With the nation focused on our economy, higlighted by the spiraling price of gas, Phil Bredesen, the governor of Tennessee, hits on the larger issue:

Gas prices are in the political spotlight right now; this year's spike has been painful and the calls for action —  and heads  —  have pushed other issues to the side. But it is worth remembering that when it comes to real, sustained growth in costs, when it comes to real, sustained erosion of families' disposable income, gas still can't hold a candle to the real elephant in the room: health care.

If gas prices had risen during my adult lifetime  —  since I got out of high school in 1961  —  at the same rate as per capita health-care expenditures, gas would not be $4 a gallon today. It would be about $15.

In this election season, we need to demand more attention to health care. It's not the squeaky wheel now, but after gas prices have been driven down or we have bought smaller cars, our health-care problem will still be with us.

I want to connect this with a larger point. Health care costs, as Bredesen points out, are 1/6th of our economy. How do we expect to get our economic situation fixed with 15% of our economy tied up in a wasteful system that fails to provide customers with the value it promises.

Via NBC:

More than 45 million people in the U.S. have no health insurance. So, where do they go when they're sick or hurt?

Many leave and head out of the country where they can afford to pay for the care they need on a trip becoming known as medical tourism.

A torn bicep caused searing pain, and a dilemma for Stephen Hoyle. He could not afford the surgery to fix it.

"We are one of America's 20 million uninsured families, and started looking at costs approaching $20,000," Hoyle said.

Hoyle was priced out of the U.S. Health Care System, so he flew to Costa Rica, where medical costs are dramatically lower.

Hoyle joined an estimated 500,000 Americans traveling out of the U.S. every year for some type of medical care. Care they can't afford here.

It's simply amazing that it is cheaper to fly thousands of miles to a foreign country than to have a medical procedure here at home. It speaks to the incredible amount of waste and bloat in the private health care system that sick Americans routinely subject themselves to long trips in foreign lands because their country couldn't provide them quality, affordable coverage. And it's more than just health tourism. As Holly from Aurora, IL told us, the health care crisis in America is forcing hard working people to contemplate leaving the country they love:

citizentube, a Google citizen outreach project, has featured our video, "Insurance Company Rules," on their blog. Perfect timing.

We are getting ready to ramp up to the next stage of our campaign. Here's the email we just sent to our list:

$217 million per hour.

That's how much Americans spend on health care according to testimony in front of Congress' Joint Economic Committee by experts from the American Human Development Project.

24 hours a day. 365 days a year. For a total of almost $2 trillion spent every year, 16% of our GDP - more than any other nation on earth. And for what?

According to the World Health Organization, America ranks 37th in the world for best health care systems, behind countries we'd expect like France, Japan, and Norway, and also countries that might surprise you, like Colombia, Saudi Arabia, and Chile. And it's not just our health care. According to the American Human Development Project:

Lisa Codisopti, Senior Advisor at the National Women's Law Center, lays out the case for a national public health insurance plan, a plan that we here at Health Care for America Now feel is crucial to solving our health care crisis: 

Indeed, states have been at the forefront of health reform since a federal solution has been remarkably absent. But, as I've often said, state efforts are neither big enough nor fast enough to meet the challenges of health reform. They will, for instance, inevitably hit one major roadblock—fluctuating state budgets. It is clear that we need federal action to fix our health care system.

A glimpse at the areas hardest hit by Katrina are a great illustration of this need. Yesterday I attended a presentation on the community health centers in the area surrounding New Orleans. These public clinics—like so many around the country—serve as a vital health safety net by providing critical health services to the uninsured. Pre-Katrina, the clinics served a population with an uninsured rate of about 20 percent; in the months following the hurricane, this rate practically doubled, putting a major strain on an already weak safety net. Louisiana is doing the best it can to rebuild the broken health care system in the area around New Orleans, but there are limits to how much one state can reasonably accomplish. Federal initiatives to expand coverage could change the picture entirely; imagine how different things could be for those impacted by Katrina if they didn't have to worry about losing their health care because they had to leave the area or find another job. Frankly, imagine if any one of us didn't have to worry about losing health care for any number of reasons that have nothing to do with a hurricane (such widowhood, divorce, or becoming self-employed)?

