As Sarah mentioned the other day, we’re about to enter a competition to win $250,000. We’re working with a team of progressive non-profits to win a total of $750,000 (Pepsi is giving away $1.3 million to non-profits next month).

If we win, we’ll spend the money promoting health care access. Beginning next month, a key provision in the new health care law will allow millions of young adults to remain on or be added to their parents’ health insurance plans until they turn 26. Many are unaware of this potentially life-saving opportunity for heath care coverage.

You can help us win.

We’re asking you to sign-up to be a daily voter for USAction Education Fund, the 501(c)(3) sister to USAction.

As a daily voter, you’ll receive a short email each morning in the month of September with a link where you can go and cast votes. Voting takes a few seconds and the potential to help progressive causes is more than worth it. Please sign up now.

This past Saturday in Seattle, Washington Community Action Network (WCAN) and their allies in the Washington HCAN coalition took on the army of lobbyists trying to put the health insurance industry and their profits above the needs of consumers and their health.  The industry lobbyists have been pressuring the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to protect their bottom line at all costs.

In the video below Deana Knutsen, President of the WCAN board and Secretary Treasurer of USAction spoke about the protest of the health insurance lobbyists. 

Check out the album Health Care Advocates Disinfect Big Insurance Meeting on the USAction Facebook page for great pictures from the action, like the ones below.

Activists and advocates for consumers have been counteracting the industry’s lobbyist army in the fight over implementation of health care reform.  All the efforts have paid off as Ethan Rome, Executive Director of HCAN, noted on their blog earlier this week:

Today the NAIC took a step toward ending the health insurance companies’ stranglehold on our health care. The top state insurance regulators from across the nation voted to put patient care above insurance company profits. This decision moves us closer to more affordable health care for families and businesses and will help ensure that the new health care law fulfills its promise. Advocates have battled every step of the way to hold the insurance companies accountable, and we will continue to do so.

Many challenges remain before we can declare victory in the MLR fight. Pivotal aspects of the technical rules discussed today in Seattle remain unresolved, including crucial decisions on how to treat federal taxes and agent/broker fees. The NAIC still has work to do, and it should finish its deliberations soon so the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can swiftly develop final rules that take effect on schedule for 2011 health plans.

This is a positive step towards justice and a fair health care system in our country.  The insurance industry wields their power by spending hundreds of millions to water down reform and protect their outlandish profits.  The NAIC decision is clear evidence that your voice matters and that we have the people power to hold the insurance industry accountable. 

When most people hear the phrase “health care reform,” they think of the fierce legislative battle, media war and ground game waged in 2009 and early 2010.  But how many people really know or understand what’s in the bill and how it affects them?  How many more people would know and understand if we had $250,000 to use to teach them?

Beginning next month, a key provision in the law will allow millions of young adults to remain on or be added to their parents’ health insurance plans until they turn 26.  Many young people, however, are unaware of this which is why we at USAction want to launch a brand new campaign called, “Under 26 and Uninsured? We’ve Got You Covered!”

The campaign will be geared toward informing as many young adults as possible and their parents about what the new law means for them.  To spread the word, we’ll launch a brand new web site, design educational materials, conduct a nationwide advertising and social media campaign and host 75 community-based public-education events and 25 training sessions for volunteers and community groups.

But to make this happen, we need your help and we need your votes.

We are competing to win the money next month in an online fundraising opportunity called Pepsi Refresh Everything.  This money would fund our campaign, which would begin in October and run for a year.

Pepsi is giving away some serious money and we think we have a great shot at winning.  Moreover, because of the way the contest is set up, we can raise money for ourselves plus a slate of fellow progressive organizations working on progressive issues.  The other groups on the slate include organizations that are working to mobilize young voters, coordinate progressive efforts at the state level, improve access to college, promote healthy eating, provide legal and advocacy support for low-income communities and fight homelessness.   In total, the slate of groups we are working in partnership with has the chance to win more than $750,000 in September - but only if we get the votes.

That’s where you come in.

We’re asking you to sign-up to be a daily voter for USAction Education Fund, the 501(c)(3) sister to USAction.

As a daily voter, you’ll receive a short email each morning in the month of September with a link where you can go and cast 10 votes each day for all the organizations on the Progressive Slate (that’s what we’re calling all of our groups working together).  Voting takes a mere few seconds and it’s easier than making Ramen noodles (and less yucky).

Working with the other organizations on the slate, we’re hoping to build a group of several thousand daily voters-can you sign up now?

www.theprogressiveslate.com/pepsi_september.php?name=usaction

There has been some debate on this blog and others about whether the health care reform package goes far enough.  That debate aside, this is our chance to take advantage of a great provision and get thousands of additional people insured.

So please sign up today and then forward this to all your friends and family urging them to register and vote as well!

The U.S. House must approve $26 billion so that teachers, firefighters, police officers and others can continue to educate our children and keep working to ensure the safety of our families and communities.

Tomorrow, the House is scheduled to take up the measure, which would prevent the immediate layoff of hundreds of thousands of workers across the country.  USAction supports the legislation but opposes the way it is partly funded - through cuts to food stamps beginning in the year 2014.

