Domestic Weekly Update November 23, 2009
New and Urgent in This Week’s Update
Latest from Washington, DC, and Beyond
Organizational Reminders and Updates
Congress Is on Recess from Health Reform; Follow Their Lead (November Action)Last Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) released his version of health reform, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Details about the bill are included in the next section. On Saturday evening, the Senate then voted to move forward with debate on the bill, passing the Motion to Proceed 60 to 39, with Senator Voinovich (R-OH) not voting. This was the first major procedural hurdle to overcome in the Senate. Congratulations and thank you to all of you who made calls and enlisted others to make calls to your senators — your calls made a difference. Now the Senate is on recess until November 30 for the Thanksgiving holiday. Once the Senate returns, the next several weeks are expected to be a busy time. Health care will dominate the calendar most likely until the Christmas recess; the Senate is even planning to work Saturdays in December to get as much done as possible. Be prepared to activate your networks during those weeks as key votes come up on possible amendments concerning Medicaid, community health centers, the public health insurance option, and single-payer option. RESULTS will keep you up-to-date on the debate and let you know by e-mail or phone when calls are needed and what to say. TAKE ACTION: The health care debate has been a long, arduous process this year and you all deserve a break. Take a respite from health care and enjoy time with your friends and families this week. However, be ready to spring back into action next week as the Senate begins actual debate on health reform legislation. If you are so inclined, remind loved ones that any calls that can make in December would be most helpful. See the November Action for details on building a community action network for health reform. Also, please see our updated Laser Talk that features the exchange between RESULTS staffperson Jos Linn and RESULTS volunteer Ted Meyers on the November national conference call. You can use all or parts of this exchange in engaging others in health reform advocacy. Details on Senate Health Reform BillThe House has passed its version of health care reform, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R.3962), on November 7. The Senate is now proceeding with debate on their bill, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Senate bill combines provisions from the Senate HELP and Finance Committee, and also adds new provisions from Majority Leader Reid. See our updated grid below for a comparison between the House-passed bill and the Senate Finance Committee bill with respect to RESULTS health reform priorities:
Most of the provisions of the bill would go into effect in 2014. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill will cost $849 over ten years and reduce the federal deficit by $127 billion the first ten years, and up to $650 billion over the following ten years. It is expected to provide 31 million uninsured persons with health coverage through Medicaid and private health coverage, thus covering 94 percent of Americans (the House bill is estimated to cover 36 million). RESULTS applauds the Senate in drafting a bill that will cover millions of uninsured, protect all Americans with market reforms, and will reduce the federal deficit both in the short and long term. The Senate Medicaid expansion to all persons at or below 133 percent FPL and its prioritization of funding for community health centers (CHC) increases the likelihood that these changes will indeed occur. However, as expected, the Senate bill is not as strong as the House bill in terms of investments in coverage and access for low-income Americans. The Senate’s Medicaid expansion is smaller, the Senate does not raise Medicaid reimbursement rates, and its CHC funding is not as certain. Also, the public health insurance option is weaker than the House version because it allows states to opt out. The CBO estimates that this provision could result in one-third of states choosing to opt out. RESULTS urges senators to pass amendments to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that brings the Medicaid, CHC, and public option provisions more in line with the House bill. We also urge both the House and Senate to move up the implementation date for the Medicaid expansion and to extend full federal financing of the expansion for as long as possible to help states meet these new requirements. TAKE ACTION: After Thanksgiving, set up conference calls with House and Senate aides to talk about health reform. See the grid above and our September and October actions for details on how to set up and conduct these calls.