Read the full article here.

Robert Borosage has a great essay up at Campaign for America's Future's Blog for Our Future. An excerpt:

Americans will begin to tune into the election again around the conventions. And in the fall, they'll start to take a closer look at who the candidates are and what they believe. Issues matter less in this assessment than broad measures of the candidate's character and sense about whether he has a clue.

In this assessment, I suspect that one issue, seldom mentioned now, is going to matter a great deal by November. Iraq will be big no doubt; the economy bigger. But health care may just be the pothole that cracks up McCain's Straight Talk Express.

Click through to read the full article, an excellent argument as to why health care will be the most important issue this November.

We are standing here today because a person's health should no longer be trumped by a corporation's bottom line.

Read more…

Connecticut Citizen Action Group and its allies, under the banner of the "Health Care for America Now" campaign, staged a march and demonstration Thursday.

Read more…

Yesterday, dozens of citizens, union members, and Health Care for America Now supporters rallied in downtown Hartford to ask Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell, "Which side are you on, the side of quality affordable health care for all, or the side of the insurance companies?"

Trestman spoke from the steps of the Capitol on Thursday as part of a demonstration calling on Rell and the business community, in the form of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, to cut the cost and broaden the accessibility of health insurance during the 2009 legislative session.

"In 2009, we will either have a guarantee of quality, affordable health care we all can count on or we will continue to be at the mercy of the private health insurance industry that is charging us more, giving us less and putting company profits before our health," Phil Sherwood, deputy director of Connecticut Citizen Action Group, said in a release.

Governor Rell pledged to take up the issue again in the 2009 legislative session, but fell short of signing our pledge declaring which side she's on. We're not satisfied. America spends 16% of its GDP on health care, far more than the rest of the world. At a time when our economy is in recession and Americans are finding they have less money for transportation, food, and leisure, a publicly funded health care solution would do wonders to ease the strain. And it would eliminate the waste and abuse that currently siphons off billions every year towards private industry profits, administrative costs, and advertising.

Today, HCAN supporters in Richmond, VA will be rallying outside of private insurer Anthem's Richmond headquarters and releasing a report on the private insurance industry entitled, "Insuring Health or Ensuring Profit? — A Snapshot of the Health Insurance Industry in the United States."

If you're in the area, please come out and show your support! Here are the details.

As if Karen Ignagni's slippery answers to tough questions weren't proof enough, as if AHIP's history as a front group for the insurance industry weren't convincing, we have this, via Chris Fates at the Politico:

The progressive group Health Care for America Now on Thursday launched another jab at the insurance industry’s health care reform campaign. The new YouTube ad mocks the listening tour launched this week by America’s Health Insurance Plans.

The video spot highlights the fact that calls to the campaign’s 800 number go straight to voice mail. A frustrated caller leaves a message saying, in part, “If you really want to listen, pick up the phone.”

You heard that right. AHIP's new listening tour lists an 800 number as a contact, and that 800 number goes directly to voicemail. Here's the original video:

As Fates notes, he got the same message when we called in. And AHIP didn't return his request for a comment. Big surprise.

The health insurance industry wants to seem like it's listening to you, but they are only looking out for one thing: Their bottom line.

It didn't take long for AHIP's fake campaign to come crumbling down.

UPDATE:

Slate's Timothy Nash ads this:

Trivia point: The same phone number was previously used in a lobby campaign by the Poker Players Alliance, whose chairman is former Sen. Alfonse D'Amato of New York, aka "Senator Pothole." The alliance, which represents the online gaming industry, fought unsuccessfully against a bill restricting online poker.