Congressman Weiner's office is saying that because of our phone calls, faxes, and demonstrations, Speaker Pelosi is keeping her promise to allow the Weiner single-payer amendment a vote on the floor of the House. I am getting conflicting opinions about whether or not a full floor debate is going to be allowed.
After nearly being shut out of the discussion completely, single-payer Medicare for All will get a vote for the very first time in history - probably tomorrow - Friday, Nov. 6th.
This is the one opportunity for your elected officials to go on record as supporting the only universal, comprehensive, cost-effective solution to the health care crisis. There are currently 87 cosponsors of HR 676, but this vote will make it clear to the movement which elected officials are truly with single-payer, Medicare for All.
 We need you to call today!
Ask your Representative to vote YES for the plan that most American people, nurses, and physicians want and so desperately need: Medicare for All - Rep. Weiner's single-payer amendment.
If you know who your Rep. is, the Congressional Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. If not, go here to use the tool provided by Healthcare-NOW!--it's easy and toll free.
NEXT: After you have called your representative, please call Speaker Pelosi and thank her for allowing this promised vote and ask her to make sure it is allowed a full debate. Ask her to release CBO scoring for this amendment. The public deserves to see how much money Single-Payer would save while providing all citizens with affordable, accessible and sustainable access to health care.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi: - Washington, DC, office (202) 225-4965;
- San Francisco office (415) 556-4862
If you have more time, it would not hurt to call Waxman and Miller to also thank them and also make sure they know you expect a full floor debate. As Floor managers, they have influence. You can find their numbers here.
Now, pat yourself on the back - then get back to calling!
ACTION NEEDED TODAY: Democratic House leaders can insert what is called a "Manager’s Amendment" into legislation, even when it is closed to any other amendments. The managers are the majority and minority members who "manage" debate for the bill on each side.
Today, tomorrow, and beyond, we need to call these "managers" and insist that the Kucinich Amendment is restored into the healthcare bill.
The "gang" that holds our future in their hands - the people you need to call NOW - are:
* Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
- Washington, DC, office (202) 225-4965;
- San Francisco office (415) 556-4862
* Majority Leader Steny Hoyer:
- Washington, DC, office Phone - (202) 225-4131 - Fax - (202) 225-4300
- Greenbelt office (301) 474-0119;
- Waldorf office (301) 843-1577
* Rep. Henry Waxman:
- Washington, DC, office (202) 225-3976;
- Los Angeles office (323) 651-1040
* Rep. Charles Rangel:
- Washington, DC, office (202) 225-4365;
- New York office (212) 663-3900
* Rep. George Miller:
- Washington, DC, office (202) 225-2095;
- Concord office (925) 602-1880;
- Richmond office (510) 262-6500;
- Vallejo office (707) 645-1888
NOTE: When talking to Waxman and Pelosi's offices be sure to also tell them you want the vote on the Weiner Amendment she and Waxman promised on July 31st - We also need and have a right to see the CBO scoring on the Weiner Amendment.
Updates from mcjoan at Daily Kos
There's good news and so-so news coming from the House. With votes still in a state of flux, Pelosi has decided to wait until early next week, probably Monday, to make the decision on whether to include the robust public option based on Medicare Plus 5%, or the negotiated rates public option
All of the "lean yes" members from earlier today have been confirmed as yes votes on the robust public option. Meaning now we're down to about eight that we really need to get. Luckily, folks whipping on the Hill know the most likely folks for us. As CaptUnderpants diaries, these are the members most likely to join in:
* Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-8): 202-225-2542, 520-459-3115, 520-881-3588
* Dennis Cardoza (CA-18): 202-225-6131; 209-383-4455, 209-527-1914
* Joe Donnelly (IN-2): 202-225-3915, 574-288-2780
* Curt Schraeder (OR-05): 202-225-5711, 503-588-9100
* Lincoln Davis (TN-04): 202-225-6831, 931-490-8699, 931-473-7251
* Glenn Nye (VA-2): 202-225-4215 757-326-6201
* Jim Costa (CA-20): 202-225-3341, 661-869-1620, 559-495-1620
* Rick Boucher (VA-9): 202-225-3861, 276-628-1145
If you live in the district of any of these Congresspeople, please call and urge him or her to pledge their vote to a robust public option, based on Medicare rates plus 5%. Make sure to call their district offices as well as DC offices. The impact of constituent calls in district offices is much greater because they generally don't get the same volume of calls as the DC office. The House needs to pass the strongest bill possible going into negotiations with the Senate. All of the things that House members have fought to have included in this bill, not just the public option, will be best preserved with the strongest possible bill being passed by the House.