 USAction Policy Director Alan Charney said the following: 

The question facing the House on Tuesday is not how to pay for our teachers and first- responders but whether we will pay for our teachers and first-responders.  We hope that, come another day, we can more comprehensively address the hunger issue in America. But on this day, we must pass this bill for our teachers and first-responders. Otherwise, they will lose their jobs. It’s as simple as that.

Charney added that a vote against the measure is not just a vote against critically important workers. “This also is an up-or-down vote on economic recovery,” Charney said. “This money will be spent immediately at the community level. It not only will save jobs but will help create employment as public sector workers spend money in the private sector. And we know that jobs are the missing component of economic recovery.”

David Elliot is the Communications Director at USAction.

This post originally appeared here on Daily Kos.

Voter turnout this election cycle among what’s been called the Rising American Electorate - a group that includes Latinos, young voters, and unmarried women, all of whom trend left — is in jeopardy.

We have a huge challenge ahead of us to convince the “Obama surge” voters to remain engaged in November 2010 and beyond. Polls show an enthusiasm gap among many of these potential voters. They fear the change they voted for in 2008 hasn’t happened deeply or profoundly enough.

On one issue in which I have been involved for decades I want to offer an alternate narrative. That issue is health care reform. Full disclosure: I’m the executive director of USAction and together with many powerful allies we formed Health Care for America Now, a broad-based coalition made up of some 1,100 groups.

The Obama Administration has seen several big wins - financial reform, student loan reform, economic recovery legislation. But perhaps the biggest win in terms of historic legacy was health care reform.

I know many people reading this may be thinking, “You know, that was really not worth the paper it was printed on and we could have done so much better if only the movement had been more aggressive, more left, more powerful, more something.” While more reform certainly would have been preferable, it is critical for us as a movement to recognize this as a victory, as it is for many reasons.

First, we established a new right in America. Health care is now a right, and that is huge! It is an imperfect right as Social Security was certainly an imperfect right when it was created in the 1930s. At the time, the NAACP called the flawed Social Security legislation “a sieve with holes just big enough for the majority of Negroes to fall through.” Indeed, nearly two-thirds of African Americans and just over half of women in the work force were not covered. Today, Social Security is widely accepted to be the core of the American social welfare system. As Thaddeus Stevens said when he supported passing the 14th Amendment, “Do you inquire why, holding these views and possessing some will of my own, I accept so imperfect a proposition? I answer because I live among men and not angels.” Health care is now a right in America.

Second, this is a victory because it is the largest income transfer since the Sixties; since, frankly, Medicare and Medicaid. By and large the people who don’t have health care or don’t have adequate health  care are lower income, and now they are going to get better coverage paid for through relatively progressive taxation. In fact, tens of thousands of mostly low-income Americans are going to live who would have died every year. That’s like cutting highway fatalities in America every year in half - and all because of this bill.

Third, this is a great victory for the progressive movement. We would not have won this health care battle - and we did win - if we hadn’t fought for it. I have been involved in health care organizing for thirty-eight years. In 2008, presidential candidates actually competed for progressive loyalty on health care.  In 2009-2010, progressives were crucial to winning enough support to pass the Affordable Care Act.  

Finally, we showed that the government can have a powerful, effective role to meet urgent middle-class needs and even more than that, that liberals can govern. In the midst of the ugly Tea Party rallies and the bleating from the Blue Dogs, we still passed this historic legislation, and we did not do it with Republican votes.

I think this victory is enormous, and the progressive movement cannot forget that. There are appropriately tensions between the Obama Administration and the progressive movement, and this law needs to be improved, but we need to continue to tout these victories if we are going to continue to win in 2010 and beyond.  

Jeff Blum is the Executive Director of USAction.

Last Thursday, Health Care for America Now, the national grassroots campaign founded with the help of USAction, released a report on how the health insurance industry is pressuring state insurance regulators to undermine some key provisions in the new health care law.  You heard right: health insurance companies are still trying to block key provisions that will help average Americans get quality, affordable health care. It sounds like business as usual, right? “The insurance companies and their army of lobbyists are doing everything they can to undercut this law,” said HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome.

This is especially true in the provision about medical-loss ratios or MLRs.  What are Medical Loss Ratios, you ask? Simply put, MLRs lay out how much insurance companies spend on medical services versus their own expenses per customer.  The Affordable Care Act requires at least 80 percent of health premiums to be spent on medical services for individuals and small businesses (85 percent for large employers).  That is a big departure from previous practices.

According to the report, if the new law was in effect one year ago at the rates they are required to pay now, the six largest for-profit insurance companies would have been required to refund $1.9 billion for 2009 alone.  Think about that:  $1.9 billion that could have gone to paying for the care you pay for, but are instead going to administrative and advertisement costs. And the health insurance industry is still trying to get exemptions? The state of Maine has filed for an exemption to this provision of the new law.  In a letter to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the Superintendent of Insurance for Maine, said the following,

In its filings with the Securities and Exchanges Commission, one insurer has indicated its intent to pull out of individual health insurance markets, (and has explicitly named one state where that decision has already been made). Based on preliminary discussions I had with the insurer, the company could continue to operate successfully in the Maine market in compliance with our current MLR standard, but would probably need to withdraw from this market if the minimum loss ratio requirement were increased.

