Two Florida Democratic Challengers Standing With Their Constituents-- And Our Families-- On Health Care Reform

Elle Tudor

All of the Blue America-endorsed candidates this year support this first step towards real healthcare reform, even if they are all disappointed it isn't nearly as progressive or as close to perfect as we all hoped. I think every one of them is itching to get into Congress so they can sign up as co-sponsors on Alan Grayson's Medicare For All version of a useful and compelling public option. Over the past few days you've read quotes from most of them on their feelings about the bill's passage. Our most recently endorsed candidate, Doug Tudor, took the fight for healthcare reform very personally. You see that beautiful photograph on the top of the page? That's his daughter Elle.

"America took an awesome step forward," Doug wrote me yesterday, "with President Obama’s signature on the Affordable Health Care for America Act. There are many immediate and near immediate benefits of this legislation, which include:

• Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;

• Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;

• Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;

• Lower seniors prescription drug prices by beginning to close the donut hole;

• Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;

• Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;

• Require plans to cover an enrollee's dependent children until age 26;

• Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;

• Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;

• Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs.

The first of the benefits he listed is of particular and personal importance to him. His daughter, Elle, was born with hypoplastic right heart syndrome. She had her first open-heart surgery when she was two days old. She has had two subsequent open-heart surgeries, a brain surgery, and tests and procedures too numerous to recount. Her pre-existing condition was first identified when she was just five months in the womb.

"Today," Doug wrote, "due to the courage of the Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate and the leadership of President Obama, my daughter will no longer be a second-class citizen due to her pre-existing condition. I thank the Democratic members of the Democratic Party who voted on behalf of my daughter and so many of our fellow citizens...

"With all of the positive aspects of today’s law, I know we can improve it. Given the opportunity, I would co-sponsor, tirelessly advocate for, and vote yea on Alan Grayson’s HR 4789 -- 'Medicare You Can Buy Into Act.' Alan is a courageous, forward-thinking lawmaker, and I look forward to serving with him in the U.S. House.”

He added, "By the way, you would never know that Elle has any health issues. She is an intelligent, engaging, active, and beautiful nine-year-old. Oh, and sometimes she is bratty-- just like every other nine-year-old."

Just north of Doug's district, even sharing a small piece of Polk County, is FL-05, home of anti-healthcare wingnut Ginny Brown-Waite. The Democrat running against her, Jim Piccillo, is another Democrat firmly in the pro-healthcare camp. Like Tudor he was moved by the moment and inspired by the step forward. He was also sickened by the narrowly partisan behavior of Brown-Waite.

Sunday night, after more than a year of debate about healthcare reform, the American people were about to witness a vote which would insure 32 million more people, end discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions, bring down health care costs and finally close the Medicare “donut hole.” The last year of debate has seen the far right radicals, and tea party activists screaming as loud and as disgustingly as they could against providing help to those hit by the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. They worked hard to spread lies and fear but, Sunday night, the American people prevailed.

There were many highs and lows during the several hours of floor debate leading to the vote. But one of the lowest of the lows came from Tea-Party Republican, Virginia Brown-Waite, my opponent in November, once again showed publicly that her delusions know no bounds.

In just 45 seconds she managed to spew out several of the most outrageous lies in an effort to further panic the good people of the 5th District. She used her time on the House floor to punch out falsehoods saying everything from Social Security was being raided to warning seniors their doctors were going to drop them immediately.

Her remarks, while disturbing, were not surprising. You see, our district, FL 5th, has more people on Medicare than 11 states. In the last 8 years since Virginia won the seat nary a moment has gone by, whether on the floor of the House or ordering a turkey sandwich, when she doesn’t utter the phrase “for veterans and seniors.” The problem this time is that this bill will actually help seniors. It helps the 26% of our children who are on food stamps. It helps the 15% of our men and women who are unemployed.

What she did was a blatant attempt to scare the voters into thinking she was on their side. Her comments, the other night, were as disgraceful as when she wanted to dig up the servicemen and women from their graves in Normandy and as ridiculous as when she wanted the President to ask her permission before accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.

For the past 8 years this rubber-stamp Republican has proved to be on the wrong side of every important issue. As the Democratic nominee who will face her in November, I plan to hold her accountable for her lies and replace her with a new generation of common-sense leadership that values results over rhetoric and puts people above politics. No longer does the loudest yelled lie and most ignorant screams of hatred win. This is the New America and we are taking our country back.

This is what the bill she is railing against will do for her own constituents:

* Improve coverage for 429,000 residents with health insurance.

* Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 244,000 families and 15,100 small businesses to help them afford coverage.

* Improve Medicare for 228,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.

* Extend coverage to 117,000 uninsured residents.

* Guarantee that 21,400 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.

* Protect 1,600 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.

* Allow 58,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans.

* Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 19 community health centers.

* Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $25 million annually.

Not a single Florida Democrat-- even though conservatives Suzanne Kosmas and Allen Boyd (each facing primary challengers sick of their aisle-crossing Republican ways) surely wanted to-- voted against healthcare reform on Sunday. And not a single Republican voted for it. Ginny Brown-Waite is always a dependable rubber stamp for the Republican hierarchy. My guess, though, is that had Doug's Blue Dog opponent for the Democratic nomination in FL-12, Lori Edwards, been serving on Sunday, she would have voted exactly the way Republican Adam Putnam and the two dozen Blue Dogs supporting her campaign voted. That's why it's so important to help elect Doug to this open seat.