As usual, leadership needs to hear from us, too. Here they are.
* Steny Hoyer (MD-05): 202-225-4131, 301-474-0119, 301-843-1577
* Chris Van Hollen (MD-08): 202-225-5341, 301-424-3501
* Jim Clyburn (SC-06): 202-225-3315, 803-799-1100
* John Larson CT-01): 202-225-2265, 860-278-8888
* Henry Waxman CA-30): 202-225-3976, 323-651-1040
* Chuck Rangel (NY-15): 202-225-4365, 212-663-3900
Below the fold, I have the list of members who have moved into the solid yes column. If you are so inclined, give them a thank you call.
Calls Needed Before Noon Friday
Caucus Meeting starts at 9:30 a.m.
From Chris Bowers:
I am told that if the leadership does not confirm 218 "solid" yes votes by the end of the 9:30 a.m. Democratic caucus meeting tomorrow morning, they will probably include the negotiated rate public option in the bill that is sent to the floor, not the Medicare +5% public option. At the very latest, we have until 2 p.m. to get the votes.
Note that "the list" is at the bottom of this post or in PDF format here.
If you member of Congress is on the list, call and leave a message tonight. We have to get through before 9:30 a.m., if possible.
If your member of Congress is not on the list , but you are represented by a Democrat, call your member of Congress and urge them to support the Medicare +5% option at the caucus meeting tomorrow morning.
If you are represented by a Republican, call either a member of the Democratic leadership or a Representative on the list who is from your state.
Call and leave a message. The campaign could really go either way depending on what happens in the next 14-18 hours.
---
The leadership and Democratic Caucus will be meeting Friday morning to determine which version of the Public Option they will include in the House bill.
Nancy Pelosi has said that she believe they have 218 representatives on board for a good public option. That means that they are only 12-15 votes away from the strongest version of the bill - the Medicare Plus 5 version that ties public option rates to Medicare reimbursement rates.
We desperately need the strongest possible House bill going in to conference with the Senate if the final bill is going to help us at all.
As soon as you get up in the morning, please make calls to the following "leaning" Dems. [Set your alarm a bit early so you will have time to call before leaving for work!]
It takes longer to get through - but if you need to, use this 800 number so there will be no cost to you:
1-800-828-0498
These are Representatives we believe are considering supporting the Medicare Plus 5 version. The first number is their DC office, the others are their district office numbers - thanks to Chris and mcjoan at Daily Kos for pulling this information and the the numbers together.
* Ron Klein (FL-22): 202-225-3026, 561-544-6910
* Dennis Moore (KS-03): 202-225-2865, 913-621-0832, 913-383-2013
* Stephen Lynch (MA-09): 202-225-8273, 617-428-2000
* Bob Etheridge (NC-02): 202-225-4531, 919-829-9122, 919-829-9122
* Dina Titus (NV-3): 202-225-3252, 702-387-4941
* John Boccieri (OH-16): 202-225-3876, 330-489-4414
* Steve Driehaus (OH-1): 202-225-2216, 513-684-2723
* Charles Wilson (OH-06): 202-225-5705, 740-633-5705, 330-533-7250
* Christopher Carney (PA-10): 202-225-3731, 570-585-9988, 570-327-1902
* John Sprat (SC-05): 202-225-5501, 803-327-1114
* Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15): 202-225-2531, 956-682-5545, 361-358-8400
* Solomon Ortiz (TX-27): 202-225-7742, 956-541-1242, 361-883-5868
Additionally, it never hurts to put some pressure on leadership. Most of these committee chairs haven't yet committed precisely because they're the committee chairs negotiating with leadership, but they need to hear from us as well to know the strength of public support for the strongest public option possible.
* Steny Hoyer (MD-05): 202-225-4131, 301-474-0119, 301-843-1577
* Chris Van Hollen (MD-08): 202-225-5341, 301-424-3501
* Jim Clyburn (SC-06): 202-225-3315, 803-799-1100
* John Larson CT-01): 202-225-2265, 860-278-8888
* Henry Waxman CA-30): 202-225-3976, 323-651-1040
* Chuck Rangel (NY-15): 202-225-4365, 212-663-3900
Below the is the full list of Dems who haven't fully committed one way or the other on the public option and on the most robust public option possible.
From PNHP:
While media coverage of the health reform debate is focused on the Senate Finance Committee's bill (which was largely drafted by current and former executives at Wellpoint, the nation's largest private health insurance company), several portentous congressional votes on single-payer Medicare-for-All loom on the horizon.
You can help determine the outcome of these votes, which are truly without historical precedent.
