Health Care For America Now

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, released the following statement from HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome in response to today's National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) close vote to weaken the medical loss ratio and hand over $1.2 billion in consumer rebates to health insurance companies:

"Insurance commissioners ignored the NAIC's own research findings and supported efforts to rob consumers of $1.2 billion in rebates. The resolution they passed today attempts to eviscerate one of the toughest consumer protections in the health care law, a provision based on the NAIC's own recommendations last year.

"The commissioners who supported this proposal are tone-deaf to the skyrocketing health premium costs of average Americans. Commissioners said that of the many thousands of messages they received from consumers, not a single one supported the resolution.

"This vote was a disgrace. Instead of voting on the facts, the insurance commissioners buckled under pressure from the health insurance brokers and agents who made claims that weren't supported by NAIC data.

"Members of Congress and HHS Secretary Sebelius should dismiss this anti-consumer action, which would weaken the law that holds insurance companies accountable and puts a check on bloated CEO pay and record insurance company profits."

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Health Care for America Now is the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight over the past two years to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, released the following statement from HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome in response to the announcement that the Super Committee's work is done:

"The voices of the 99% are being heard on the Super Committee. The Democrats held the line on protecting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and they insisted that millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share in taxes. While the Republicans have wanted to make this about nothing but giving tax breaks to the 1%, the Democrats have made the fight about fundamental priorities, about siding with America's seniors, small businesses and working families rather than siding with the corporate special interests and super rich.

"This has been a fight about core values, about whether we want a country where people are left to fend for themselves or one where they can count on programs like Medicare to provide health security for America's seniors and peace of mind to their families.

"Because the Republicans wanted to give tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires more than they wanted a solution, the Super Committee turned out to be the dead end that many expected. Now it's time to move on and get to the business of putting people back to work."

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Health Care for America Now is the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight over the past two years to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.

For Immediate Release - NOVEMBER 18, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, released the following statement from HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome on the House vote scheduled for today on a "balanced budget" constitutional amendment proposal that would cripple the economy, put 15 million Americans out of work and doom Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security:

"Requiring a balanced budget every year without regard for the condition of the economy or important national needs would force deep cuts to vital programs like Medicaid and Medicare, and it would remake our country into a society where everyone is on their own.

"The Republican plan would put the gradual elimination of essential programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security into the Constitution. It would permanently protect millionaire tax breaks and corporate tax loopholes while destroying programs critical to middle class and low-income families. It would end the American Dream as we know it.

"Americans would earn less, the economy would shrink and access to decent health care would exist only for the wealthy. As one independent economic analysis found, the effect on the economy would be catastrophic.

"The Republican proposal not only discourages sound long-term investments in our future - it prohibits them. If the Republican proposal applied to household budgets, families would have to pay cash-in-full for their homes or their kid's college education instead of taking loans to fund the investment. The Republican proposal is designed for a 1% world, not for the rest of us.

"The balanced budget amendment may have an appealing title, but it masks what it would really do."

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Health Care for America Now is the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight over the past two years to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.

Seniors, workers who rely on overwhelmingly effective social programs tell Congress to fight for jobs and the middle class, not for the greed of the wealthiest 1%

Washington, D.C. - Frustrated constituents from across the country spent this morning urging lawmakers to "wake up" and protect Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security from cuts being discussed in the waning days of the Super Committee negotiations.

Seniors, people with disabilities and workers started the day early by waking up Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), a member of the Senate minority leadership, in "alarming" fashion at Bistro Bis, a local restaurant. Carrying gold alarm clocks and signs, angry protesters shut down a breakfast fundraiser for Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Senator Kyl, the keynote speaker, hurried out as protesters entered the restaurant and chanted, "It's a new morning, it's a new day; Wake up Congress and make the 1% pay." Protesters followed Sen. Kyl to his vehicle and demanded to know if the Senator plans to protect the 99% of people who depend on these critical services or the richest 1% of Americans who don't want to pay their fair share of taxes.

To see video of 99% activists shutting down the fancy fundraiser for Sen. Hatch hosted by big health care corporations, click here.

Ferrol Wegner, 84, a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, traveled to Washington all the way from Des Moines to find out why Sen. Kyl is so alert when he's listening to the wealthiest 1% of Americans but his attention drifts away when the subject is the concerns of average people. "We want him to listen to the 99%, not just the 1% who can afford to come to these fundraisers," Wegner said. "We expect members of the Super Committee to act in the best interests of the majority-people like me who depend on Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security every day-instead of the richest 1% who only care about protecting their wealth."

