Americans are sick and tired of insurance industry abuses, and on Tuesday, Sept. 22, USAction affiliates — working through the Health Care for America Now coalition — helped provide a forum for people to demand quality, affordable health care with a public health insurance option.

HCAN and other allies organized more than 150 insurance industry events across the country; of those, 28 events were put together by USAction affiliates and partners. Other events were organized by SEIU and MoveOn.org, and TrueMajority, USAction’s online department, worked with MoveOn to help point people to the rally nearest to them.

Nationally, some of the premier highlights involved actions in front of major insurance company headquarters in Minneapolis (United HealthCare), Indianapolis (WellPoint) and Philadelphia (Cigna). In Philadelphia, USAction Executive Director Jeff Blum attended, and was featured on local television. In addition, two other large-scale actions took place in Hartford and in Milwaukee, where Citizen Action of Wisconsin organizer Brian Rothgery managed to engage Wellpoint CEO Angela Braly at a luncheon she was keynoting.

At all events nationwide, Americans demanded that health insurance company CEOs pledge to do the following:

• Not stand between a doctor and a patient when it comes to deciding what care that patient needs.
• Not deny coverage or raise rates for individuals or businesses based on a pre-existing medical condition and end arbitrary caps on payments for necessary medical care.
• Terminate any policy or incentive that rewards employees financially or otherwise for denying care and rejecting claims.
• Not use any resources – including funds, employees and facilities – to lobby against and oppose any aspect of the health reform proposals supported by President Obama and being considered by members of the United States Congress, including but not limited to a national public health insurance option

Across the country, the “Big Insurance: Sick of it” events varied considerably in terms of the number of people who participated, the creative activities they engaged in and the number of local media outlets that provided coverage. But they all had one thing in common: a demand for good health care coverage we can afford, with the choice of a strong national public health insurance option.

And today, we’re closer than ever before.

Hollywood speaks out to help insurance companies.

By now we’ve all seen and heard Representative Joe Wilson’s outburst during President Obama’s health care speech to last week’s joint session of Congress.  Not that it really needs any reiteration, but in a nutshell, Wilson couldn’t control himself and almost jumped out of his pants when the President said that his health care reform proposals would not apply to undocumented immigrants.  His “You lie” explosion made Kanye West’s VMA outburst look like an Emily Post etiquette lesson. 

Much of the media coverage over the incident has focused on whether Wilson was out of line, his role as a martyr in the teabag movement, the fortuitous timing with other high-profile outbursts, whether an apology is necessary, the new flow of campaign contributions to him and his opponent and whether the outburst was racially motivated.

What the mainstream media hasn’t talked much about is that Representative Wilson’s claim is simply false.  Keith Olbermann has really been the only newsperson to point out that Wilson was prevaricating.  The president has not proposed public health coverage for undocumented immigrants and all of the bills floating around Congress right now explicitly prohibit this.

H.R. 3200, arguably the most progressive of the bills, specifically states in all caps that there will be “NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS.”  The bill goes on to say “Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States” (Section 246, page 143).  The Senate HELP Committee bill has a similar clause stating that in order to be eligible for the public option, an individual must “be a citizen or national of the United States or an alien lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence or otherwise residing in the United States under color of law” (page 469).  Finally, the Senate Finance Committee bill, the most moderate of the three, stipulates that it “excludes people who are nonresident aliens working outside the United States” (page 8).

 I realize that the mainstream media is trying to stay balanced, but I see it as their responsibility to point out blatant falsehoods.  It is completely inaccurate to paint this as a debate of one entity’s credible word against another’s.  In actuality, President Obama was telling the truth and Wilson’s claims are unfounded and fallacious.  Furthermore, outbursts like this are not only disrespectful to President Obama and the office of the president, but they are also unhealthy for our civil discourse.  Representative Wilson’s acerbic behavior seems to be indicative of a summer of town hall meetings filled with disrespect and shameless lies.

The health care issue is so much larger than a debate of he said/she said.  Concentrating on the actions of some irate congressman takes away from the important task at hand:  providing health insurance for the 50 million Americans who are living without it.

USAction sent the following letter to Senator Baucus on Tuesday.