Quick Actions:
[Note that the text in the messages needs a bit of updating since it is now Oct. and we need to add a request for a CBO scoring of HR-676 in the one for the Weiner Amendment]
- Write your representative in support of the Weiner amendment
- Write your representative in support of the Kucinich amendment
Detail:
1. In the House - Ask your representative to support the Weiner and Kucinich amendments
Sometime in the next two or three weeks, Rep. Anthony Weiner's (D-N.Y.) amendment to substitute single-payer legislation (along the lines of Rep. Conyers' H.R. 676) for the House leadership's bill, H.R. 3200, will come up for an up-or-down vote on the House floor.
This is the first time single payer will have been put to a full floor vote in our nation's history, and it presents us with a unique opportunity to hold our representatives accountable on this issue. While the individual mandate approach to reform embodied in the Senate Finance bill would leave 25 million Americans uninsured, single payer would assure coverage for every American, as even President Obama has admitted. (You can find the number of people uninsured in your congressional district here.)
Additionally, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has secured a provision in H.R. 3200 that would allow individual states to adopt their own single-payer systems.
- Join the Facebook Group to support the Weiner Amendment.
- Contact your representative today and ask him or her to vote "YES" on the Weiner Amendment for single payer and insist that the Kucinich amendment remains in the final House bill..
- You can find out more about the amendments and take action at www.pnhp.org/amendment.
- The Congressional Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121.
2. In the Senate
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) will introduce two single-payer amendments to the Senate bill, one to create a national single-payer plan (along the lines of S. 703), and the other to allows individual states to adopt single payer.
- Urge your senators to vote "YES" on the Sanders' single payer amendments.
- The Congressional Switchboard number is (202) 224-3121.
Talking points and l obbying materials are located at www.pnhp.org/change.
Some recent media highlights
- A new study estimating that lack of health insurance causes 45,000 deaths annually, by Dr. Andrew Wilper and PNHP co-founders Drs. David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, was covered by the New York Times, CBS Evening News, Reuters, Amednews, and more. Dr. John Geyman wrote an opinion piece about the study at The Huffington Post. Dr. Deb Richter's op-ed citing the study appeared in The Progressive.
Political figures, commentators and editorial writers are now routinely citing the study's finding of 45,000 deaths annually in their discussions of our health care crisis. Even Sen. Max Baucus has cited it, erroneously asserting that "[my] bill would fix that." (Actually, his bill would leave some 25 million uninsured, which translates into about 25,000 deaths annually.)
- PNHPer and "Mad as Hell Doctor" Dr. Paul Hochfeld was admitted at the last minute to Obama's press event with physicians Monday and appeared on Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" show on MSNBC. The Mad as Hell Doctors, led by Hochfeld and Dr. Mike Huntington, wound up their 26-city, nationwide tour with a rally in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 30. They received extensive regional press.
- Finally, an excellent article by Michael Moore and the California Nurses Association's Rose Ann DeMoro explains "Why the current bills don't solve our health care crisis," and why an improved and expanded Medicare for All is the only effective Rx. Activists are encouraged to use the article's talking points for their own op-eds and letters.
Register today for PNHP's Annual Meeting on Saturday, Oct. 24, in Cambridge, MA, at the Royal Sonesta Hotel. Guest speakers include Dr. Marcia Angell, former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine; Harvard health economist William Hsiao, Ph.D.; journalist T.R. Reid; Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Anthony Weiner and more. You won't want to miss this extraordinary gathering!
On September 29th in New York City, the Mobilization for Health Care for All is launching a national campaign of "Patients Not Profit" sit-ins at insurance company offices to demand an end to a system that profits by denying people care. We want the real "public option": Medicare for All, a single payer plan that cuts out the profit and puts patients first.
Insurance companies are the real death panels in America. They make billions in profit and millions for their CEOs while millions of Americans have no health insurance and over 45,000 die every year because they can't get the care they need. That's more than 120 people every day. These insurance companies deny care to their members and the American people for profit.
America deserves better, and that's why we voted for change. But the insurance companies are spending millions to confuse and scare the public to keep us from ending their grip on our health and our money. With teabagger town hall protestors and the right-wing noise machine on their side, they're winning. We can't let that happen. It's time to take the fight to the real villain in the health care debate.
When the civil rights movement faced a similar challenge in the struggle to end segregation, nonviolent civil disobedience moved the nation and made reform possible. Just like the lunch counter sit-ins did for the civil rights movement, we have to make it impossible for the media and our country to ignore how outrageous the status quo of private insurance is for the American people.