But the current MLR standard is allowing nearly $1.9 billion not to be spent on your health care. Enough already! It’s time that we tell the health insurance companies what we want.  We can’t let them play the system anymore. This is one of many battles still to come from this new health care law–let’s hope they don’t win this one!

Not too long ago, the world was introduced to Glenn Beck.  Since his emergence, he has been known to progressives for his controversial remarks, slander, racist/sexist ideology and general loathing towards the progressive movement. Conversely, to his fan base he is known for what his fans perceive to be his righteousness, rationality, leadership and most importantly, influence.

Beck’s influence reaches a large audience.  In 2009, he was running the top-rated news program in America.  He was also voted one of the top 100 most influential people list, under the category of “leader.”  So how does Glenn Beck capture the hearts and minds of millions Americans every night on TV and talk radio?  It seems extreme rhetoric coupled with extreme actions entrance his audience.

Glenn Beck has been able to convince his followers that global warming might not be much of an issue.  He has done this through not only his own claims of lack of evidence linking humans to global warming, but also through the use of made-up government actions.  According to Beck, President Obama will put into law a ban on fishing in oceans and lakes as a plot to take away American’s rights.  This accusation is completely false and Beck received this information from ESPN.  Beck has gone on to mock Sen. Barbara Boxer for her stance on global warming and alternate energy; to him she is over-exaggerating the direness of the situation.

Beck has shown extreme opposition to the recently passed health care bill. Beck based much of his argument off of the claim that the bill is unconstitutional. The left has refuted this claim many times, proving over and over again that the bill did not break any constitutional law. In response to the bill, Beck organized and participated in an anti-health care reform protest.  Unfortunately for Glenn, the bill was still passed.

The actions and opinions voiced by Beck are felt nationwide.  Many members of the GOP recite his false rhetoric.  It has been said “he has a more direct impact on the conservative movement and the GOP base than any other conservative personality.” Beck’s constant misuse of other people’s words and his own statistical falsities make him a very dangerous person to the American public.

There is currently a movement to stop Glenn Beck from spreading his lies by hitting him where it hurts, his endorsements and advertisements.  Join the effort today!

 The following has been reposted from USAction affiliate Progress Ohio’s blog by Dave Harding.

Brian Rothenberg, ProgressOhio and Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy

Pre-Existing Condition Plan and Web Site Will Help Families and Small Businesses

Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Mary Jo Kilroy today announced the establishment of a new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) which earlier had been referred to as the High Risk Pool program and the launch of HealthCare.gov, a comprehensive website designed to guide consumers through the benefits of health care reform.

For far too long, people with pre-existing conditions had nowhere to turn and this program will help many of them find the coverage they need,” said Kilroy. “With so much information to process about health care reform the web tool helps people understand their options and how they stand to benefit. Families and small businesses can now easily seek out insurance options available to them to make informed decisions about their health care with thorough, unbiased information.”

Established by the Affordable Care Act, the PCIP is a transitional program until 2014, when insurers will be banned from discriminating against adults with pre-existing conditions. The PCIP will provide a new health coverage option for Americans who have been uninsured for at least six months, have been unable to get health coverage because of a pre-existing condition, and are a U.S. citizen or are residing in the United States legally. 29 states including Ohio have chosen to operate their own PCIP program. The remaining 21 states have elected to have HHS run their program. Information about the PCIP in Ohio can be found here.

The website hosts a wealth of clear information, including a tool that will help individuals and small businesses navigate the process of shopping for health insurance. The creation of this website was one of the key features for consumers that was included in the Health Insurance Reform legislation that was signed into law nearly 100 days ago.

The core of the new website is the powerful insurance options finder. After consumers input a few pieces of background information – such as state, age range, and current insurance status – the tool will generate a list of both private and public health insurance options.

The tool will outline the details of insurance plans offered in that state and include contact information for each insurance provider so consumers can contact the company about the plans that best fit their individual needs.

Beginning in October, the tool will also include pricing information, further simplifying health insurance shopping.

And as Chief Technology Officer Todd Park demonstrates, it’s also very friendly.

Watch It:

Today Aggressive Progressive marks its second birthday. Instead of cake and candles, we’re celebrating by listening to USAction Executive Director talk about – what else? – health care reform and the wonderful thing we achieved this year. For the first time, health care in our country is a right to be had, not a commodity to be purchased if you can afford it.

Listen:

In this podcast, recorded during a meeting with the top editors at The Nation, Blum discusses health care reform and the role played by Health Care for America Now, the 1,100-member coalition which USAction helped form.

“We actually established a new right in America,” Blum says.
“Healthcare is now a right. That’s huge.”

David Elliot is the Communications Director at USAction.