Democratic Party - 49th Ward

Get the Facts on Health Insurance Reform

Dear Neighbor,

On Monday night, over 250 49th Ward residents jammed the Skyroom at the Loyola Park Fieldhouse to hear the facts about health insurance reform from U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and other leaders in the battle to reform our health care system.

As we've seen on TV over the past few weeks, the entrenched special interests are resorting to rumor-mongering and scare tactics in an effort to kill health insurance reform.

With rhetoric ramping up, it's more important than ever that we know the facts.  If you weren't able to attend last night's meeting, or if you have more questions, we have a great new resource.

Click HERE to visit the "reality check" website launched earlier today by the White House.   Through a series of videos, it answers critical questions and details the security and stability all Americans will have once we pass meaningful health insurance reform.

Below, you'll find a fact sheet, courtesy of our friends at the Wisconsin Democratic Party, which outlines eight key reasons why reform will benefit all Americans--even those who already have health insurance.

We know that the status quo is unsustainable, but we also know that meaningful change never comes easy.  We hope you'll help deliver change by spreading the truth about health insurance reform to your family and friends.

Sincerely,

DAVID FAGUS
Committeeman

JOE MOORE
Alderman

MICHAEL JAMES
President
49th Ward Democratic Party
-------------------------------------------------------

Click here for a PDF version of the Fact Sheet that you can print and share.

Facts About Health Care Reform

Why we need reform:

Over 46 million Americans have no medical coverage at all; millions more are under-insured or fear losing coverage. If we continue on our current path health care costs will continue to soar and within the next decade one out of every five dollars will be spent on health care.

This is unacceptable, the system is broken and we cannot postpone meaningful reform any longer.

What's in it for you:

Your choice of doctors and plans will be protected; those that are happy with their current coverage can keep it or choose a new plan--including a public option.

Additionally, everyone will benefit from eight protections that will ensure stability and security for families across the country:

1. Coverage Regardless of Pre-Existing Conditions

Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing coverage because of medical history.

2. An End to Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductible and Co-Pays

Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.

3. Full Coverage for Preventive Care

Insurance companies must fully cover--without charge--regular checkups and tests that help prevent illness, including mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.

4. No Dropped Coverage for the Seriously Ill

Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or lessening coverage for people who become seriously ill.

5. No Gender Discrimination

Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging people more because of their gender.

6. No Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage

Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage people receive.

7. Extended Coverage for Young Adults

Children will be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.

8. Guaranteed Insurance Renewal

Insurance companies will be required to renew a policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full.   Insurance companies won't be allowed to refuse renewal if someone becomes sick.

"This isn't about politics. This is about people's lives.
This is about people's businesses. This is about our future."

-President Barack Obama

Side-by-Side Comparison of the Different Bills

One of the greatest problems of the health insurance reform fight is that most people do not actually know what the proposed bills include in terms of coverage or costs and benefits to individuals both directly and indirectly.  Because of this, it is very easy for the big insurance companies and others who would misinform you, such as the Teabaggers, conservative Republicans, and the Birther folks for example, to stretch, bend and break the truth.

If reform is going to be successful we have to work create an educated population.  It is always easier to point out what is wrong and tear something down than it is to support something and convince others to join you.  But it is possible and it can be done provided you have the correct information and the desire to spread the word around.  Two things are on our side.  The vast majority of Americans will directly benefit from Health Insurance Reform and many others will reap indirect benefits.  Secondly, the power of telling the truth out weighs the easy of telling the quick and simple lie.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has prepared an easy to use website that includes many of the important points of the major proposals floating around Washington, D.C.  The site also provides flexible data that allows comparisons on various issues and concerns.  I have not fully examined all of the possibilities, but it has a lot of data.

The question you ask may be "who is the Kaiser Family Foundation?"  Here is their mission statement and their guiding principles:

Who We Are

A leader in health policy and communications, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on the major health care issues facing the U.S., as well as the U.S. role in global health policy. Unlike grant-making foundations, Kaiser develops and runs its own research and communications programs, sometimes in partnership with other non-profit research organizations or major media companies.