Protesters then joined a larger crowd outside the restaurant and marched to the Dirksen Senate Office Building for a rally with Senators Ben Cardin (D-MD), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The senators, joined by Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), urged their colleagues on the 12-member Super Committee to reject cutbacks to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Seniors, faith leaders and people with disabilities from Massachusetts, Montana, Ohio, New Jersey, Iowa, Illinois and other states recounted personal stories about the devastation they would suffer if the bipartisan Super Committee slashes Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid.

The 12-member Super Committee is considering cutbacks for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid as it approaches a Nov. 23 deadline for a deficit reduction plan. Cuts in those programs would irreparably harm seniors, workers, people with disabilities and America's middle-class and low-income families. At the same time it is contemplating various cuts, the Super Committee members continue to dismiss demands from the public that the deal accomplish its deficit-reduction goal by raising taxes on wealthy corporations and individuals instead of just cutting benefits from people who receive benefits from Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

Dr. Jessica Eng, a physician from Boston Medical Center, the largest safety-net health care provider in New England, described how the proposed cuts would harm her patients and the health of millions of others across Massachusetts and the nation. Dr. Eng echoed the message that no Super Committee deal is better than a deal that cuts Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

Following the Senate rally, participants fanned out to visit the offices of Super Committee members and deliver the alarm clocks that should wake them up to reject any budget plan that cuts Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security for the 99% while protecting the richest 1%.

"Some Super Committee members are drawing a line in the sand, with the 1% on one side of it and the rest of America on the other," said Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now. "Lawmakers should stay strong for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security and demand that the super-rich and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes. No deal is better than a bad deal."

CO-SPONSORS: AFL-CIO, AFSCME, Alliance for a Just Society, Alliance For Retired Americans, Campaign for America's Future, Campaign for Community Change, Caring Across Generations, Health Care for America Now, International Longshore And Warehouse Union, National Committee To Preserve Social Security and Medicare, National Domestic Workers Alliance, National Nurses United, National People's Action, PICO Network, SEIU, Social Security Works and Strengthen Social Security Campaign.

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Health Care for America Now is the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight over the past two years to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.

For Immediate Release
NOVEMBER 10, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

Numerous Conflicts of Interest Make It Impossible for Thomas to Render Fair, Impartial Decision on Affordable Care Act

Washington, DC - U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has significant conflicts of interest that make it impossible for him to render a fair, impartial decision in the health care case being reviewed today by the Court, according to Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's largest grassroots health care advocacy organization.

"Justice Thomas has so many conflicts of interest he should recuse himself," said HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome. "Political groups determined to repeal or overturn the Affordable Care Act have been filling his family bank account for years. His wife Virginia has been a crusader in the campaign to defeat the law. She has raised money and taken money from organized efforts to kill health reform.

"At the same time, Justice Thomas personally has aligned himself with political activists and organizations dedicated to thwarting the law. He spoke at a secret conclave run by the billionaire Koch Brothers to raise funds for organizations like Americans for Prosperity. There is simply no way that Justice Thomas can render a fair decision in this important case."

Justice Thomas failed to disclose until January that his wife received income of nearly $690,000 between 2003 and 2006 from the Heritage Foundation, a leading proponent of overturning the Affordable Care Act.

Seventy-four members of the House of Representatives have taken the highly unusual step of requesting that Justice Thomas remove himself from participation in deliberations on the Affordable Care Act. If Justice Thomas fails to recuse himself, it will threaten the integrity of the entire Supreme Court.

A conservative group has issued a call for Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan to recuse herself from the same case. "This is part of a politically motivated and baseless attack designed to divert the public's focus away from the substantive and compelling evidence of Justice Thomas's conflicts of interest," Rome said.

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Health Care for America Now is the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight over the past two years to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.

This post has been updated with videos and a photo from Friday's event.

Here is a great video of the event from the Other 98%.

This is a video of the march: Occupy the Kochs - Guerrilla Drive-In

From Velvet Revolution: Koch Brothers Guerrilla Drive-In Protest at Wash Convention Center

This photo was taken by Common Cause. You can view more of their photos from the event here.

Thanks for Making the Occupy the Koch Brothers Guerrilla Drive-In a Huge Success!

