Can Nancy Pelosi Save American Health Care Reform?

We may not always agree with Nancy Pelosi's strategies and tactics. Taking Bush's and Cheney's impeachment off the table drove a lot of people to hate her, no matter how remote a chance there was that that could have succeeded-- or even proceeded without shutting down the basic functioning of Congress and even a chance of getting any progressive legislation passed. And passing progressive legislation is the reason we were all so excited when Pelosi was sworn in as Speaker. Her commitment to real health care reform is almost the only thing standing between the American people's rapidly diminishing chance of getting any genuine reform and the salivating Insurance Industry CEOs who may well have brought off enough Max Baucuses and Blanche Lincolns and Arlen Specters, Joe Liebermen, Paul Ryans, Chuck Grassleys and Ben Nelsons to turn reform into a massive bailout for the Insurance companies. Yes, it's Nancy Pelosi-- not Barack Obama, who could go a long way towards ending this mess by saying "I won't be signing any health care bill unless it includes either single payer or a robust public option"-- who is keeping us out of the clutches of the Insurance Industry predators. This is what her office sent out today to help average Americans get to the truth and go beyond the barrage of right-wing propaganda:

WHAT’S IN THE HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL FOR YOU?

We know our economy and fiscal future are tied to building on what works in our health care system and fixing what’s broken.

Here are 12 ways health care reform will help you and your family.

LOWER COSTS

• No more co-pays or deductibles for preventive care

• An annual cap on your out-of-pocket expenses-- no longer driving Americans to financial ruin

• An end to rate increases based on pre-existing conditions, gender, or occupation

• Group purchasing power of a national pool if you have to buy your own plan

• Guaranteed, affordable oral health and vision care for kids


GREATER CHOICE

• Keep your doctor and your plan if you like them

• More plan choices, including a high-quality public health insurance option that would compete with private companies

STABILITY & PEACE OF MIND

• An end to coverage denials for pre-existing conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, or cancer

• Get the care you need with an end to lifetime limits

• Job and life choices will no longer be based on health care coverage

HIGHER QUALITY

•  Doctors-- not insurance companies-- in charge of health care decisions

•  More family doctors and nurses entering the workforce, at better payment rates, helping guarantee your access to quality care

That's why she's public enemy #1 for the corporate CEOs and their handmaidens in Congress. I hope you're aware of the effort Blue America is making to hold senators who abandon their constituents for the lure of easy corporate cash. We're starting with Arkansas where Blanche Lincoln, a reflexive reactionary vote across a great many issues of importance to working families, is up for re-election next year. The Arkansas News reports that she is more concerned with Insurance Giants' CEOs than with ordinary Arkansas working families. “One of our biggest concerns," she admitted about her attempts to kill the public option, "is that it doesn’t need to be a government plan that usurps that ability to compete in the marketplace, which I’m concerned that a totally government-run option would do."

We've been asking netroots activists to help fund the TV ad campaign that Blue America is sponsoring with our friends at Brave New Films. And the response has been really good. In fact, the response has inspired all of us at Blue America. I want to share an e-mail I got this morning from Melinda in Florida, who had sent a very generous donation.

Glad to do it.  I love you guys and the wonderful job you do.  And after working my entire professional career in healthcare, I know that there is nothing more important to our economic well being than healthcare reform that includes a public plan. 

Send me another contribute link and I'll give more.

That's the kind of feedback-- plus the flood of donations, most of them $10 and $20-- that keeps me going and bolsters me when I hear the lies being told about health care reform by shills like Paul Ryan and William Bennett, the same kinds of lies the right-wing used to try to derail Medicare and Social Security and every minimum wage bill ever passed. So thank you Melinda and thanks to the other 220 donors who have already given. (Can you check it out and see if you can join them; even $5 and $10 contributions add up and will help us make this campaign a success.)




UPDATE: So... Who's Side Is Obama On?

He didn't comment on the Insurance Industry Bailout substitute for health care reform that Max Baucus, Arlen Specter, Kay Hagan, Chuck Grassley and Blanche Lincoln vomited out. But he did comment on the bill that the House is proposing, the bill with the public option. President Obama's official statement:

"Today, the Chairs of several Committees in the House of Representatives unveiled their health care reform proposal. This proposal would improve the affordability, availability, and quality of health care and represents a major step toward the our goal of fixing what is broken about health care while building on what works."