We serve as a non-partisan source of facts, information, and analysis for policymakers, the media, the health care community, and the public. Our product is information, always provided free of charge – from the most sophisticated policy research, to basic facts and numbers, to information young people can use to improve their health or elderly people can use to understand their Medicare benefits.

The Kaiser Family Foundation is not associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.

 

What We Do

The Foundation has many programs and a complex organizational chart, but essentially we do three things:

 

We are a major producer of policy analysis and research ourselves. We serve as a trusted and independent expert voice in a U.S. health system dominated by commercial, political, and ideological interests; a place where people can turn for unbiased and non-partisan analysis, basic facts, and explanation of the biggest domestic and global health policy issues and public opinion shaping them. This is the role for which we are best known in the U.S.  More >>

We are a “go to” clearinghouse of news and information for the health policy community.  We operate a large-scale health news and information service on the Web and a series of specialized websites, featuring both data we produce as well as the latest and best data from others, to help to ensure that everyone has the same kind of information and access to events as insiders do. We also make a major effort to assist journalists and news organizations working to inform the public about complex health policy and public health issues. More >>

Kaiser develops and helps run large-scale public health information campaigns in the U.S. and around the world. These currently focus on HIV/AIDS, with an emphasis on reaching young people. Kaiser campaigns are based on a new model of public service programming pioneered by the Foundation —direct partnerships with major media companies and a comprehensive “multi-platform” communications strategy that goes far beyond traditional “PSAs.” Current partners in the U.S. include MTV, BET, Univision, Viacom/CBS, and Fox. Together, Kaiser's campaigns reach tens of millions of people annually, and have won multiple Emmy and Peabody awards in recent years. More >>

This is a tool worth taking a good look at.

The White House Starts to Fight Back on Dis-information

The White House launched a coordinated effort Tuesday to combat what it calls a “viral whisper campaign” to torpedo health care reform.     . . . . . . . . .   Politico

 

Many of us have been waiting for this to come and some are already afraid it is too late.  The reason that getting this legislation done before the summer recess was because everyone knew that the money of the insurances companies, engaged in what they perceive as a fight for their lives, would pull out all of the stops and bring forward everything they had in their arsenal.

 

So now we see organizations working in concert with the GOP and the big insurance companies, organizations and individuals who were sent to disrupt McCain/Palin rallies, because they were paid and because they thought McCain was too liberal.

 

While the White House is developing a website along the lines of the www.FighttheSmears.com website during the campaign it is vitally important for those who care about the passage of this reform to become knowledgeable on the issue and be able to respond to the many false statements that are out there.  Here are just a few from an article by Carrie Budoff Brown on Politico, “Obama’s health care proposal would promote euthanasia, encourage federal funding of abortions, end private insurance and force every American into a public insurance plan”.  All of these statements are completely untrue.

 

Here is a link to the White House website that gives the facts to debunk the lie that President Obama intends to eliminate private health insurance.

 

Here is a link where President Obama talks about what Health Insurance Reform will mean to veterans.

 

Here is a link where President Obama speaks at a town hall meeting in North Carolina.

 

Here is a link where President Obama speaks at a tele-town hall meeting hosted by the AARP

 

There are many ways to get educated on the issues and to get the concepts down to understandable, simple concepts that make the case and the facts clear.

Is There Funding for Universal Coverage?

"Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus, a bipartisan advocacy group for children, said, “We are very concerned that as the legislation evolves, insurance will become less and less affordable than under the original proposals.”

"Asked whether insurance would be affordable to everyone, Senator Snowe said: “That’s unknown."    (complete NYT Article)

The most recent concerns about the bills moving through Washington, D.C. is that the cost of making sure that nearly every American has health insurance are expensive and their is wide disagreement about how those costs should be paid.  Some want the rich to pay.  Other want a wide ranging set of taxes to cover the expense.  Some just want to roll back the cost by not providing the coverage to everyone.  The groups that will be left in the cold as it is written today are the low-income working families that do not have insurance from their employer.

