Grassroots Activists Ask Senators Where They Stand on Public Plan
Posted on June 17th, 2009 by Alex Thurston in Take Action!
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The legislative fight over health care reform is heating up, and the American people deserve to know where their senators stand on the critical issue of a public plan.
Grassroots activists want answers, and we need your help bringing pressure to bear on the Senate. Democracy For America and Health Care for America Now are teaming up with Open Left's Chris Bowers for a campaign to email senators asking if they back the public plan. Bowers explains how the campaign will work:
No more dodges. No more vague, open-ended responses. We need every member of the Senate–main obstacle to reform–to answer four questions on the public option:
Do you support a public healthcare option as part of healthcare reform?
If so, do you support a public healthcare option that is available on day one?
Do you support a public healthcare option that is national, available everywhere, and accountable to Congress?
Do you support a public healthcare option that can bargain for rates from providers and big drug companies?
As activists and as constituents, answering these questions are the minimum they owe us. We are entitled to specific, clear, written responses to all of these questions.
Email–don't call, but email–these four questions to your Senators now. Make it clear that you want a written response to all four questions. There needs to be as little room for interpretation as possible. The Senate is going to be the biggest hurdle on health care, as it has proven to the biggest hurdle on all legislation in 2009. That is where we must focus our pressure.
When you receive a response, post it on this webpage. We are going to collect all of the responses to find out where every member of Congress, but especially the Democratic members, stand on the public option. It is only with this information that we can prevent backroom deals that will sell us out to insurance companies.
If they don't respond, we will keep emailing until they respond. If they dodge the questions and don't provide specifics, then we will keep emailing until they do. If we keep the pressure up, they are going to have to respond eventually.
It is about time that every Senator make their position clear. We are entitled to responses. Email your Senators today.
With these tools, it's easy to get started. Even one email helps keep track of what kind of pressure senators and getting and what they are saying back to their constituents. We hope you'll get involved!
Lincoln, Blanche L.
Contact info: http://lincoln.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Up for re-election in 2010: Yes
What their website says:
HEALTH CARE
A health care crisis is looming on the horizon. Health care access and affordability are out of reach for too many hard-working Americans. As a Member of the Senate Finance Committee, I am working with my colleagues to provide immediate relief for hard working Americans and find practical long-term solutions to our nation’s health care challenges. True health care reform will require all sectors of our society–policymakers, businesses, and individuals–to work together to ensure a healthy future for all Americans.
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Mark Pryor
Contact info: http://pryor.senate.gov/contact/
Up for re-election in 2010: No. Just re-elected in 2008
What their website says:
HEALTH CARE
As I travel around Arkansas, I most often hear about problems individuals are having keeping up with the cost of health care, whether its seniors concerned about the skyrocketing price of prescription drugs or a working parent struggling to keep up with the ever-increasing price tag of health care coverage.
Approximately 500,000 Arkansans are uninsured, which means almost one out of every five people living in our state has no health coverage at all. To that end I support tax credits to help employers obtain health insurance for their employees and tax credits for individuals who purchase coverage on their own. I also believe that Congress needs to make health care more accessible to rural families and help rural health care providers cope with rising costs and the difficulties of providing services in sparsely populated areas.
Finally, Americans will continue to pay more for their drugs then any other people in the entire world unless Congress and the Administration allow the safe importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other industrialized countries. Arkansans pay 33-88 percent more for their drugs than our neighbors in Canada. I am fighting to change this injustice on behalf of our seniors, children, and parents who can no longer feed the profit margins of our nation’s drug companies.
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Boozman, John
Contact info: http://boozman.house.gov/Contact/
Up for re-election in 2010: No. Just re-elected in 2008
What their website says:
HEALTH CARE
During the twenty-six years that I practiced optometry in Rogers, I saw incredible changes in the health care field. Today's medicines and treatments have given people a longer lease on life and for that we should be grateful.
However, these changes have come with a price. Recent trends in the health care industry show a staggering increase in cost, both to the provider and the recipient, that threaten our health care infrastructure. This is especially true in rural areas, where access to quality health care services are limited.
In recent years, we have taken steps in the House of Representatives to try to address this crisis. We passed legislation that would limit medical malpractice abuse; upgrade our rural healthcare infrastructure; allow small businesses to pool together and purchase affordable insurance plans for their employees; and to promote the use of tax-free health savings accounts. We have prohibited massive cuts to Medicare reimbursements for physicians and worked to implement a new Medicare prescription drug plan that is helping more seniors than ever before. Lastly, we have placed a large focus on promoting medical research, disease awareness, and preventative medicine.
Nevertheless, we still have more work to do. We must not lose sight of the fact that many of our poorest families have no health care coverage, seniors are still struggling to find doctors who will treat Medicare patients, and that a number of diseases, like diabetes and cancer, are still running rampant.
My background as both a small business owner and a health care provider gives me a good perspective from which to work with my colleagues in Congress to lower the costs of quality health care for all Americans. We are committed to making this a top priority in the 111th Congress and it is my hope that the Senate will join us in making these much needed reforms to our healthcare system
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Victor F. (Vic) Snyder
Contact info: http://www.house.gov/snyder/contact.shtml
Up for re-election in 2010: No. Just re-elected in 2008
What their website says:
HEALTH CARE
Having worked as a family practice physician in Central Arkansas for more than fifteen years, I understand the American healthcare system, and I am an advocate of adequate and affordable healthcare for all Americans. I support expanding health insurance coverage to the 46 million Americans currently without insurance. I voted for the reauthorization of the State Health Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to provide insurance to 10 million low-income children, but the President vetoed the legislation. Subsequently, we were able to pass SCHIP legislation extending coverage to 5 million children.
I understand the importance of Medicare and Medicaid for Arkansans, and I have signed numerous letters in opposition to funding cuts to these programs proposed by the Bush Administration. Further, it is important that doctors with Medicare patients are reimbursed adequately so that they will continue to take Medicare patients, and I have supported legislation that prevented cuts to physician reimbursement. I will continue to support legislation that ensures the solvency of these programs.
I am a fervent supporter of increased medical research, and I have continually signed letters to appropriators asking for significant increases in the budget at National Institutes of Health (NIH). I have also sponsored numerous bills that would advance research for specific diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
I am a strong supporter of mental health parity legislation, and was pleased to vote for the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, which successfully passed the House in March. This bill would prevent insurers from discriminating against mental health conditions and require them to treat mental health conditions the same as physical health conditions.
I am a co-chair of the Global Health Caucus, and I have sponsored several pieces of legislation that would provide essential resources to improve health conditions in the developing world.
I am continually bafled about why no one but Jesse Jackson (and that was years ago) has ever called the condition of health care in the US imoral!
It is imoral (not right) that money determines the kind of health care people get.
People who do not understand this have very little claim to an understanding of o
the infinite value of human life.
How odd that the so many so called pro lifers (who are not pro anything) are against equal health care for all.
Thanks for reading. I just had to get this off my chest.
Please email me with any info about I can help in Florida.