It only takes a small group of people to do a sit-in in your community, but our actions can inspire every American who has been abused by the insurance companies and believes it's time for real reform to fight for it. This campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience will continue until the insurance companies no longer stand between the American people and the health care that is our right.
Already, doctors, nurses, patients, and people just like you are signing up to be one of the 100 ordinary but courageous people who will launch this nonviolent battle to end private insurance abuse and win health care for all. Join us! We can't wait any longer - every day more people die because of the insurance company death panels. Sign Up!
Watch the video at YouTube. | Follow the campaign on Twitter
Physicians for a National Health Program asks you to support the Weiner Amendment by sending a letter to your rep.
The Weiner amendment would replace Division A of HR 3200 with the text of HR 676, the "U.S. National Health Care Act," sponsored by Rep. John Conyers. This would effectively transform HR 3200 into single-payer legislation. Single-payer is a superior reform to HR 3200 in many ways:
- Single payer would provide universal and comprehensive coverage for all medically necessary services. Unamended, HR 3200 would leave millions uninsured or with skimpy coverage.
- Single payer allows patients free choice of doctor and hospital. Under HR 3200, insurance companies would continue to deny care and restrict access to services.
- Single payer pays for itself by eliminating $400 billion in insurance company administrative waste and redirecting it to care. HR 3200 requires $1 trillion in new revenue in the next decade.
- Single payer establishes proven and effective cost-containing mechanisms to ensure that benefits are sustainable over the long run. HR 3200 lacks effective cost controls.
The Weiner amendment presents an historic opportunity for Members to register their support for single-payer national health insurance as the best way to solve the U.S. healthcare crisis. It additionally will provide a vote that Members can stand by when approached by constituents. Please take a moment to use their form to let your representative know you support Medicare For All.
For the first time ever, single-payer legislation will be debated and voted on by Congress in September. The day after thousands of grassroots activists rallied in Washinton, DC for national healthcare on Medicare's 44th birthday, Rep. Anthony Weiner (NY-9) introduced an amendment to President Obama's healthcare reform bill (HR 3200) to replace it with HR 676, the single-payer bill, and Speaker Pelosi pledged to bring it to a debate and vote on the full House floor in September. Tell your Representatives that the Obama health plan is NOT enough and we want them to vote YES on single-payer. We need real health reform that will cover every American, provide real choice of doctors, and save the majority of Americans money. Here's a full list of other ways you can help win single-payer healthcare this September.
BLUE DOGS’S NEGOTIATING LIST. Here’s what the conservative Dems are negotiating with leadership, according to a document obtained by the PULSE:
--Effectively bend the cost curve
--Realign incentives to reward high quality, efficient health care; include value-based purchasing, value index, innovation center for Medicare and Medicaid, and other delivery system reforms
--Increase small business exemption and adjust for inflation
--Address end-of-life care
--Adjust the value and cost of subsidy levels
-- Provide affordability credits on a sliding scale from 100-300 percent FPL
-- Public option must negotiate rates with providers, provide greater clarity on opt out, compete on a level playing field, and be available as a fallback
--Establish consumer-driven, state-based co-ops
--Create state-based exchanges with a federal fallback
--Maintain current state-federal partnership with Medicaid, while implementing reforms that increase its value and effectiveness Read it all - along with Action Items - here.
Public Citizen | Action Items
The Senate Finance Committee, led by Sen. Max Baucus, is holding important roundtable discussions on health care on May 5 and May 14. The list of witnesses includes Blue Cross Blue Shield and the private insurance lobby group America's Health Insurance Plans but not one single-payer supporter.
We need to tell Congress that this is unacceptable.
 We have a lot to do if we want real, workable health care reform. Luckily, there are many grassroots organizations working hard to make it easy for everyone to do something. I will try to keep this post with current actions at the top of this blog (will shift it back up once or twice a day as needed) as long as the items are active.
1 - TELL REPRESENTATIVE PELOSI TO PUT SINGLE PAYER ON THE AGENDA
A copy of your efax will go to Nancy Pelosi, Dan Bernal (Legislative Aide to Representative Pelosi), Joel Segal (Aide to Representative Conyers), Senatory Max Baucus and The White Office of Health Reform.