"All the bills offer some kind of assistance to lower-income people who do not get health benefits through the workplace. The bills would provide premium subsidies to millions of people and would establish limits on consumers’ out-of-pocket costs. But lawmakers and consumer groups say insurance could still be out of reach for many families with modest incomes who receive small subsidies or none at all."  . . . . More

Just who will be covered is the biggest question out there.  There are just not enough dollars in the revenue side of the bills to cover those families that make enough money to exceed subsidy limits.

"Richard J. Kirsch, the national campaign manager of Health Care for America Now, a consumer group, expressed concern. “If Congress sets the limit at 300 percent of the poverty level,” Mr. Kirsch said, “millions of middle-income families would not be able to buy insurance because they could not afford the premiums on their own.”   . . . . More

As we look at the language in these bills I think we are going to find the same things that we find in every bill piece of legislation, surprises that we didn't expect to be there.

49th Ward Update on Health Care Reform

The Democratic Party of the 49th Ward

    David Fagus            Joe Moore
Committeeman                Alderman

and Michael James, President

are presenting an

Update on the Effort to Reform Health Care

Speakers include:

Dr. Anne Scheetz, Physicians for a National Health Program,
a single payer advocate

Mr. William McNary, CoDirector of Citizen Action/Illinois,
a public option advocate

Ms. Leslie Combs, Office of Cong. Jan Schakowsky,
updating us on legislative activity in Washington, D.C.

Congressman Danny K. Davis
Member of the Illinois Congressional Delegation -D-07

 

Monday, August 10, 2009

6:30 pm

Loyola Park Field House

Skyroom, 2nd Flr. Handicapped Accessible

1230 W. Greenleaf (Greenleaf & Sheridan Rd.)

Chicago, IL 60626

 

Health care reform is in trouble.  Congress is heading toward the summer recess without a bill from either house.  The nation is in desperate need of reform and the big insurance and other big health care industries are working to kill our vision for a better and more just health care system.  This fight isn't for the uninsured or the poor; it is a fight for every working American.  Over the next 30 years, if left on the current course, health care costs will double.  That means that more people will be uninsured, not less.  It means that all of the money available to provide raises will be spent on your health insurance.  It means that your share of the cost will continue to increase and that your co-pays will continue to be more and more expensive.  This is a fight for every American and it is essential that it be won by the people and not big insurance companies who administer plans at a cost 10 times higher than Medicare administers its plan.

For additional information please email or call (773) 973-4949

Important Event in the Fight for Reform

MAJOR RALLY WITH U.S. CONGRESSWOMAN JAN SCHAKOWSKY

SUPPORT PRESIDENT OBAMA'S
HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL
"The Time is Now"
August 4, 2009, 4:30 PM - 6:00 PM
Federal Plaza
ADAMS & CLARK, Chicago, 60610 (CTA STOPS: Monroe Blue Line, Monroe Red Line)


The month of August is critical to make sure Congress passes real health care reform.  Let's make sure President Obama's plan becomes law!

·A strong Public Health Insurance Option
·Quality and Affordable Health Care for All
·Equal Access to Quality Care

RSVP to hcan@citizenaction-il.org
For more information, call: 312.427.2114 ext. 206 (Jessica) or ext. 208 (John) Visit: www.hcanil.org

 

This event is one step in making an impact on the most important issue of this session. Health care touches all of us regardless of any other factor and being certain that this nation has a system for providing care that insures that all of its citizens can receive care at reasonable and affordable prices is essential. Don't think this is a done deal or that somehow it isn't your fight. It is, without question and the process is slowing down and is in real danger of coming up very short of where we want to be in the end. The people with money on the table from the other side, big insurance companies, are stepping up advertising and moving forward with commercials that are trying to kill the most important portions on our agenda. Coming to this rally, calling you Congressman or Senator, calling the White House all are important. The fight has changed and the battle is for our elected officials to stand firm and stop compromising away the benefits of the plan to win over conservative votes. Hold Obama, Burris, Durbin and your member of Congress to the fire and let them know you will not accept any more giveaways in our health insurance reform.

