Seven Ways You Can Support Health Care Reform

So you want to support health care reform but you're not sure what to do? Here you go:

#1) HealthCareForAmericaNow.org is probably the #1 site for getting involved in health care reform. It's a great place to learn about the issues, to find out about health care reform events you can attend, and to find out what kind of action you can take (such as contacting your Congressman and your Senators.)

#2) Write a "letter to the editor" explaining why we need health care reform. I recommend bringing up the moral aspects of this issue. A couple of facts to consider including: Over 10,000 Americans die every year due to lack of health care coverage and almost one million Americans go bankrupt every year due to medical expenses.

#3) StandWithDrDean.com is another great site to get involved with. Take the time to sign the petition and pass it around to your friends!

#4) InsuranceCompanyRules.org is great site for showing the problems with our current private insurance company based system. Sadly many people (including most of those fighting against health care reform) have no idea just how screwed up our current system is. Share this website with everyone you know.

#5) Contact Your Congressman. Let him or her know that you demand that they support health care reform (including the public option.) Demand that they work for the good of the American people and not the profits of the health insurance industry!

#6) Contact Your Senators. Let them know that you want them to stand up for the American people's health! Tell them that a "co-op" (which leaves too much power in the hands of the insurance companies) is a non-starter. We must have a public option. We demand it! It's why we voted for Barack Obama by a huge margin and why the Democratic party has a huge majority in the Senate & the House.

#7) Attend a "We Can't Afford To Wait" vigil on Wednesday, September 2nd of 2009. CLICK HERE.

BTW, I strongly recommend watching this Bill Moyers interview (video embedded below) with a man named Wendell Potter because it's very enlightening as far as the huge problems with the private health insurance industry.

Seven Truths About The Current US Health Care System

1.) The US ranks #37 in the world in overall health care despite spending more money on health care than any other nation in the world.

2.) The US ranks #50 in the world in life expectancy and this ranking has been slipping every year. Clearly we are doing something very wrong in this country.

3.) If you have a private health insurance plan and you get sick or badly injured (ie: you begin to cost them money) there's about a 50% chance that they will find some reason to drop your coverage. This has to be the scariest point to anyone who has health insurance right now. With the current system, without reform, there's a 50% chance that your health insurance won't be there for you when you need it most.

4.) The US bankruptcy rate is many times higher than that of the UK (and other nations with national health care) almost entirely due to outrageous health care costs for people with inadequate health insurance cover. Nearly one million Americans a year go bankrupt due to health care costs.

5.) There are about 50 million people in the US without any health care coverage and many more who are under insured. With so many people depending upon employer based health care coverage there's little security for the average American that they will have health care coverage when they need it most. In economic times like these, almost anyone can lose their job.

6.) If left unchanged the current health care system is on pace to bankrupt the US economy.

7.) There are many people who have an extremely difficult time obtaining any health care coverage due to a "pre-existing condition."

CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT HEALTH CARE REFORM.

Three Right Wing Myths About Health Care Reform

Right now the insurance industry/right wing politicians are doing everything they can to kill the health care reform that our country so badly needs (450,000 doctors agree.)

Below are three of the worst of the lies they are spreading in order to get everyday Americans actually fighting against their own self interest (which is in having real health care reform that improves the system while lowering costs.) They are spreading these lies to manipulate people into fighting for more health insurance industry profits and against health care for the American people.

Lie #1

Probably the most heinous lie that these groups are spreading is that health care reform has something to do with "killing old people." This is absolutely obscene and has no truth to it at all.

What's most disgusting is when you consider that most older people rely on Medicare. Yes, government run health insurance! And that the health insurance corporate interests were saying the same disgusting lies they are saying about health care reform now that they said about Medicare in the 1960s.

Lie #2

The right wing gets a lot out of of using "pro-life" people and they're trying to pull off that trick again with the lie about health care reform meaning that tax dollars will be paying for people's abortions. Just like lie #1, there's simply no truth to this. They are twisting the words in the health care reform bills to fit in with their scare tactics.

Lie #3

One of the stupidest lies they're spreading is the idea that the government couldn't run a successful health care program. This is obviously untrue. What about Medicare? What about all of the other countries in the western world who have been doing it for many years? (and with less costs and better health care results than our system.)

This is only a sampling of the lies the anti-health care reform people are spreading. But to be sure, if it's coming from the insurance industry/right wing, then it's probably a lie. They have no interest in a health care system that works for the American people. All they care about is the billions of dollars of profit that the health insurance industry scam makes them.

Fight Back Against Health Insurance Industry Lies

Learn more at SickForProfit.com

Rachel Maddow Exposes Those Behind The "Grass Roots" Anti-Health Care Reform Movement

Watch this:



It makes me sick thinking about these evil bastards spreading misinformation (ie: LIES) in order to try to get the health care reform our country needs so badly killed.

Why Won't CNN Run This Ad?

CNN has refused to run this ad which exposes the real reason that the Republicans are against health care reform (it has nothing to do with health care itself.) Watch:



Why does CNN have an active interest in protecting the outrageous profits of the health insurance industry but not the health of the American people? Are they a real news organization or just a pawn of the corporations?

We need Single-Payer Health Care, but The Public Option could be a reasonable compromise if it's strong enough. Here's a comparison of the two.

When considering whether or not you should support health care reform or not, think about this: Doctors strongly support health care reform, health insurance companies do not. Who do you think has your health in mind? Who do think only has their profits in mind? I think the answer is obvious. We need major health care reform.

The Public Option Vs. Single Payer Health Care

The debate many people are having about health care isn't really the one we should be having. The fact that we need massive health care reform is obvious. To deny that at this point takes massive amounts of ignorance and/or stupidity. The only people who truly benefit from the current private health insurance centered system are the fat cats that run the private health insurance companies.

The real debate should be about how we reform the system. Should we go with the "public option" plan currently in congress or a true universal health care "single payer" plan?

The following chart (click it to enlarge it) comparing the two should give you a good idea of which plan is preferable:



It's clear that single payer health care is really the path we should be taking. While the public option plan is easier politically and would be a good improvement over what we have now, it simply wouldn't have the same great positive impact (both as far as physical & economic health of our nation) that switching to a single payer system would.

I recommend that you contact your local congress person and tell them to support single payer health care!