Dear Senators Landrieu and Vitter, and Rep. Melancon,
The citizens of the country want the public option included in health care legislation. Despite tremendous pressure from the groups who give you money, lobbyists for the health insurance industry, the drug industry, and the AMA, for you to vote against it, the people whom you are elected to serve want the public option. It's time to pay attention to the ordinary citizens of the country.
Thank you for your attention.
I followed up with a phone call to their offices in DC suggesting that they take a position for the inclusion of the public option in health care legislation and asking for their positions on the matter. I'm waiting for a call-back from one of the offices, and the other two have not taken a position as yet. Cagey, huh?
What are the chances that the three will pay attention to my calls or emails? Slim to none, I'd say, but I have to make the effort.
What President Obama said today about the public option from CBS News:
President Obama on Tuesday said it is too early for him to say whether he will insist that a government-sponsored health care plan, or "public option," be included in health care reform. He did say, though, that a public option makes sense.
"I think (a public option) is an important tool to discipline insurance companies," Mr. Obama said.
Pressed on whether he would insist on a public plan in health care reform efforts, however, he said, "We have not drawn lines in the sand other than reform has to control costs and has to provide relief to people who don't have health insurance or are under-insured."
The president told reporters that the public plan should be included in the health insurance exchange -- the marketplace of consumer options – that Congress' health reform package is expected to establish.
72% of those polled support the inclusion of a public option in health care legislation.
He also pushed back against the claim, most recently expressed by health insurance industry groups in a letter sent to Congress today, that a public option will drive out private competitors and ultimately leave consumers with fewer choices.
"Why would it drive insurance out of business?" the president asked. "If private insurers say the marketplace provides the best quality health care, why is it the government, which they say can't run anything, suddenly is going to run them out of business? That's not logical."
An excellent point! But, if the public option is not included in the legislation, what will the president do? He doesn't say. Cagey, huh?
72% of the public against the health insurance companies, the drug companies, and the AMA? Whom are the the president and the Congress elected to serve, the citizens or those who give big money to politicians? Well, we know the answer, but do our elected politicians know the answer?
Mimi,
ReplyDeleteI suppose the Congress people will put it in the 'vote yes' pile and increment the count. Truth is they do not read most of the mail, they simply tabulate it.
What I have been told is that effective letters state the writer's position of interest "I am a citizen who relies on the American health care system and a grandparent whose children and grandchildren do too." Argues briefly for the position, "A public sector carrier of last resort would....." And is not belligerent. Suggesting AMA inter alia are effectively bribing Congress probably fails that test.
But it will count as "1 for" in their count.
FWIW
jimB
Jim, my friend, you are correct, but I am jaded and cynical about my Democratic representatives, who proudly label themselves "Blue Dog Democrats", which boils down to "I vote with Republicans a lot." I doubt that my correspondence is effective at all, no matter how I write. The three of them know me as a nagging crank, and no matter what kind of rational and civil letter I wrote, they would likely dismiss it, except on the rare occasions that they agree with me.
ReplyDeleteBut thanks for the advice. It is excellent. I urge others to follow it, and one day, when I feel less cynical, I will use it.
Oh you SOCIALIST!
ReplyDeleteThe world as we know it will come to an end and you'll end up like YURP!
DP, really? Like YURP? If expressing my views will drag the US down to the level of YURP, then, perhaps I should reconsider.
ReplyDeleteMimi: My admiration for you grows everday. You seem to know a whole lot more about the political mind than that Jim fellow. Tee Hee hee. At least you know how to express yours, jaded or not, without fear of being dismissed. Ah, Jim, won't you run again?
ReplyDeleteWe'Po'
ReplyDeleteI never ever run for anything.
I was a poli sci major a long time ago before I figured out where the money is and went to business school. And I am a very good analyst. So I kinda have a sense of what works that's all. Congressmen and Senators are human. One is more likely to catch them with sweets than sours.
FWIW
jimB
Crapaud, thank you.
ReplyDeleteJim, I tried the sweets strategy with Mary Landrieu and Charlie Melancon for quite some time, but they both voted for torture. I lost respect for them and burned my bridges in my responses to them for that vote. No point in mincing my words with either of them now.
As for Vitter, I know he's hopeless, so I simply go through the motions. Why? Maybe just to bug him.
Mimi, my master's thesis was on organized medicine and healthcare reform. I'll have to pull out the box of artiacles I saved and see if there are any new arguments or proposals "under the sun." This was during the Clinton administration's try at reform.
ReplyDeleteThe only certainty I can think of this time around: Mrs. Obama won't touch health care reform with a pole of any length. They certainly skewered Mrs. Clinton on that one (though that didn't dissuade her from public service,did it?)
Lynn, excellent. That Michelle Obama has influence, I don't doubt, but neither she nor the president will talk publicly about it.
ReplyDelete