Health Reform Can Fail - Do You Care Enough to Make it Pass?

Today President obama hit the road to promote his vision of health insurance reform in Shaker Heights, OH. In a town hall meeting that lasted a little more than an hour Obama reiterated his vision for health insurance reform and the principles that are manditory for his approval. It is clear that the intrests of big insurance are beginning to work there way into the Senate and into the broader public. With ads running decrying the "big government" takeover of the nations health care system it is very clear that reform is struggling.

Even more troubling is the news from the Senate today that Sen. Harry Reid announced which is that there will be no bill coming out of the Senate before the summer recess. This opens the door even wider to the big monied intrests opposed to reform. With an additional six weeks to work their misinformation and scare tactics into the main stream American concousness for the first time it is beginning to look like health insurance reform is not anywhere near a done deal. Even with Democratic majorities in the House and Senate and a popular Democratic President they insurance companies may win.

We simply cannot allow that to happen! Sen. Durbin and Sen. Burris need phone calls everyday to remind them where there supporters are on this so that hey do not feel that there is wiggle room. Even our Congresspersons need to by reached out to and reminded if you have a good one, and if you have a fence sitter or a bad one then the effort needs to be doubled. Everyone should be concerned about this because it is impossible to escape these reforms having impact on your life, but I am calling on those who are most effected to be the most active.

If you have no insurance you need to get on the phone and call these elected officials. If you have a chronic health care problem you need to get on your computer and email these elected officials. If you are chosing between medication and food or rent then you need to get out a pen and some paper and write to these elected officials. If you are a prisoner stuck in a job you want to leave but can't because of your health you need to reach out to your local newspaper and send a letter to the editor. And when your are done doing that you need to start telling people why this is important to you, your partner or your children and parents. Sharing your story helps those who are not concerned with this issue see it as a real problem and affecting someone they know personally.

The President does not enjoy the popularity nor have the authority to make this happen by himself. It takes the Senate and the House to be supportive and to be his parners in this vitally important reform. It is time to do your part. Those on the otherside will be spending millions over the next few weeks to do everything they can to tryand protect their intrests. If you don't stand up for yours them you are letting them win. That isn't just a loss, it could be life altering for you at some point and will be life altering immediately for someone you know.

Sen. Dick Durbin
http://durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm

(312) 353-4952 - ph
(312) 353-0150 - fx

230 S Dearborn St.  Suite 3892
Chicago, IL 60604

Sen. Roland Burris
http://burris.senate.gov/contact/contact.cfm

(312) 886-3506 - ph
(312) 886-3514 - fx

230 S Dearborn St.  Suite 3900
Chicago, IL 60604

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
http://www.house.gov/schakowsky/contact.shtml

Chicago - (773) 506-7100
Evanston - (847) 328-3409 

5533 Broadway
Chicago, IL 60640

Congressman Mike Quigley
https://forms.house.gov/quigley/contact-form.shtml

Phone: (773) 267-5926
Fax: (773) 267-6583

3742 W. Irving Park Rd.
Chicago, IL 60618

Obama's Weekly Address: Health Care Reform Can't Wait

By Barack Obama

Right now in Washington, our Senate and House of Representatives are both debating proposals for health insurance reform. Today, I want to speak with you about the stakes of this debate, for our people and for the future of our nation.

This is an issue that affects the health and financial well-being of every single American and the stability of our entire economy.

It's about every family unable to keep up with soaring out of pocket costs and premiums rising three times faster than wages. Every worker afraid of losing health insurance if they lose their job, or change jobs. Everyone who's worried that they may not be able to get insurance or change insurance if someone in their family has a pre-existing condition.

It's about a woman in Colorado who told us that when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, her insurance company - the one she'd paid over $700 a month to - refused to pay for her treatment. She had to use up her retirement funds to save her own life.