September 15, 2009

The Honorable Max Baucus
Chairman, Senate Finance Committee
511 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Baucus:

On behalf of USAction, I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to you and your staff for your countless hours spent attempting to resolve our nation’s health care crisis.  This is one of the biggest policy issues of our time and your dedication is much appreciated.  After careful analysis of your Framework for Comprehensive Health Reform, we wanted to share with you our recommendations to modify the framework in order to provide quality, affordable health care for all while ensuring that the health care system is fiscally viable and works for families, employers and the nation.

The current Framework from the Finance Committee does well in including necessary insurance reforms that are needed and creating an exchange so that people have the ability to choose their health insurance provider. Unfortunately, the Framework does not provide quality, affordable coverage to all, and it is our great hope that you alter your proposal to include the following adjustments.

Authorize a public option to compete with insurance companies
The current Framework upholds the current insurance company monopoly.  In contrast, a robust public option would not only provide health insurance to those without it, but it would also compete with private insurance companies and hold them accountable.  Unlike co-ops, a public option will be able to compete with private health insurance companies and negotiate fair rates and provide rates with low overhead costs.

Establish progressive revenue sources that do not increase costs for consumers
The 35% insurance excise tax imposes higher cost and lower benefits on businesses and employers that have good benefits, live in high-cost areas and have older workforces.  The current state of the economy has caused employers to scale back on benefits, and the tax will be passed on to employers and consumers and force employers to cut benefits further.  Progressive financing should be instituted in order to make the system economically sustainable while not burdening working families.  Examples include taxing the wealthiest Americans, limiting itemized deductions and extending the Medicare tax to unearned income.

Institute employer responsibility
The Framework does not mandate employers to pay anything for health care and creates incentives for them to offer scant coverage and hire workers with lower medical costs and no tax credits from the Exchange.  Alternatively, we advocate for a mandate that all employers except for small-business owners contribute towards their employees’ health benefits or to pay into the system.  This is necessary to prevent the erosion of a strong employer health care system. In addition, all employees should be entitled to a minimum package of comprehensive benefits.

Guarantee consumer affordability for comprehensive benefits
The Framework results in coverage that is not affordable to many Americans due to high premiums and high out-of-pocket costs for people in the Exchange and higher rates for older Americans and people with families.  If reform mandates that people purchase health insurance it is critical that subsidies be at 400% to make it affordable for the middle class. Additionally, insurance companies are able to define benefit packages.  Alterations to the Framework should include reducing consumer premiums, increasing the value of plans, eliminating community ratings and allowing a sovereign entity to define benefits and prevent future abuses of the insurance industry.

Safeguard states’ rights to regulate coverage
The Framework weakens state insurance regulations by allowing insurance companies to go to states with the weakest regulations.  Rather, states should have to follow the laws of the states where their services are rendered and follow the states’ minimum benefits and consumer protections.

Provide temporary reinsurance for early retirees
The Framework encourages employers to push early retirees into the Exchange where they will pay high premiums and out-of-pocket costs.  Instead, the final bill should contain a temporary catastrophic reinsurance fund that encourages employers to continue covering retirees from ages 55-64.

Require the federal government to pay for newly eligible Medicaid beneficiaries
Instead of further burdening states with more health care costs, we advocate requiring the federal government to pay for the newly-eligible Medicaid recipients.

Ensure equal access for all residents
Legal immigrants should be guaranteed quality, affordable health care coverage in the same way as American citizens.  This includes eligibility for Medicaid and tax credits without having to endure a burdensome process of validating their status.

Thank you again for all of your work on and commitment to health care reform.  We ask that you please consider our suggestions in order to help produce the best final bill possible.  We look forward to working with you to provide quality, affordable health care for all.

Sincerely,

Jeff Blum
Executive Director, USAction

From the HCAN Blog:

Health Care for America Now launched a new ad campaign today. The message? If the insurance companies win, you lose.

We’ll be doing national and DC television, plus print and online advertising targeted at Washington. Why so much beltway focus? To make sure lawmakers on Capitol Hill understand that there will be winners and losers in the health care debate and they have a choice to make between us and the insurance companies.

Here’s the TV ad:

An author in The Washington Post tackled 5 Myths About Health Care Around the World the other day. One of the facts mentioned really frustrates me - we are the only industrialized democracy that does not offer health insurance to all of our citizens.

All the other industrialized democracies have faced problems like ours, yet they’ve found ways to cover everybody — and still spend far less than we do.

The author goes on to discuss and debunk myths that I will greatly abbreviate here.  Please check out the article for the full story.