See our Recent Developments on Health Reform page for up-to-date comparisons of the House and Senate bills. Other key amendments that we support:
On our monthly conference call on November 14 featured Cathy Hurwit, Chief of Staff for Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL-9). She reviewed many of the provisions of the House bill and discussed what to expect next and the things RESULTS volunteers can do to get meaningful health reform passed. If you were not on the call, we urge you to listen to it for Cathy’s section as well as speaking points on recruiting others to make calls to the Senate. You can find listen to a recording of the call at http://www.resultsmusings.blogspot.com/. Success in Miami!Over the weekend, RESULTS Domestic Outreach Organizer Jos Linn traveled to Miami, FL for a revisit and outreach meeting with the new Miami Domestic group. The Miami group has been very active in just the few short months since it began back in May. They have already had three media pieces published and have had two meetings with House and Senate aides. We were hoping to recruit a few more people to join this small but mighty group. We were successful! We had 20 people attend the outreach meeting, mostly Returned Peace Corps volunteers (hint, hint: Peace Corps volunteers are a great resource for potential activists and like-minded people in RESULTS’ work; plus, they bring fabulous food to potlucks). At the meeting, 4 people signed up to participate in the Miami group, an additional 4 people signed up to receive e-mails and make phone calls to Congress, and a local human services agency wants to partner with group to coordinate federal advocacy efforts. We also raised $255 for RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund. Many thanks to Helene Dudley and Aixa Nuno of the Miami Domestic group, who did all the legwork for this meeting and also gave Jos a place to stay (and an obscenely early ride to the airport). Thanks also to Gail Neumann and Carla Barrow of the Miami Global group for attending the meeting and sharing their commitment to and enthusiasm for RESULTS with those in attendance. Way to go Miami! Facebook: Learn, Connect, ActFacebook isn’t just for college students anymore. In today’s media-driven society, Facebook is an excellent tool for nonprofits like RESULTS to organize, mobilize, and educate volunteers, partners and the general public. RESULTS is proud of all of our campaigns and the dedicated volunteers and partners around the world that make them successful, but we can achieve so much more by utilizing new media and social networking sites like Facebook. The RESULTS Facebook page keeps everyone connected and updated on the latest RESULTS news and events. We are constantly updating our site and posting new links to interesting and educational articles, editorials and blogs, and providing our volunteers and partners with useful advocacy tools. The more friends we have, the more we can spread our message and grow our movement to end global poverty. We currently have almost 300 friends but we know we can drastically expand that number with your help. TAKE ACTION: It’s easy to suggest to your friends to add RESULTS to their friends list. Simply paste http://www.facebook.com/RESULTS.org?ref=ts#/RESULTS.org?ref=ts&suggestfriends into your browser and a window will appear that will allow you to connect your friend to RESULTS. Selected friends will get a suggestion from you to add RESULTS as a friend; it’s that easy! So start spreading the word and let’s help connect RESULTS to the world! If you need any help or are confused about how to use Facebook, please contact Eric Harris (eharris@results.org) at the RESULTS office. Fundraising UpdateGiving Thanks. On this Thanksgiving week I wanted to say a very heartfelt “thank you.” Thank you, for not only all the fundraising, rabble rousing, letter writing, meeting wrangling, and community cow poking you do, but also for your spirited partnership. For the amazing vision, passion, and commitment you bring to the world every day. To the stand you make for mothers and children, for families, and communities. For the lives you’ve changed, the peopled you’ve inspired, and the legacy you are leaving with each passing day. You truly are everyday heroes. Thank you so much for allowing all of on staff to have the great good fortune to call you our colleagues, our friends, and our mentors. Please know, this week and every week how thankful we are for all of you — and never doubt that you are the heart and soul of this amazing organization. Fall Fundraising Campaign — $30,000 Challenge Grant Throwdown! Yep, that’s right. A very generous new donor to RESULTS Educational Fund has thrown out a $30,000 challenge grant to inspire our groups and donors to jump on board the fundraising bandwagon! This is a dollar-for-dollar match. The two requirements are that donations have to be made to RESULTS Educational Fund in November or December and it needs to be new money. “New money” means it must be over and above the amount that you gave last year, or brand new donors. If you’ve already made your gift for this year, but want to take advantage of this match, you can. If you’re a monthly sponsor and you want to make an additional one-time gift now, we can apply it to this matching challenge. If you haven’t made a gift in 2009, it will apply as long as it is above last year’s gift. As long as it’s more than what you gave last year and it’s done between now and the end of the December, it qualifies! For your friends, family, and colleagues — the same rules apply. So if you’ve never sent out a fundraising letter to your friends and