It's about a man from Maryland who sent us his story - a middle class college graduate whose health insurance expired when he changed jobs. During that time, he needed emergency surgery, and woke up $10,000 in debt - debt that has left him unable to save, buy a home, or make a career change.

It's about every business forced to shut their doors, or shed jobs, or ship them overseas. It's about state governments overwhelmed by Medicaid, federal budgets consumed by Medicare, and deficits piling higher year after year.

This is the status quo. This is the system we have today. This is what the debate in Congress is all about: Whether we'll keep talking and tinkering and letting this problem fester as more families and businesses go under, and more Americans lose their coverage. Or whether we'll seize this opportunity - one we might not have again for generations - and finally pass health insurance reform this year, in 2009.

Now we know there are those who will oppose reform no matter what. We know the same special interests and their agents in Congress will make the same old arguments, and use the same scare tactics that have stopped reform before because they profit from this relentless escalation in health care costs. And I know that once you've seen enough ads and heard enough people yelling on TV, you might begin to wonder whether there's a grain of truth to what they're saying. So let me take a moment to answer a few of their arguments.

First, the same folks who controlled the White House and Congress for the past eight years as we ran up record deficits will argue - believe it or not - that health reform will lead to record deficits. That's simply not true. Our proposals cut hundreds of billions of dollars in unnecessary spending and unwarranted giveaways to insurance companies in Medicare and Medicaid. They change incentives so providers will give patients the best care, not just the most expensive care, which will mean big savings over time. And we have urged Congress to include a proposal for a standing commission of doctors and medical experts to oversee cost-saving measures.

I want to be very clear: I will not sign on to any health plan that adds to our deficits over the next decade. And by helping improve quality and efficiency, the reforms we make will help bring our deficits under control in the long-term.

Those who oppose reform will also tell you that under our plan, you won't get to choose your doctor - that some bureaucrat will choose for you. That's also not true. Michelle and I don't want anyone telling us who our family's doctor should be - and no one should decide that for you either. Under our proposals, if you like your doctor, you keep your doctor. If you like your current insurance, you keep that insurance. Period, end of story.

Finally, opponents of health reform warn that this is all some big plot for socialized medicine or government-run health care with long lines and rationed care. That's not true either. I don't believe that government can or should run health care. But I also don't think insurance companies should have free reign to do as they please.

That's why any plan I sign must include an insurance exchange: a one-stop shopping marketplace where you can compare the benefits, cost and track records of a variety of plans - including a public option to increase competition and keep insurance companies honest - and choose what's best for your family. And that's why we'll put an end to the worst practices of the insurance industry: no more yearly caps or lifetime caps; no more denying people care because of pre-existing conditions; and no more dropping people from a plan when they get too sick. No longer will you be without health insurance, even if you lose your job or change jobs.

The good news is that people who know the system best are rallying to the cause of change. Just this past week, the American Nurses Association, representing millions of nurses across America, and the American Medical Association, representing doctors across our nation, announced their support because they've seen first-hand the need for health insurance reform.

They know we cannot continue to cling to health industry practices that are bankrupting families, and undermining American businesses, large and small. They know we cannot let special interests and partisan politics stand in the way of reform - not this time around.

The opponents of health insurance reform would have us do nothing. But think about what doing nothing, in the face of ever increasing costs, will do to you and your family.

So today, I am urging the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, to seize this opportunity, and vote for reform that gives the American people the best care at the lowest cost; that reins in insurance companies, strengthens businesses and finally gives families the choices they need and the security they deserve.

Thanks.

Health care Reform: Progress - But Bumps in the Road Ahead

The House version of health care reform has been passed by two of the three committees that have say over the health care system in the United States.  It was not supported by all of the Democrats which is leaving some people concerned.  Not concerned, but supportive are the American Medical Association and the American Association of Retired Persons.  Those are two heavy hitters in this battle.

 

This proposal would cover 97% of Americans and would require $544 billion dollars in new revenue.  Of course the Republicans are opposed to new taxes that would be targeted at those who are generically considered “rich” or “wealthy” Americans.  The problem is that some Democrats are also concerned about this and while it will not be a problem in the House, it could be a problem in the Senate.

