Health Care For America Now

Last night, Health Care for America Now sent a text message to our supporters, asking for their predictions and reactions to Obama's speech. Here's a few we got back:

New Jersey:

I VOTED FOR CHANGE AND THAT INCLUDES HEALTHCARE INSURANCE REFORM. DO NOT LET THE GOP WIN!

Ohio:

THANK YOU MR. OBAMA. IT'S ABOUT TIME OUR COUNTRY HAS A LEADER THAT ISN'T AFRAID TO TELL IT LIKE IT IS! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!

Washington:

GET THOSE CONGRESSMEN AND WOMEN TO GET SOME GUTS AND PASS THIS HEALTH BILL WITHOUT ALL THE BIPARTISAN STUFF.

Texas:

PLEASE DONT GIVE UP ON THE PUBLIC OPTION…

California:

CORRAL THE WAGONS, YOU'RE WITH ME OR AGAINST. HALLELUJAH!!!

Washington:

THIS IS THE OBAMA I VOTED FOR!  GREAT TO SEE HIM BACK ON HIS GAME.

Senator Kennedy's legacy cannot be defined within one issue, no matter how important. But it would not be an understatement to say that his life's work revolved around health care for all. He said so himself, calling it "the cause of [his] life" in a passionate Newsweek op-ed published just last month.

True to form, Kennedy turned his passion into real results. The list of health care legislative accomplishments he was part of is stunning. From the website set up by his family dedicated in his honor:

• In 1966, Kennedy helped establish the community health center model in the United States. Community health centers are now serving 20 million low-income Americans around the country.
• In 1985, Kennedy led the fight to enact COBRA, giving workers the ability to purchase health care through their employer after they have been let go from their job.
• In 1996, Kennedy co-sponsored HIPPAA, which now ensures access to health care coverage for an estimated 25 million Americans who move from one job to another, are self-employed or have pre-existing medical conditions.
• In 1997, Kennedy was instrumental in passing the CHIP program that gives health care to millions of children.
• In 2006, Kennedy passed the Family Opportunity Act, which provides states with the opportunity to expand Medicaid coverage to children with special needs, giving low- and middle-income families with disabled children the opportunity to purchase health coverage under Medicaid.
• From 1997-2008, Kennedy helped grant Massachusetts the Medicaid waivers it needed to pass its state health care reform plan.
• In 2008, Kennedy enacted legislation to reform the inequities in the way mental health and substance use disorders are treated by the insurance industry, a 10 year battle.
• And finally, in 2009 under his leadership and the leadership of his close friend, Senator Chris Dodd, Kennedy passed the Affordable Health Choices Act - which would give everyone in America a guarantee of quality, affordable health care - through the Senate committee he chaired, the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The bill awaits a vote by the Senate as the health reform process moves forward.

Senator Kennedy's towering vision for health care was built on his numerous accomplishments. While there is sadness in knowing Senator Kennedy won't be with us to see his life's work completed, we will keep him in our thoughts as our fight continues and we finally achieve quality, affordable health care for all this year.

There's a lot out there that the media is missing. Especially the national media, who prefer to concentrate on crazy people at town halls. And yet, I get dozens of reports every day of pro-health care reform rallies all across the country. Here are some of those reports.

In North Carolina, our partners are protested in front of the biggest insurer in the state. Blue Cross Blue Shield is raking in the profits [pdf] (up $48 million per year from 2004 to 2007 alone) while premiums skyrocket (up 75% in seven years). A call went out far and wide to health reform supporters, asking them to show up.

We received this message in response:

Dear Friends,

I am 82 years old and would stand with you if only I could. I agree one hundred percent that Blue Cross, Blue Shield should not even be a for profit company. When I joined this company I was told that it was a non-profit company. And that is not true!

My heart is willing to stand with you, but my osteoarthritis knees cannot do it. I hope that a big crowd will be there. I will be pulling for you.

Thanks for all you are doing to help us get a public option for our new health care reform.

–Jane

We will be standing tall in your honor, Jane.

And in New York, Rep. Tonko spoke about the need for real health care reform. First, Beverly Padgett spoke:

Beverly Padgett, who nearly died when her sugar level rose to a dangerous level, was one protester who argued for the public option. "Right now in America, if you're poor, you get poor health care. Those with the Cadillac health insurance plans can afford to pay the high price for comprehensive coverage. That type of coverage should be accessible to all Americans no matter their income level", said Padgett, "Within our current system you either pay now or you pay later." Because of a lapse in her insurance due to inability to afford coverage she was hospitalized for several weeks with complications due to diabetes. She is now faced with exorbitant medical bills. With the public option there would be standardized levels of care for all insurance plans and thanks to subsidies people like Beverly would be able to afford the coverage they need to stay healthy.

And then, Rep. Tonko took the stage:

The rally was pro-reform, not a protester in sight. Check out the video:

And these kinds of things happen all over America every day. But this is what Congress is hearing, and it remains the truth: America is for health care reform, real health care reform with a real public health insurance option, and we're going to get it.