Thank you to the 1,000 people who turned out Friday night, November 4, 2011, for the "Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla Drive-In" at the Washington Convention Center. Health Care for America Now and the advocacy group The Other 98% led the protest of the billionaire Kochs Brothers' front group, Americans for Prosperity, which hosted a gala dinner that night as part of a two-day conference featuring speeches by GOP presidential candidates Herman Cain and Mitt Romney.

Numerous progressive organizations teamed up with HCAN and the Other 98% to protest the Koch Brothers' corruption of the American political system at the unusual outdoor film festival. Americans for Prosperity, which spends millions advancing its extremist right-wing political agenda with the financial support of billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch and their companies, held the "Defend the American Dream" event to celebrate efforts to protect the richest people and corporations from paying their fair share in taxes and to eliminate important programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Protesters gathered at the Guerrilla Drive-In to enjoy popcorn, good food and political satire videos highlighting the Kochs' efforts to destroy the American Dream, shrink the middle class, increase America's growing income inequality, preserve tax breaks for special interests like Big Oil and strip workers of their rights. They sang satirical songs and marched around the massive Convention Center complex.

The protest showed that Americans are not going to accept a corporate takeover of our country. The event we started drew hundreds of Occupy DC and Occupy K Street people who joined in with our action. Later, those activists staged actions of their own around the hall.

"The Kochs and their front groups are trying to steal our democracy to make the 1% even richer," said HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome. "They and their cronies have purchased the Republican Party to destroy America's middle class, including taking away health care and stripping workers of the right to bargain for a better life. Across the country people are raising their voices in protest because they're fed up with a system stacked in favor of the richest 1%."

"The Koch brothers are not just the 1% — they are the .00001%," said John Sellers, co-founder of The Other 98%, which co-produced the Drive-In with HCAN. "They are the poster children for the hostile corporate takeover of our democracy, and it's about time they heard from the rest of us."

Occupy the Kochs comes as progressives across the country have been speaking out to put Americans back to work, tax the 1% and pressure the Super Committee not to make a bad deal for the 99%. For more than a month, Americans of all ages and backgrounds have been on the streets expressing their rejection of corporate money in politics at Occupy events and other movement protests across the U.S., and Occupy the Kochs demonstrates that the momentum for change is building.

Here are the progressive groups that joined up with HCAN and the Other 98% to stage the Guerrilla Drive-In: Campaign for America's Future, Campaign for Community Change, Common Cause, Justice Through Music, Oil Change International, Public Campaign, Public Citizen, Rebuild the Dream, Tar Sands Action, True Majority, USAction, and Velvet Revolution.

For Immediate Release NOVEMBER 4, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

‘Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla Drive-In' Plays in DC After Cain, Romney Kiss the Kochs' Rings at Americans for Prosperity Meeting

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the advocacy group The Other 98% and numerous progressive organizations (see list below) teamed up today to protest the billionaire Koch Brothers' corruption of the American political system at an unusual outdoor film festival in the nation's capital. The "Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla Drive-In" runs tonight at the Washington Convention Center, where the Kochs' front group, Americans for Prosperity, is hosting a gala dinner as part of a two-day conference featuring speeches by GOP presidential candidates Herman Cain and Mitt Romney.

Americans for Prosperity, which spends millions advancing its right-wing political agenda with the financial support of billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch and their companies, is holding the "Defend the American Dream" event to celebrate efforts to protect the richest people and corporations from paying their fair share in taxes and to eliminate important programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Protesters will gather at the Guerrilla Drive-In to enjoy popcorn, good food and political satire videos highlighting the Kochs' efforts to destroy the American Dream, shrink the middle class, increase America's growing income inequality, preserve tax breaks for special interests like Big Oil and strip workers of their rights. Several co-sponsors of Occupy the Kochs said the protest tonight shows that Americans are not going to accept a corporate takeover of our country.

"The Kochs and their front groups are trying to steal our democracy to make the 1% even richer," said HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome. "They and their cronies have purchased the Republican Party to destroy America's middle class, including taking away health care and stripping workers of the right to bargain for a better life. Across the country people are raising their voices in protest because they're fed up with a system stacked in favor of the richest 1%."

"The Koch brothers are not just the 1% — they are the .00001%," said John Sellers, co-founder of The Other 98%. "They are the poster children for the hostile corporate takeover of our democracy, and it's about time they heard from the rest of us."

"The Koch brothers are trying to create an America that works better for millionaires and billionaires and worse for the rest of us," said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America's Future. "Their American Dream is an American nightmare of continued income inequality with little or no government to protect the people."

"The Koch brothers' idea of a working democracy is one that works for them and their bottom line, not for everyday Americans," said Nick Nyhart, president and CEO of Public Campaign. "They should have no more say over what Congress does than any of the rest of us."

"We're Occupying the Kochs tonight because Americans are angry about the corporate takeover of our democracy," said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen. "Democracy is rule by the people, not rule by corporations. There's no role for the global warming-denying Koch Brothers in our electoral politics, or for other giant corporations. We need major campaign finance reforms, including a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United v. FEC, to reclaim our democracy."

Occupy the Kochs comes as progressives across the country have been speaking out to put Americans back to work, tax the 1% and pressure the Super Committee not to make a bad deal for the 99%. For more than a month, Americans of all ages and backgrounds have been on the streets expressing their rejection of corporate money in politics at Occupy events and other movement protests across the U.S., and Occupy the Kochs demonstrates that the momentum for change is building.

WHAT: Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla Drive-In at the gala dinner of the Koch Brothers' front group, Americans for Prosperity

WHERE: 1025 Seventh Street NW (corner of L Street), 1 block south of Mt. Vernon/Convention Center Metro station

WHEN: Friday, November 4, from 6:00 to 8:15 p.m. (Media should arrive by 6:45 p.m.)

SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS: Campaign for America's Future, Campaign for Community Change, Common Cause, Health Care for America Now, Justice Through Music, Oil Change International, The Other 98%, Public Campaign, Public Citizen, Rebuild the Dream, Tar Sands Action, True Majority, USAction, and Velvet Revolution. They will be joined by hundreds of people opposed to health insurers, Big Oil and Wall Street taking over our political process and destroying the middle class.

For more information, click here.

To follow the event on Twitter, go to #OccupyTheKochs. You can also text @GuerrillaTeamDC to 23559.

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By Ethan Rome - Executive Director, Health Care for America Now

Americans for Prosperity, the right-wing advocacy tool of the infamous Koch Brothers, is hosting a national conference Friday and Saturday cynically called, "Defending the American Dream." Featured speakers include Herman Cain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. They've got workshops on topics like killing collective bargaining and repealing health care reform.

Health Care for America Now and the advocacy group The Other 98%, along with several other organizations, are sponsoring a counter-protest Friday night to expose the corrosive role of corporate money in politics and the dangerous agenda of organizations like Americans for Prosperity (AFP) that want to keep the richest people and corporations from paying their fair share in taxes and to eliminate important programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. (Click here and here for event information).

Charles and David Koch are the biggest players in extremist Republican politics. They've personally contributed more than $85 million to right-wing causes over the last 15 years. They convene regular meetings of super-rich people and organize them to contribute large sums to their campaign to destroy the American Dream, shrink the middle class, increase America's growing income inequality, preserve tax breaks for special interests like Big Oil, and strip workers of their rights. They'll do anything, no matter how harmful it may be to our country, to advance the interests of big corporations and the 1%.

In August of 2009 the drive for health care reform was almost derailed as the tea party disrupted one congressional town hall after another, dominating the news with anti-government Obama-haters spouting falsehoods about death panels. Most of the "grassroots activity" was astroturfing, powered by right-wing groups in Washington, D.C. and funded by the Kochs, who were dubbed the "financial engine of the tea party" by none other than Mitt Romney.

For those of us fighting for health care reform, the forces against us in those town halls almost stopped our campaign in its tracks. But something even more dramatic was taking shape. The so-called tea party movement was gaining steam, and it was getting help, direction and amplification from a variety of organizations that represent and are funded by corporate lobbyists, not real people. It was a movement conceived and driven by a Republican issue advocacy machine, and the Kochs' fingerprints were all over it. Then things got even worse in 2010 thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's destructive Citizens United decision, which gave a major boost to the Kochs' rapidly expanding political empire.

AFP is the Koch Brothers front group at the center of all this. Along with FreedomWorks and other organizations backed by the Kochs and their allies, AFP is dedicated to stopping progressive change everywhere they can and rolling back the clock on every important social and economic justice achievement in our country.

The Kochs and their front groups are trying to steal our democracy. They and their cronies have purchased the Republican Party to serve their agenda of destroying America's middle class, including crushing workers and their unions.