 

There are also some questions about the policies from this bill as reflected in a Washington Post report:

 

“Critics also decry the House bill as overly meek in its efforts to lower health-care spending over the long term. On Thursday, they gained a key ally in Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, who told the Senate Budget Committee that bills crafted by House leaders and the Senate health committee would fail to achieve "the sort of fundamental changes" necessary to rein in the skyrocketing cost of government health programs, particularly Medicare.

To the contrary, Elmendorf said, the measures would pile on an expensive new program to cover the uninsured. “The changes that we have looked at so far do not represent the sort of fundamental change, the order of magnitude that would be necessary, to offset the direct increase in federal health costs that would result from the insurance coverage proposals,” he told the Senate committee.” . . . . Read More

 

Beyond providing coverage for all Americans, a reduction of costs, or actually growth of expenses, is supposed to be one of the most important factors in this process.  If the legislation is missing this component then one has to wonder how they can be amended into the bill.  Failing to make the costs of this manageable in the long-run will cause the program to fail.   Fortunately, the Senate bill is attempting to address these concerns.

 

There are also other changes and considerations regarding Medicare and Medicaid, it includes both a “public option” and an insurance exchange, and the Senate will be looking at a different set of taxes to address the funding needs.

Senate Pass Reform Bill Out of Committee

Washington Post
Ceci Connolly

The Senate's health committee approved legislation today that -- if passed by both houses of Congress -- would vastly expand health insurance coverage in America and tighten restrictions on the way the industry operates.

The 13-10 committee vote, along party lines, gives President Obama an important victory in what promises to be a lengthy and contentious drive to enact a comprehensive health-care overhaul this year.

The bill, named "Quality, Affordable Health Coverage for All Americans," would create a controversial new government-sponsored health program that would compete with the private sector. It requires that every American carry health insurance and provides generous discounts to people who cannot afford a plan. Millions more Americans would also be eligible for Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for the poor.

Under the legislation, most businesses would be required to offer insurance to workers or pay a $750 annual fee per full-time employee. Companies with fewer than 25 employees would be exempt from the so-called employer mandate, which faces fierce opposition by the Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Businesses.

Sen. Mike Enzi, (R-Wyo.), the highest-ranking Republican on the committee, delivered a bitter speech decrying the "partisan bill" as one that increases the deficit, "kills jobs and cuts wages."

More than anything, the vote this morning by the panel, formally named the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, gives Democrats a bit of forward motion in a legislative effort that has sputtered in recent weeks.

The Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over the financing of health reform, has fallen behind its schedule as Chairman  Max Baucus (D-Mont.) searches for bipartisan consensus on the politically difficult issue.

Three members of the panel scheduled a news conference for this afternoon to put pressure on the insurance industry to contribute up to $100 billion over the next decade toward the cost of expanded health coverage. House Democrats have announced a plan that would force the richest 2 million U.S. taxpayers to shoulder much of the cost of an expansion of the nation's health-care system, by imposing a surtax of as much as 5.4 percent on income above $350,000 a year.

Also today, the Democratic Party's Organizing for America released new television ads touting the urgent need for health reform. The 30-second spot, dubbed "It's Time," features average Americans who say they have been negatively affected by the current system.

Democratic  Sen. Christopher Dodd (Conn.) is filling in as chair of the health committee for the ailing  Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) , a longtime proponent of health-care reform who has devoted decades to the cause of universal health coverage.

The absent senator, who is battling terminal brain cancer, issued an emotional statement to the committee from his sickbed, recalling that his two slain brothers announced their candidacies for the presidency in the Russell Caucus Room where today's vote took place.

"As you vote today, know that I am with you in heart and mind and soul, and I wish very much that I could be with you in person," Kennedy said. "The American people are on the march once more, and they will not stop until quality, affordable health care is the birthright of every American. And we are with them every step of the way."

Dodd told his colleagues that Kennedy, a close friend, is "is ecstatic about our efforts here."