The strategy session with President Obama will be streaming live at 2:30 pm today. You can watch it online at barackobama.com, but Organizing for America has put together a helpful streaming widget, so you can watch it right here, too, if you want.

Check out the stream below:

Can you join us tonight?

Health Care for America Now has organized a special briefing with Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett, actress Edie Falco, Richard Kirsch, Health Care for America Now's National Campaign Director, and Dan Heck, a regional director for Working America and Health Care for America Now to get the facts out about health care reform, find out what's at stake, and learn what you and I can do to help pass reform.

The  briefing is tonight, Tuesday, August 11th, at 9 pm EST (6 pm PST). Click here to RSVP.

Why a briefing? Because lobbyist-funded right-wing extremists are making trouble at town halls all across America. These disruptions are funded by special interests like the insurance companies, who want to kill health care reform as quickly as possible. They're trying to make sure nobody can have a productive, rational conversation about what health care reform will do for you and me.

We can't let them stifle debate or we will not win health care reform this year.

So join us for a briefing on what you can do to help pass reform, how to fight back against the right wing, and what's in it for you. We're also taking questions for the speaker. So RSVP, ask a question, and join us tonight at 9 pm EST (6pm CST).

(By the way, you can also ask us a question via twitter if you want, just send them to @HCAN.)

The lobbyist-funded right wing is getting violent. There have been death threats. Physical assaults. Arrests. And now more threats of violence:

Based on the news that health care events are edging into violence, an anti-health care reform protester in New Mexico named Scott Oskay is calling on his hundreds of online followers to bring firearms to town halls, and to 'badly hurt' SEIU and ACORN counter protesters.

This is not the way to have a debate about health care reform. Yelling, screaming, Nazi imagery, and violence are not how we solve our problems here in America.

We on the pro-reform side are committed to keeping things peaceful. We'll be there, but we're there to listen to the Members of Congress at these events. The right, so far, has not made the same commitment. Will the right wing - specifically Republican Members of Congress and the corporate funders of these "grassroots" protests - come out and renounce violence and threats of violence?

Think Progress is reporting:

As lobbyist-run groups encourage conservative activists to “rattle” members of Congress at local town hall events, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), the president of the freshman Democratic class has revealed that “at least one freshman Democrat” has already been “physically assaulted at a local event.”

No word yet on who it is. Will update when I know more. And just a few hours after we released our memo on how to fight back against these tactics.

Update x1

More via Roll Call ($):

Rep. Gerry Connolly (Va.), president of the freshman Democratic class, warned that right-wing groups are taking things to “a dangerous level” by manufacturing anger based on false information.

“When you look at the fervor of some of these people who are all being whipped up by the right-wing talking heads on Fox, to me, you’re crossing a line,” Connolly said. “They’re inciting people to riot with just total distortions of facts. They think we’re going to euthanize Grandma and the government is going to take over.”

One Democratic leadership aide summed it up more succinctly: “These people are crazy.”

Connolly said he spoke to at least one freshman Democrat who was physically assaulted at a local event. In another instance, he said, a constituent upset about government interference in Medicare had to be reminded that Medicare is a government program.

Update x2

Brad Miller cancels town halls because of death threats.

Richard Kirsch, Health Care for America Now's National Campaign Director, has a call to arms for progressive activists:

We are already seeing the violent excesses of the right. They hung freshman Maryland Congressman Frank Kratovil in effigy, painted Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett as a devil with horns, and screamed insults at HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. This is an angry minority, bitter about an America that they don't recognize, led by a man that doesn't look like them.

These are the same crazies that applauded calls to violence last fall at Sarah Palin rallies and made a hero of Joe the Plumber. But remember, as the public began to understand what the far right-wingers really stood for, it didn't take long for a great majority of the electorate to write them off.

But since health care won't be decided at the popular ballot box, we can't just wait for the public to recognize the reality behind this nutty minority. There are two prizes in the battle at hand - the national press narrative and Congress' support. We have to win the press war by making it clear that shouts of "socialized medicine" and "government health care" are from a mob on the fringe of American politics. And we need to be sure that wavering Democrats in Congress see that there is strong popular support for health care reform.

Health Care for America Now is joining with progressive groups throughout the country to out-gun the tea-baggers in August. Members of Congress are spending their time at home trying to gauge public support for reform before returning to Washington after Labor Day. It will be a contest all month long, and we have to take it on with all the urgency that the historical task at hand demands.

So, how do we out-gun the right in August? By beating them at their own game.

By now, the lobbyist-written memo "How to Rock the Townhalls" should be familiar to folks. It's a step by step plan to disrupt town halls across the country and to make this vocal minority seem bigger than it really is. Well, we have an answer to those tactics.