Back in February, Americans for Prosperity sent busloads of people to Madison, Wisconsin, to support Gov. Scott Walker's attempt to decimate Wisconsin's public service unions and the middle class they helped build, while more than 100,000 people rallied for their rights.

Right now in Ohio, the Kochs, AFP, Republicans like Karl Rove and a host of fanatical right-wing organizations are doing everything they can to block an effort by the 99% to repeal the new state law that strips public employees of the right to bargain for stronger and safer communities and a better life for their families.

All across the country people are raising their voices in protest because they're fed up with a system stacked in favor of the richest 1%.

Progressives are on offense right now. Let's keep that going.

For more information about Occupy the Kochs, click here. Follow news about the event on Twitter at #OccupytheKochs.

For NOVEMBER 4, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-587-1634
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

‘Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla Drive-In' Set for Nov. 4 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the advocacy group The Other 98% and numerous progressive organizations (see list below) are teaming up to expose the billionaire Koch Brothers' corruption of the American political system on Friday, Nov. 4, at an unusual outdoor film festival in the nation's capital. The "Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla Drive-In" will take place at the Washington Convention Center, where the Kochs' front group, Americans for Prosperity, is hosting a gala dinner. The extremist organization, which spends millions advancing its right-wing political agenda, is holding the "Defend the American Dream" event to celebrate efforts to protect the richest people and corporations from paying their fair share in taxes and to eliminate important programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Protesters will gather by the hundreds at the Guerrilla Drive-In to enjoy popcorn, good food and political satire videos highlighting the Kochs' efforts to destroy the American Dream, shrink the middle class, increase America's growing income inequality, preserve tax breaks for Big Oil and eliminate workers' rights to bargain for a better life and better public services.

Occupy the Kochs comes as progressives across the country have been speaking out to put Americans back to work, tax the 1% and pressure the Super Committee not to make a bad deal for the 99%. For more than a month, Americans of all ages and backgrounds have been on the streets expressing their rejection of corporate money in politics at the Occupy events and other movement protests across the U.S., and that momentum is building. This week in Washington, the Occupy K Street protest continues, National Nurses United is demonstrating at the White House and on Capitol Hill to demand that Wall Street banks pay their fair share in taxes, MoveOn is holding Make Wall Street Pay events in Washington and around the country, and Tar Sands Action plans to form a human circle around the White House on Nov. 6 to ask President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

WHAT: Occupy the Kochs Guerrilla Drive-In at the gala dinner of the Koch Brothers' front group, Americans for Prosperity

WHERE: 1025 Seventh Street NW (corner of L Street), 1 block south of Mt. Vernon/Convention Center Metro station

WHEN: Friday, November 4, from 6:00 to 8:15 p.m. (Media should arrive by 6:45 p.m.)

SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS: Campaign for America's Future, Campaign for Community Change, Common Cause, Health Care for America Now, Justice Through Music, Oil Change International, The Other 98%, Public Campaign, Public Citizen, Rebuild the Dream, Tar Sands Action, True Majority, USAction, and Velvet Revolution. They will be joined by hundreds of people opposed to health insurers, Big Oil and Wall Street taking over our political process and destroying the middle class.

For more information, click here.

To follow the event on Twitter, go to #OccupyTheKochs.

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Washington, DC - Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, released this statement from Executive Director Ethan Rome about the health insurance industry's plan to increase health insurance premiums by at least $73 billion through 2019 by passing industry tax costs to consumers and businesses:

"It's outrageous that health insurance companies would threaten to pass along to ratepayers a tax that should be paid by the company's Wall Street investors, especially when insurers are making record profits. At a time when Americans are struggling to make ends meet, this threat is the kind of reprehensible behavior from big corporations that has driven Americans into the streets in protest.

"The new tax was meant to capture some of the insurers' excessive profits to benefit the public, not get passed on to consumers by CEOs who make more money in a few hours than many people make in a year. Health insurance CEOs have collected more than $1 billion in personal compensation in the last decade while the majority of Americans are barely getting by.

"The health insurance companies' relentless pursuit of profit and disregard for people offers another window into how big corporations have abused people and twisted the economy to serve their own interests. The public won't stand for this just as Bank of America customers were unwilling to accept unjustified debit-card fees. No actuary or report can make this look like anything other than unbridled greed."

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Health Care for America Now is the nation's leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight over the past two years to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.