal?