Tell Us the Real Story of Health Care Reform: Yours
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House Republicans are now officially in charge and their very first item of business is their move to repeal health care reform. Of course, these Republican lawmakers will never have to worry about where their health care is coming from. It’s coming from you and me and every other taxpayer who foots the bill for their health coverage.
Tomorrow, they set the stage for their show trial of the Affordable Care Act, and next week they will vote on repealing the law. What do Republicans want to repeal? A health care reform program that will bring health care to nearly 30 million people, reduce the deficit by $230 billion over the next decade and constrict the near-unlimited ability of giant health insurance companies to screw consumers.
Republicans will spend hours on the House floor ranting and spinning lies about the new law. We need to show how health care reform is helping real people and you can be a big part of the fight against the Republican demagoguery of health care reform.
Many parts of the new law already are in effect and helping tens of millions of American families get quality health care. We want to hear your story about how the new health care reform law has helped you, your family, neighbors or friends.
Tell us your personal story here. You also can comment on the stories from working men and women.
Health Care Reform Tax Hits More Chevys Than Caddies
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Working families, their unions and health care activists are continuing their battle to ensure that the final health care reform package being hammered out in negotiations between House and Senate leaders is real and meaningful reform. (Click here to find out more about the two bills and next week’s National Call-In Day for health care reform.)
The hot topic on the blogs and in the mainstream media is the fate of the tax on workers’ health benefits that is part of the Senate-passed bill.
Backers of the tax say it would impact only “Cadillac plans” but the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) calls that an “urban legend.” Says EPI economist Josh Bevins:
The excise tax proponents say their target is a Cadillac, but in reality they’re about as likely to hit a Chevy. The excise tax is not a progressive levy on lavish plans. Instead it’s a tax that will hit small businesses, older workers, and those most in need of health care the hardest.
Scariest Pumpkin Ever
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Halloween is a time for scary things: Ghosts, vampires, witches…you know the list. But in the real world there are things far more frightening than fangs and broomsticks that somehow never get etched onto a pumpkin.
You can chase a vampire away with some garlic or fire, but if the vampire bites you, you’ll be in real trouble. Not from the bite, but from the lack of health care to fix it.
Can you even imagine the reasons your insurance company would come up with to deny that claim? Suddenly, having friends who wear black capes would be a pre-existing condition and blood transfusions would be an experimental procedure.
That’s why we at Working America are hosting the “scariest pumpkin ever” online exhibit. In honor of the season, we decided to put something truly terrifying onto pumpkins: health insurance companies. (Or their logos, anyway.)
We’ve gotten started with a few pumpkins, but we want more. You can see a few more pumpkins here—and while you’re there, print out a stencil to make your own truly scary pumpkin and take action supporting health care reform so that next Halloween, insurance companies aren’t a real-life nightmare for so many of us.
Today’s the Day to Make Your Voice Heard on Health Care
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Thousands of union members, community activists and health care advocates from across the country will converge on Capitol Hill today to demand that Congress pass health care reform legislation that provides quality health care for all.
Today’s rally and lobby day sponsored by Health Care for America Now! (HCAN) is expected to be the largest-ever health care reform rally. It’s taking place from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Upper Senate Park.
The rally will provide a much-needed voice on Capitol Hill for millions of families that are uninsured, under-insured and fed up with being at the mercy of insurance companies. Participants will call for real change in health care, including a public health insurance option for workers and families who either have private insurance or no coverage at all.
Take Our 2009 Health Care for America Survey
Can this patient be saved?
The patient is the U.S. health care system, and the answer is being debated right now on Capitol Hill and across the nation.
Now you have an opportunity to make your voice heard and help shape health care reform to meet the needs of working families.
The AFL-CIO and Working America want to know about your experiences with America’s health care system—what’s working, what isn’t, what costs too much and more.
We’ve launched the 2009 Health Care for America Survey and urge you to give us your input here.
Tallied results of the survey, sponsored by the AFL-CIO and its 2.5 million-member community affiliate Working America, will be shared with national and state leaders and the media. Congress, the administration and the media are hearing plenty about health care reform from drug makers and insurance companies—they need to hear from working families, too.
