November 2009 US Poverty Laser Talk

Generating Calls in Support of Meaningful Health Reform that Meets the Needs of Low-Income Americans

As part of our November 2009 Action: Mobilizing to Meet the Health Needs of Low-Income Americans (PDF Version), we urge our grassroots network to reach out to friends, neighbors and local networks to make calls to Congress in the coming weeks about health care. Below is a sample conversation with someone you’re asking to make calls and answers to some questions they might have.

Jos: Hey Ted, I’m wondering if you can do me a favor. You know I’m working to try and pass health reform. The House just has passed its health reform and the Senate is about to start working on their bill. It’s gonna take a big push from everyday people like you and me to get reform passed and I was wondering if you would be willing to make calls in support of a strong health reform bill in the coming weeks?

Ted: I’m not sure. I’ve paid attention to the debate but I’ve heard so many different things about these bills, I don’t know what to make of it all. Why are you supporting it?

Jos: The reason I supported the House bill is that quite simply, it makes things better than they are now, especially for people who can’t get health coverage. As you know, there are 47 million people without health insurance in America — that’s a sixth of our population. Despite what you hear, most of these people are not covered because they can’t afford insurance. This bill will change that. With the House bill, 36 million uninsured people will get coverage. The bill will expand Medicaid, the health plan for the poor, so that no one below a certain minimum income can be denied health coverage, and middle income people will get premium subsidies to help buy private insurance. The House bill also expands funding for local community health centers, which serve areas where it’s not as easy to find a doctor. These centers take anyone who comes through their door and are vital in helping people living poor and rural areas get access to care. This new funding will help these centers meet that demand and also help train more doctors to treat their patients.

Ted: I hear my friends and politicians saying this is a government takeover of health care. How do you respond to those accusations?

Jos: That’s a good question and here’s my response. These bills are not single-payer health care, which is essentially a government takeover of health insurance. I ought to know; I support single payer, and this isn’t it. Instead, these bills go out of their way to preserve the private insurance system, so people who say this is a government takeover of health care are just trying to scare you. But this brings up an even more important point; this idea that government involvement in anything is always bad. If that’s true, I guess that everyone in this country who use roads, bridges, airports, trains, sidewalks, the police, fire department, the military, public hospitals, public schools, state universities, public libraries, Social Security, Medicare, national parks, museums, the internet, zoos, beaches, duct tape and Velcro (both were invented at NASA) is a closet socialist. The truth is that government plays an important and positive role in our society. It can’t and shouldn’t do everything but financing health care and regulating insurance are things it can do well.

Ted: You know I support single-payer health care too and I am angry that it wasn’t even considered. Why should I support this bill if I know it’s not the best we can do?

Jos: I agree with you. I think single-payer is the best system to get health care for all, and as I said, the House bill isn’t single-payer. But it can help us get there. The House bill will allow millions of more Americans to participate in the single-payer model. Medicare and Medicaid are both single-payer health systems and through this bill, 15 million new people will become enrolled in Medicaid alone. Also, the House bill creates a public health insurance option, which is a government run insurance plan similar to Medicare. It’s expected that millions of people will enroll in this plan too. Therefore, even though this bill does not create a universal single-payer system, it exposes the single-payer model to more people, which creates a stronger foothold for an expansion of that model in the future. Things change over time. 40 years ago, Medicare was demonized as socialized medicine and it now it’s the most popular and fiercely defended health program in the country.

Ted: So you are backing this bill no matter what?

Jos: No, it’s too early to make that judgment. I can’t make that decision until we see a final bill. And I admit there are things in the House bill that make me downright mad and I am going to keep fighting to get them out. But it is important to keep moving the process forward. If health reform stalls, it could be years before we get another chance like this. Which is why I am asking for your help. The House bill is a good bill, not great, but a move in the right direction. Now we need the Senate to pass a strong bill. But there a lot of people who want to kill or water down these bills and the only thing standing between them and meaningful reform is us. We the people. It’s up to us to make this happen. If we don’t push Senators now and then conference committee members later for a strong health reform bill, we won’t get it. It’s the grassroots that have gotten us this far and it’s going to take the grassroots to finish the job.

Despite its imperfections, the House bill is progress. And that counts for something. You know, for a time, I thought it might be better if we just scrapped the whole process. This wasn’t single payer and so it wasn’t good enough for me. End of story. But then I realized it’s easy for me to be a purist. I have good health insurance and I can go to the doctor when I get sick. So if a bill doesn’t pass, I’ll still be in good shape, at least for a while. But there are millions of people out there who don’t have that luxury. They are suffering now and if a good bill doesn’t pass, it’ll get a lot worse for them. The millions of uninsured adults and children, families facing financial ruin from medical bills, people who are denied coverage simply because their treatments are too expensive or they were sick in the past. These people want and deserve relief now. And who am I to tell them no.

You know maybe the Rolling Stones were right, you can’t always what you want but if you try sometime you might find you get what you need.

Can I count on you to make calls?