Myth 1: It’s all socialized medicine out there.
In some ways, health care is less “socialized” overseas than in the United States. Almost all Americans sign up for government insurance (Medicare) at age 65.  Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland provide universal coverage using private doctors, private hospitals and private insurance plans.

Myth 2: Overseas, care is rationed through limited choices or long lines.
Generally, no. In France and Japan, patients can go to any doctor, any hospital, any traditional healer. There are no U.S.-style limits such as “in-network” lists of doctors or “pre-authorization” for surgery.

Myth 3: Foreign health-care systems are inefficient, bloated bureaucracies.
All the other payment systems are more efficient than ours. U.S. health insurance companies have the highest administrative costs in the world; they spend roughly 20% for nonmedical costs, such as paperwork, reviewing claims and marketing. France covers everybody and spends about 4% on administration, Canada spends 6%.

Myth 4: Cost controls stifle innovation.
False. The United States is home to groundbreaking medical research, but so are other countries with much lower cost structures. Any American who’s had a hip or knee replacement is standing on French innovation. Many of the wonder drugs promoted endlessly on American television, including Viagra, come from British, Swiss or Japanese labs.

Myth 5: Health insurance has to be cruel.
Not really. American companies routinely reject applicants with a “preexisting condition” — precisely the people most likely to need the insurers’ service. They employ armies of adjusters to deny claims. The key difference is that foreign health insurance plans exist only to pay people’s medical bills, not to make a profit. The United States is the only developed country that lets insurance companies profit from basic health coverage.

The article finishes by puncturing the “most persistent myth of all: that America has ‘the finest health care’ in the world.”

We don’t. In terms of results, almost all advanced countries have better national health statistics than the United States does.

We have higher infant mortality and lower life expectancy than other industrialized countries.

In terms of finance, we force 700,000 Americans into bankruptcy each year because of medical bills. In France, the number of medical bankruptcies is zero. Britain: zero. Japan: zero. Germany: zero.

What the heck?!  700,000 annual bankruptcies (about 75% of whom had medical insurance) is intolerable in my book.  It’s just another reason we cannot wait to fix our system.

Alan Charney, USAction’s Program Director, discussed Health Care on MSNBC yesterday.

And in case you didn’t see it before, Jeff Blum, USAction’s Executive Director, was on Fox News to discuss health care on July 25th.

As Congress prepares to return to Washington, USAction affiliates and partner organizations are participating in over a hundred rallies and other events in support of health care reform with a public health insurance option.

“Get-It-Done” events began Aug. 29 and will continue through Sept. 8, the day Congress returns from recess. They are taking place in California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin and are part of several thousand events taking place nationwide, organized by Health Care for America Now, Organizing for America and other organizations.

“We want to make sure members of Congress hear a very clear message from their constituents before they return to Washington,” explained Alan Charney, USAction program director. “That message is let’s get it done. Let’s pass comprehensive reform that lowers costs, stops insurance company abuses and gives everyone the choice between private insurance and a new public health insurance option.”

Some event highlights include:

• In Scranton, PA, USAction partner Penn Action is working with two local theater groups to stage an 11-hour reading of H.R. 3200, the 1,000-page health care bill. Actors will “liven up” the reading by reading part of the bill in Spanish, pretending to be Star Trek’s William Shatner and adding dramatic or comedic effect when necessary. The event will culminate in a candlelight vigil for health care that evening.
• In Bismarck, ND, NDPeople and SEIU are holding a rally and concert featuring five bands.
• In Davenport, IA, members of Iowa Citizen Action Network will help Organizing for America deliver 2,000 Band-Aids symbolizing the need for health care reform to a local congressional district office. Rest assured that the Band-Aids won’t go to waste – they will be donated to a local clinic.
• In Columbus, OH, more than 1,000 people are expected to turn out for a tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy. Speakers include Senator Sherrod Brown, Ohio AFL-CIO President Joe Rugola, SEIU nurse Barb Montgomery, USAction President William McNary, Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, Representative Mary Jo Kilroy and Mayor Michael Coleman.
• In addition, large, successful rallies were held this past weekend in New York City, Fargo, ND and Orlando, FL.
• More than 300 volunteers from TrueMajority.org, the online arm of USAction, are helping USAction affiliates with turnout by phone banking supporters of health care reform.

USAction affiliates and other advocacy groups around the country are helping to turn the tide on health care reform, and because of their hard work and dedication, we are one step closer to passing quality, affordable health care for all.