[Since this is now moot, I’m hiding the post behind a “more” line. –Amp]
Taken from Balloon Juice comments:
Whether or not you live in their districts, call the following Congresspeople (who are either undecided or are progressives who are considering opposing the legislation) and ask them to vote in favor of health care reform so that we can finally begin fixing our broken health care system.
Zack Space – Ohio (Zanesville, Dover, Chillicothe) – (202) 225-6265
Marcy Kaptur – Ohio (Toledo) – (202) 225-4146
Bill Foster – Illinois (Batavia, Dixon, Geneseo) – (202) 225-2976
Kathy Dahlkemper – Pennsylvania (Erie) – (202) 225-5406
Chris Carney – Pennsylvania (Clarks Summit, Shamokin, Williamsport) – (202) 225-3731
Melissa Bean – Illinois (Schaumburg) – (202) 225-3711
Steve Driehaus – Ohio (Cincinnati) – (202) 225-2216
Jim Matheson – Utah (South Salt Lake, St. George, Price) – (202) 225-3011
Stephen Lynch – Massachusetts (Brockton, Boston) – 202-225-8273
Peter DeFazio – Oregon (Eugene, Roseburg, Coos Bay) – 202.225.6416
Michael Arcuri – New York (Utica, Auburn, Cortland) – (202)225-3665
Rick Boucher – Virginia (Abingdon, Pulaski, Big Stone Gap) – 202-225-3861
Henry Cuellar – Texas (San Antonia, Laredo, Rio Grande City) – 202-225-1640
John Tanner – Tennessee (Union City, Jackson, Millington) – 202-225-4714
Glenn Nye – Virginia (Virginia Beach, Accomac) – (202) 225-4215
Brian Baird – Washington (Vancouver, Olympia) – (202) 225-3536
Dan Lipinski – Illinois (LaGrange, Oak Lawn, Chicago’s southwest side) – (202) 225 – 5701
Joe Donnelly – Indiana (South Bend, LaPorte, Michigan City, Kokomo) – (202) 225-3915
Marion Barry – Arkansas (Jonesboro, Cabot, Mountain Home) – (202) 225-4076
Harry Teague – New Mexico (Hobbs, Las Cruces, Socorro, Los Lunas, Roswell) – (202) 225-2365
Jerry Costello – Illinois (Carbondale, Belleville, E. St. Louis, Granite City, Chester) – (202) 225-5661
John Barrow – Georgia (Savannah, Augusta, Vidalia, Milledgeville, Sandersville) – (202) 225-2823
Nick Rahall – West Virginia (Beckley, Bluefield, Huntington, Logan) – (202) 225-3452
Solomon Ortiz – Texas (Corpus Christi, Brownsville) – (202) 225-7742
* * *
Here’s the fax I sent to DeFazio:
Dear Representative DeFazio,
I’m writing to urge you to do everything you can to improve the Health Care Reform bill at this late stage. I’m happy to read that you’re negotiating hard with Speaker Pelosi to make this bill fairer to Oregonians. That’s excellent. You rock, dude!
But after negotiations are over — even if you don’t get nothing — vote for it.
This is a matter of life and death for people who — unlike you — don’t have jobs with great health coverage. You owe it to them to swallow a bad deal, and if necessary swallow your principles, and vote for this bill.
Best wishes,
Barry Deutsch
This current healthcare reform proposal has been so pruned, castrated and watered down that I honestly don’t see why anybody should care about it. It’s a waste of time and energy, pure and simple. I hope it doesn’t get accepted and then we can start from scratch creating a REAL healthcare reform.
Clarissa, what in the long history of failed health care reforms makes you think the next step is trying again?
If this fails, the next step is 15-20 years of no politician being willing to touch the issue with a ten-foot pole. And after that, whatever reforms are proposed will be less far-reaching and more watered down than this one — just as this one is more watered-down than Clintoncare, and Clintoncare was more watered down than Nixon’s or Carter’s.
In fact, the last really major health care reform victory was the creation of Medicare, under Johnson.
According to the CBO analysis, Obamacare will put $466 billion in the first ten years into subsidizing insurance for working and middle-class households; $434 billion into expanding Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP); and 32 million currently uninsured Americans, will be insured. Insurance companies will be more restricted than they are now in terms of throwing sick people off of insurance, and in terms of refusing people with pre-existing conditions. I can’t see why anybody wouldn’t care about that.
Dear Ampersand,
This bill is going to make people that I know here rich. Cost of cancer treatment in the United States hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Cost of cancer treatment here, a couple of grand. I paid for my laundrywoman’s operation for cervical cancer out of spare money. I paid less than $1500. Later she developed a bad hernia. I paid $500 for that.
I’m paying for an american woman’s cancer operation and living expenses as she has chemotherapy and irradiation therapy. I wouldn’t even pay for her to go to a GP in the states. My conditions were “You go where I know there is top grade treatment or you die. I will never pay a cent for an american doctor.”
I guess I’m hoping that after seeing all this nasty bickering, backroom-dealing and dirty politics surrounding the issue, the voters will finally have enough and will start demanding that their so-called representatives will finally start doing things for them.
I paid for my laundrywoman’s operation for cervical cancer out of spare money.
This is a semi-repeat of something I said on another thread, but…So what? Michael Bloomberg or Bill Gates could pay for all your care in the US out of their spare change. The relevant question is why should you be paying for her care? Why isn’t she or her insurance company paying for the care? What happens to laundrywomen without such charitable employers? All you’d done by moving to Peru is put yourself in the hyper rich category. Very convenient for you, but it doesn’t really solve the problem.