HealthCareForAmericaNow

When the transition team Change.org asked the American people to provide the best ideas for change in 2009–the erstwhile Jason Rosenbaum suggested the idea, "Pass a health care plan that provides quality, affordable health care for everyone in 2009, so we can start to get our economy and our country back on track."

Not surprisingly, this was one of the most popular ideas submitted. In fact, it's #4! I think it should be number one. Please go to Change.gov Change.org and vote for quality, affordable health care for all:

VOTE HERE. VOTE TODAY.

We know that almost every one in America is affected by the health care crisis, and we are very happy to see that the incoming administration understands this as they have demonstrated with the appointment of Tom Daschle and his Health Care Community Discussions. I hosted a discussion this week, and I was particularly moved by the statement of one of the participants that really boiled the whole conversation about health care down to its essence. Karima from VA summed it all up saying, “I don’t really care how it happens. I just think that when people are sick they should be able to go to the doctor and not worry about the cost.”

Let the Obama Administration know that we want quality, affordable health care for all now–and we are making it our priority too.

VOTE HERE. VOTE TODAY.

NOTE: There was some confusion here about Change.gov and Change.org. We apologize for the mix up.

Many of you signed up to be hosts at the community health care discussions sponsored by the Obama transition team and Sen. Daschle on Change.gov. Thanks for that. We are happy that the transition team is making this a priority and going to great lengths to get input from people like you who are most affected by the health care crisis in America.

I have been getting a lot of emails and phone calls asking for more information on these discussions. If you would like to know more, or if you want to host a discussion, please sign up at Change. gov. They will send you a Discussion Moderator Guide and let you know how to send your notes back to the transition team.

Here is a link we set up to get you on your way.

Thanks for participating!

As was announced last week, the Obama transition is asking people around the country to host community health care discussions any time from December 15th through December 31st. The Obama team will provide each host with materials and listen to all the feedback. And Senator Tom Daschle will attend one of the discussions!

Health Care for America Now wants to support Obama's initiative, and we'll do it one better. We're going to try and get as many Members of Congress that support our principles out to discussions that our supporters organize. So, click here, tell us you're hosting a discussion, and we'll redirect you to change.gov so you can sign up with the Obama transition team.

Starting today, Health Care for America Now is running ads in Washington, DC, reminding Congress and decision makers here in our nation's capital exactly what happened on November 4th. Here's the ad:

Barack Obama ran on health care, plain and simple. He repeated the message we've highlighted above all over this country in speech after speech. In the final month of the campaign, he signed on to Health Care for America Now's vision for reform and spent 86% of his advertising budget talking about health care. And Barack Obama proceeded to win the November 4th election by 7 points.

There is no such thing as a clearer mandate.

There are many reasons Barack Obama won his election, but a big one will definitely be the legions of people Obama inspired. Millions of Americans got involved in the political process because of Obama's appeal and message. They spent hours knocking on doors and making phone calls. And they spent their hard earned money to make sure the Obama campaign was well funded. And it worked.

The amazing thing is, these people aren't the usual activist types. They weren't people who followed politics before Obama came on the scene. If you had asked them in 2006 if they cared about who won the Presidency in 2008, they would have probably told you, "No."

But that's changed, at least for now. The question is whether this will change permanently.

As I discussed this weekend, these people are involved in the political process now, but there is no guarantee they stay involved:

This dilemma highlights an important challenge facing progressives and progressive institutions in the coming months. There must be millions of people out there feeling the same way as my friend right now. It’s crucial that those people be absorbed into the permanent progressive infrastructure so they can keep working to actually bring about the change we all seek. Without places to go and things to do that really make a difference, these people will slowly turn off and forget about the importance of politics. Progressives run the risk of quietly losing a generation of activists.

Health Care for America Now is one great way for these people to take the next step and stay involved.

Barack Obama has signed on with our vision for health care reform, and now we're going to work together to pass quality, affordable health care for all in 2009. If we pass health care reform, we can ensure Barack Obama's Presidency is a success.

You must know a few friends who got involved with the Obama campaign who were never involved with politics before. Can you take a moment and invite them to join the fight for quality, affordable health care for all?

On election night, we sent out an email asking for folks to send us back photos of themselves holding a sign that said, "I voted and I want Health Care for America Now!"

We got back a ton of great photos (which you can see here). In the mix were some other photos, photos that were a bit more, shall we say, creative. On Wednesday morning, while wiping sleep from our eyes, everyone at Health Care for America Now thoroughly enjoyed these interpretations of support for health care. Now, for your enjoyment, here are some favorites, categorized for easy browsing.