More Info
2 - Tell Congress to support Single-Payer healthace for everyone in America!Send a message to: * Representative Charles Rangel * Representative George Miller * Representative Henry Waxman * Senator Edward Kennedy * Senator Max Baucus More Info
3 - National Lobby Day and Rally for Single-Payer in DCWhen: Wednesday, May 13 at 12:00pm - 2:00pm Where: Upper Senate Park, Washington DC (near Union Station Metro Stop) If you cannot make it to be with us in D.C. then mark your calendar and start calling your representative and senators at noon on the 13th. More Info
It appears that Congressional leaders are being deliberately dismissive of single-payer to the point of ludicrous statements. It's like they have put their fingers in their ears and are yelling 'I can't hear you, I can't hear you.' Here they are in all their Congressional 'member' glory:
Baucus a few days ago: 'Everything BUT single payer is on the table. Single payer if off the table'
Pelosi: "In our caucus, over and over again, we hear single payer, single payer, single payer. Well, it's not going to be a single payer."
Pelosi's aide: "Where are the phone calls, e-mails and faxes in support of single-payer? Speaker Pelosi has been in favor of single-payer for a long time. Now make us do it."
OK. We are up to the challenge. He wants to see the faxes. Let's break their damn fax machines with the faxes.
You can send a fax right now to Pelosi, Baucus, the aide and the White House. So let them see what happens when they ask for faxes. Then maybe they will have to take their fingers out of their ears. eFax - Pelosi Put Single Payer on the Agenda www.1payer.net
Sen. Max Baucus, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the same, have put together an ambitious schedule dedicated to producing a health care reform bill by the summer. Their next wave of roundtable discussions is set to begin April 21.
Curiously, despite the fact that the VA has shown far more success managing patients with chronic diseases and comparative effectiveness research, as well as Health IT, no one from the VA will be present. No one representing coordinated care – not even from the Mayo Clinic. No one to talk about the medical home. No patient advocates. Only one “activist” group in the National Partnership for Women and Families (a great advocacy group, but hardly the first name you think of in the health care reform community.) However in the group of 12 invited participants, there will be 4 (FOUR!) individuals working for the insurance industry in some form or fashion. There’s Dr. Allan M. Korn, Chief Medical Office for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. There’s Roy Williams, CEO of Aetna. There’s Glenn Hackbarth, who is currently chair of MedPac, the payment advisory committee tasked with analyzing cost and quality of care in Medicare. What prepared Mr. Hackbrath for being able to advise Medicare on, say, how much we should pay the private plans that make up Medicare Advantage? How about some time as an executive for Harvard Community Health Plan? There’s also Dr. Glenn Steele, also with a background as a surgeon, who’s president of the Geisinger Health System in Danville, PA, a network of provider physicians and hospitals, complete with … yes, surprise, the Geisinger Health Plan, selling HMO and PPO products since the 1970s. ACTION ITEM:Write to Baucus and Grassley and demand a fair debate and a fair balance of speakers as they work towards universal health care. Make sure they know we are paying attention. Tell them that their job is to help create a plan that best help American Citizens, not the insurance industry. And I hope you will add that you really want to have a spokesperson for single payer at the table. Click here for more information.Click here to send an email.
 Fax your Health Insurance Bills to Congress!
When President Obama convened the healthcare reform summit on March 5, he said "Our inability to reform health care in the past is just one example of how special interests have had their way, and the public interest has fallen by the wayside." He added, "And I know people are afraid we'll draw the same old lines in the sand, give in to the same entrenched interests, and arrive back at the same stalemate we've been stuck in for decades."
If your representative is a co-sponsor of HR 676, offer your thanks, and ask them to stand firm.
Find the co-sponsors here.
UPDATE: Thanks to everyone who made calls or sent faxes.
As of now we know that among the 120 people invited to the White House Health Summit there are two single payer advocates:
- Representative John Conyers the lead sponsor for HR-676 and
- Dr. Oli Fein the president of PNHP.
So far as we know, CNA/NNOC are still being shut-out, on the basis that they are already represented by the AFL-CIO, according to a Congressional Quarterly report from this afternoon. No word about HealthCare-Now or Progressive Democrats of America or Public Citizen, or the dozens of other groups that are part of the leadership coalition for single payer.
In addition to the phone calls and emails by lots of us, PNHP had been planning a rally, wearing our doctors' White Coats at the White House, to call attention to being left out. Maybe all this helped. Or maybe it was theater all along: they say no, we complain, they let in a token representation, but no change in policy is made. We shall see!?! On Thursday, March 5, 2009, the White House will host a summit on how to reform the healthcare system. The 120 invited guests include lobbyists for various interest groups including the private-for-profit insurance industry (AHIP), some members of Congress including Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus who has already ruled single payer “off the table,” and various others concerned with healthcare. No single payer advocates have been invited to attend. Please urge President Obama to fulfill his promise for transparency and openness in government Call The White House (202) 456-1414 or (202) 456-1111.Tell them to let single payer into the White House Summit on healthcare.
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