My letter to Senate Finance Committee Re: Single Payer. Follow link to fax free

Do your part by sending a free fax here
http://www.1payer.net/campaigns/finance-committee.html



TO: Senator Max Baucus

CC: White House Office of Health Reform, Department of Health and Human Services

FROM: SCE56

INCLUDE SINGLE-PAYER IN THE FINANCE COMMITTEE ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS

Dear Senator Max Baucus:

I am writing to you concerning the upcoming Senate Finance Committee roundtable discussions on healthcare reform being held on May 12th.

It is important to Americans that these discussions include all healthcare reform points of view. I was disappointed and even angered at the contemptuous way in which single payer advocates were treated during the session on May 5th. I hope that you will accord those who advocate Medicare For All as much respect as the obviously more powerful representatives of the insurance industry.

The majority of Americans and physicians support a national health insurance program built on the principles of Medicare For All. We may not have the money of the insurance industry, but ultimately we have the votes and we are your employer. This is an example of why we elected you – to do what is best the public good, not to cater to the private interests of the insurance industry.

Please invite a representative from Physicians for a National Health Program or the California Nurses Association to the roundtable discussion on May 12th. You can call PNHP at 312-782-6006 or email them at info@pnhp.org. You can call CNA at 510-273-2200 or email them at govrelations@calnurses.org.

My two cents worth
As a retired Army Vet I was appalled to learn that the nurse practitioner that was treating me at the Navy base Medical clinic could not afford treatment for her skin cancer! As a contractor to the military she did not recive health benefits and has to come up with the $5,000.00 to pay for her treatments out of her own pocket! That is despicable treatment for those who treat our young men & women that protect us. Members of Congress both the House and the Senate do not have that problem now do they!

Sincerely, SCE56 ( my real name of course)

http://www.1payer.net/campaigns/efax-pelosi-single-payer-agenda.html

TO: Representative Nancy Pelosi.

CC: Dan Bernal (Legislative Aide to Representative Pelosi), Joe Segal (Aide to Representative Conyers), Senator Max Baucus, The White House Office of Health Reform

PUT SINGLE PAYER ON THE AGENDA

Dear Ms. Pelosi and Others,

You have stated, "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." Your legislative aide, Mr. Bernal, claims that you have long been a single payer advocate but simply need the American people to give you the political backing to enact single payer. He said "Speaker Pelosi has been in favor of single-payer for a long time. . . . Now make us do it." Mr. Bernal asked "Where are the meetings with Sen. Baucus and other key . . . members? Where are the phone calls, e-mails and faxes in support of single-payer?" Let me address these points seriatim.

First, if you are a single payer advocate as Mr. Bernal says you are, then why do you not have the courage to stand up and say so? Why are you so vehemently ruling out single payer health care when 59% of American people and 59% of American doctors want it, according to a February 2009 CBS/NYT poll. Are you afraid of being Harry-and-Louised? Why not look at what will happen if you don’t stand up? You will be ‘Miked.” Take a look at the Mike Farrell videos at http://www.1payer.net/videos/medicare-for-all.html

Second, you know very well where the meetings with Sen. Baucus and other "key" members are. They never happened because Sen. Baucus, like you, has ruled out single payer from the very beginning. He refuses to meet with single payer advocates. He refuses to put single payer on the agenda for discussion.

Third, your aide asked, "Where are the faxes?" The faxes and calls and emails have been coming to you but you and your colleagues have been ignoring them. You are comfortable with your Federal Health Plan while we have to suffer. We will no longer suffer in silence. You may have decided to stick your fingers in your ears and sing “I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you” again and again, but I wager you will hear us loud and clear in the next election if you disappoint us now on health care.

How do we break through the willful silence of Congress and the White House? Senators and Representatives make email contact nearly impossible and usually pointless. The White House comment line is busy during business hours and closed at all other times. The White House edits one of our spokespersons out of the video of the Iowa meeting and refuses to invite acknowledged experts until we threaten a picket line. Do we have to break down your communications system in order to get our message across? If that is what it takes, then we will do our best.

Yours Truly,

A Frustrated Angry American Taxpayer, Your Boss

As a retired Army Vet I was appalled to learn that the nurse practitioner that was treating me at the Navy base Medical clinic could not afford treatment for her skin cancer! As a contractor to the military she did not receive health benefits and has to come up with the $5,000.00 to pay for her treatments out of her own pocket! That is despicable treatment for those who treat our young men & women that protect us. Members of Congress both the House and the Senate do not have that problem now do they! Put single payer on the table!

Sincerely, SCE56

:kick:

:kick:

The Congress will only pay attention to a real groundswell.

I modified the letter:

_ _ _ _ _

TO: Senator Max Baucus

CC: White House Office of Health Reform, Department of Health and Human Services

FROM: xxxx xxxx, Taxpaying and VOTING Citizen of the US

INCLUDE SINGLE-PAYER IN THE FINANCE COMMITTEE ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS

Dear Senator Max Baucus:

I am writing to you concerning the upcoming Senate Finance Committee roundtable discussions on healthcare reform being held on May 12th.

It is important to MANY Americans that these discussions include all healthcare reform points of view. Myself and many others were disgusted and very angered at the contemptuous way in which single payer advocates were treated during the session on May 5th. I hope - and we all EXPECT - that you will accord those who advocate a Medicare For All public health care option as much respect as the obviously more powerful representatives of the insurance industry.

The majority of Americans and physicians support a national health insurance program built on the principles of Medicare For All. We may not have the money of the insurance industry (and therefore the influence over you and other members of Congress or the Committee), but ultimately we have the votes and we are your employer. This is an example of why we elected you – to do what is best the *public good*, not to cater to the private interests of the insurance industry.

Senator Baucus, you know as well as I do that health care should *not* be a FOR PROFIT INDUSTRY which makes money by DENYING care. It isn't in any other country - except this one.

Furthermore, you know as well as most Americans do, that "health care reform" that does NOT include a public Medicare for All option is NOT reform. If you intend to keep the current system in place with no Medicare for All public option, then don't waste your time because we would essentially be stuck with the same system we have now that is based on corporate greed and profit and denial of care. We WANT and NEED a public taxpayer-funded Medicare for All health care option as part of health care reform.

Please invite a representative from Physicians for a National Health Program or the California Nurses Association to the roundtable discussion on May 12th. You can call PNHP at 312-782-6006 or email them at info@pnhp.org . You can call CNA at 510-273-2200 or email them at govrelations@calnurses.org.

Thank You,