Folks on vacation:

Everything has changed, and yet nothing has changed. We've got amazing potential in this country, potential that Barack Obama embodies, but potential is only worth something if it is realized.

There can be no mistake. Barack Obama got elected with a mandate for change, and that mandate emphasized health care reform. As Richard Kirsch laid out yesterday:

When the Obama campaign decided to spend 86% of its October advertising on health care, it both recognized that health care was the most important issue to break through with swing voters on the economy and raised the expectation that health care would be at the top of the Obama agenda. Obama himself made it clear he sees health care as an essential plank for restoring the economy when he gave his major health care address in Newport News, Virginia on October 4, 2008. He rhetorically asked whether the nation could afford health care given the economic crisis and answered, "In other words, the question isn't how we can afford to focus on health care – but how we can afford not to. Because in order to fix our economic crisis, and rebuild our middle class, we need to fix our health care system too. So it's clear that the time has come – right now – to solve this problem: to cut health care costs for families and businesses, and provide affordable, accessible health insurance for every American."

On October 6th, Obama reinforced his commitment to fixing health care by signing on to the Health Care for America Now campaign. The HCAN statement, which has now been signed by more than 145 Members of Congress, commits to making health care a first order of business in 2009 and includes ten specific principles for reform, each of which is included in Obama's own health care plan. The decision by Senator Obama to sign on to the HCAN campaign less than a month before Election Day sent a message that HCAN represents the type of health care reform we need and that Congress should be eager to join HCAN as well. As a national grassroots coalition representing millions of individuals and more than 450 organizations, HCAN looks forward to working with the President-elect to enact our common vision of change.

Of course, just because Obama spent millions advertising his health care message and signed on to our campaign means nothing if there's no follow-through. As FDR famously said to a group of activists, “Okay, you’ve convinced me. Now go out and put pressure on me.” We'll be doing our best to hold Barack Obama and the rest of Congress to this mandate, but accountability is only as good as the pressure you can bring to bear.

With that in mind, SEIU and Health Care for America Now have launched a campaign to keep health care on the map. Sign up here and add your message to show that you meant it when you voted for health care reform on Tuesday. We're going to make sure to keep you involved after you sign up, both nationally and locally in your state.

Without your help, we will have no chance at winning quality, affordable health care for all in 2009. Please, sign up.

We're ready to work for change!

Congratulations!

So many of us worked very hard in this election to make sure that health care was a priority for the candidates. As we saw, in the debates, in the television advertising, and on the campaign trail, health care was a major issue - and Barack Obama, who is on our side for quality, affordable health care, won a decisive victory!

Click here to show that you voted and send a message to Washington that you want health care!

Here are some Iowa Voters who want Health Care for America Now. More photos are coming in so stay tuned.

This is just the beginning. Nothing has actually changed yet, except for the opportunity for change. We need you to keep up the pressure  to make sure that Congress and President Obama take action to make real health care reform happen.

Let Congress and President Obama know that you are ready to stand up for health care. Print out our new sign, take a picture of yourself holding it, and send it to us to add to our website. Together, we can show Washington we were serious when we said we wanted health care.

Click here to print the sign and send a message

We still have a long fight ahead of us, but we have demonstrated that together, we can get the support of Members of Congress and the President, and we have the strength to win a guarantee of quality affordable health care for all.

Thanks for all your hard work! Now let's go win!

The folks in Oregon sure are creative:

And they're right.

For months now, the insurance industry has been on tour, pushing for further deregulation of their industry. As if coverage wasn't bare-bones enough now, they want the ability to set up show in states with favorable regulations, regulations which allow them to deny more coverage to us, even though we've paid our premiums.

The American people, of course, want change. We want quality, affordable health care for all.

Today, Health Care for America Now has asked all our partners, all 439 organizations in our coalition (groups like SEIU, AFL-CIO, AFSCME, UFCW, Campaign for America's Future, Planned Parenthood, and others), and all our affiliates in the states to get their members to call Congress today and demand quality, affordable health care for all. It's a nationally coordinated push, an effort designed to make it unmistakeably clear to Members of Congress that this is a priority in America today, and that something must be done in 2009.

So, even if you've called already, pick up the phone and give your elected officials a call. Do it right now, from your computer, using our click-to-call tool. Be part of our national day of action and help us make this momentum real.