Our field director, Margarida Jorge, has written a counter-memo. Margarida has years of union organizing experience, which means she knows how to go toe-to-toe with intimidation, be they the radical right or corporate bosses. She has laid out tactics for people attending town halls to follow to blunt the right, and tactics for organizers of townhalls to follow to keep their events orderly. You can download her memo here, but let's put out a few of the best tactics:

1. Inoculate your staff and your volunteers by telling them what to expect and what purpose lies behind the right-wing demonstrations. The more that the attendees know what to expect; the less startled they will be by the irrational tone and militancy of the protesters.
2. Bring more people than the other side has. Their side will be smaller but noisier. You must bring enough people to drown them out and to cover all our bases so as to marginalize their disruptive tactics. You don’t want to get into a screaming match, but it must be obvious to everyone—including press—that you represent the majority.
3. Arrive earlier than the other side does. We need to stack our folks in the front to create a wall around the Member, and we need to stake out the best spots for visibility and signs. Reconnaissance on the venue and an understanding of the staging will be important here. Make sure you do your homework so you can position your folks most effectively.
4. Be more visible than the other side. Bring more signs and leaflets, and whenever possible, post your signs all over the place so that you visually out-perform the other side. Make sure you have people holding signs in every place where a TV camera is likely to be and that next to every right wing sign, there’s one of your signs with your message.
5. Have a real plan for the media. Remember, this is a communications strategy that the right wing is using and our goal is to stop them from hijacking and changing the message and tone of these events. Assign 3-5 people to speak with the reporters who attend and make sure the reporters understand the scope and message of the event. If you let the media just report on what they see, they will invariably focus on the mayhem. That is a far juicer story than affordability and the public health insurance option. Don’t wait for the reporter to approach you. You must approach the reporters and be assertive in shaping the narrative that they write. Have someone assigned to greeting the media or checking in media as they arrive. That way you will know who they are and be able to work with them both during the event and afterwards. Also, plan to record both the events you attend and the events you organize. TV stations will use amateur footage to round out their stories, and the other side is recording and posting video online. We need to be able to give the press video of successful events too.

If you're going to town halls this summer (and I suggest you do, click here to find events in your area), print out a copy of this memo and distribute it to anyone else you know who's coming. Print out some signs, too, so you can be prepared.

Don't walk into this battle unarmed. With the right tactics, we can make sure shouting and fear does not prevail this summer, and we get quality, affordable health care for all passed through Congress this fall.

History buffs will recognize The Guns of August as Barbara Tuchman's classic history of World War I. The reference works now because August 2009 just opened with trench warfare on health care reform. Unfortunately, the right-wing mob is seeing some early superficial success. We need to enter the battlefield immediately to defend the President's top priority, providing a guarantee of good, affordable health care to all this year.  This is a call to arms for the army of activists who powered President Obama to the White House.

We are already seeing the violent excesses of the right. They hung freshman Maryland Congressman Frank Kratovil in effigy, painted Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett as a devil with horns, and screamed insults at HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. This is an angry minority, bitter about an America that they don't recognize, led by a man that doesn't look like them.

These are the same crazies that applauded calls to violence last fall at Sarah Palin rallies and made a hero of Joe the Plumber. But remember, as the public began to understand what the far right-wingers really stood for, it didn't take long for a great majority of the electorate to write them off.

But since health care won't be decided at the popular ballot box, we can't just wait for the public to recognize the reality behind this nutty minority. There are two prizes in the battle at hand - the national press narrative and Congress' support. We have to win the press war by making it clear that shouts of "socialized medicine" and "government health care" are from a mob on the fringe of American politics. And we need to be sure that wavering Democrats in Congress see that there is strong popular support for health care reform.

Health Care for America Now is joining with progressive groups throughout the country to out-gun the tea-baggers in August. Members of Congress are spending their time at home trying to gauge public support for reform before returning to Washington after Labor Day. It will be a contest all month long, and we have to take it on with all the urgency that the historical task at hand demands.

We've launched a new page on our website to help you take action in August: www.healthcareforamericanow.org/fight. Here you'll find out how you can join the fight locally. We'll list town hall meetings and events by Congressman from both political parties so that we can show strong support for reform and keep control of meetings. We'll also tell you how you can directly challenge those members of Congress who are siding with the far right, often using the same extreme rhetoric of the tea-baggers. And we'll be organizing our own actions to show how Congressional opponents of reform are carrying water for the health insurance industry. The page includes pointers for how to organize your own action and how to prepare and respond to the right-wing mob.

As President Obama said on the night he was elected, "I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime."

Of all the challenges in American history, there is none greater than turning health care from a privilege to a right. We need everyone in America who believes that health care is a right to rise to the challenge that the President laid out before us on Election Day. Right now, this month, is the time to declare that this is our country and that an extreme right wing minority will not wreck our nation's path to health care justice.

Don't ever let the right-wing fool you into thinking they're a majority. As Bill Scher says, the mob is not the majority. This is what the majority looks like:

You're coming to events in your area, right?