family, this is a great time to offer them an amazing opportunity to make their money go farther and engage a whole new crop of donors into the exciting work of RESULTS and REF. Remember, this challenge only applies to new donations made in November and December 2009. Therefore, your Friends and Family letters should go out no later than December 4 so as to give people time to return them by December 31! PLEASE REMEMBER: If you make a donation for the challenge or ask your friends and family, please write or ask them to write “Matching Challenge Donation” in the memo line of the check or in the comments box on our online donation form. Resources To Help Your Fundraising Activities. Use our House Party Toolkit and Letter Writing Toolkit to plan your fundraising activities. Also, you can include Mini annual reports in your letters and at your events (see our full Annual Report for 2008 as well). We also have RESULTS/REF thank you cards available for follow-up to your activities. If you would like us to send you copies, please email Cynthia Stancil at cstancil@results.org. Fundraising Support. In need of some support? Please contact Stacy Carkonen to commiserate, cajole, plan, scheme, yell, scream, or sing about your fundraising needs. scarkonen@results.org. Quick NewsNew Report Shows Uninsured More Likely to Die from Trauma Injuries. The LA Times reported last week on a new study that says that people without health insurance have an 80 percent higher risk of dying from traumatic injuries than those with insurance. For patients between 18 and 30 years old, the risk was 89 percent higher. This despite the fact that emergency rooms are required to treat trauma patients regardless of insurance status. Possible explanations from the researchers included the fact that uninsured patients tend to have longer wait times in the ER, uninsured patients sometimes visit several ERs before finding one that will treat them, uninsured patients could have untreated underlying conditions that make it difficult to recover from traumatic injuries, and uninsured patients “may be more passive with doctors and nurses because they don’t interact with them as often.” Despite the startling statistics, the researchers did note that the numbers could be coincidental and that more study is needed. Calls Needed on Immigrant Provisions in Health Care Bill. The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) points out that while the House-passed health care bill, H.R.3962, has some advantages for immigrants, it also has some critical negative effects. The bill does NOT remove the five year waiting period that prevents lawfully residing, otherwise eligible immigrants for enrolling in Medicaid and Medicare. NILC points out that these persons will be required to obtain health insurance like everyone else, and will be eligible to purchase health insurance through the Exchange with tax credits. However, the higher out of pocket costs and limited benefits in many private insurance plans will make health care unaffordable and still inaccessible to many low-income immigrants unless the five year waiting period is eliminated. Contact House and Senate members, urging them make sure the Senate bill and the final health reform bill eliminate the 5 year waiting period for low-income legal immigrant adults in Medicaid and Medicare and remove the restriction prohibiting undocumented immigrants from purchasing unsubsidized health insurance currently (H.R.3962 already removes this restriction). AnnouncementsCheck out the RESULTS blog! Did you know that RESULTS has blog on our new website? Check it out here. If you find something you like, please be sure to post a comment. Online Activist Resources. See the newest edition of the RESULTS Advocate online. Also, check out our new and improved Activist Milestones, Outreach Action Sheets to engage others in your community in action around health reform, and updated Faith in Action Newsletter Action Inserts. Upcoming Events(Click to see a complete calendar) November 26–27: RESULTS offices closed. December 12: RESULTS Combined Global and Domestic Monthly Conference Call, 2:00 pm ET. December 15 (NOTE: This call was originally scheduled for November 17): 2010 Domestic Campaigns Conference Call. Plan to join us for a discussion of possible 2010 Domestic legislative campaigns. We want your input on what issues we should work on next year. Save the date! Tuesday, December 15, at 7:30 pm ET, (218) 486-1611, passcode 2883622#. Also, if you already have ideas that just can’t wait about possible 2010 domestic campaigns, please e-mail Meredith Dodson (dodson@results.org) with your ideas. December 24–January 3: RESULTS offices closed. June 20–22, 2010: RESULTS/RESULTS Educational Fund International Conference, Washington Marriott Hotel, Washington, DC. RESULTS Contact InformationMain Office: (p) (202) 783-7100, (f) (202) 783-2818, 750 First Street NE, Suite 1040, Washington DC 20002. Domestic Legislative and Grassroots Support Staff: Meredith Dodson, x116 (dodson@results.org); Alan Gold, x106 (gold@results.org); Jos Linn, (515) 288-3622 (jlinn@results.org). Grassroots Fundraising Support: Stacy Carkonen, (206) 715-4986 (scarkonen@results.org). The RESULTS Domestic Update is sent out every Tuesday over e-mail to RESULTS volunteers and allies all over the country. You can read this update online at RESULTS U.S. Poverty Action and News page. The purpose of these updates is to inform and activate RESULTS activists to take action on our domestic campaigns. If you would like to unsubscribe from these updates, follow the link below or contact Alan Gold at gold@results.org or (202) 783-7100. |