HealthCareForAmericaNow

Presidential Candidate and Grassroots Campaign Make Health Care October’s Hot Topic 

While the economy and the collapse of the financial markets have taken center stage in the past few months, the issue of health care is making a significant comeback in the last weeks of this election season, due, in part, to the fact that health care reform and fixing our economy are intrinsically linked.
 
According to The Politico, (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14887.html), Democrat Barack Obama has spent $113 million in health care television advertising so far this year. Sixty-eight percent of his ads address health care, and so far this month, Obama has spent 86 percent of his total ad budget on health care advertisements.

“Senator Biden often quotes his father’s saying, ‘Don’t tell me what you value. Show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value,” said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now. “I’d say spending more than $100 million and more than three-quarters of your total ad budget this month talking about fixing health care puts actual reform at the top the list of priorities.”

On October 16th, Health Care for America Now held 28 public events in 26 states with Members of Congress signing on to the Health Care for America Now principles for reform, and in October alone, the number of Congressional supporters of the HCAN reform principles has increased 70%.  At last count, 119 Members of Congress have now signed on to the HCAN campaign, indicating their commitment to enacting a guarantee of quality, affordable health care for all as a “first order of business” in 2009.

“HCAN’s goal is to ensure the new President and Congress make health care reform a top priority in 2009,” said Kirsch. “The current wave of heightened attention on health care accelerates the momentum that is building for health care reform.”

The list of Congressional supporters represents a broad spectrum of Democrats (and one Republican) in Congress.  In the Senate, the list of supporters includes Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama and Joe Biden, Democratic

Steering and Outreach Committee Chair Senator Debbie Stabenow, and Senator Ben Cardin, a recognized leader on health care. In the House, the list includes members from the Progressive and Blue Dog caucuses and leaders like Ways and Means Committee Chair Charlie Rangel, Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel, and several members who hold other key committee and sub-committee chairmanships. Both House Judiciary Chair John Conyers, the lead sponsor of single-payer legislation, and Tennessee Representative Jim Cooper, a prominent Blue Dog who has long been associated with more conservative heath care proposals, are signers. The breadth of support for the specific health care principles included in the HCAN sign-on indicate that Democrats in Congress are coalescing around a unified approach to reform.

HCAN has spent more than $3M running a comprehensive TV ad, mail, and phone campaign in 6 Congressional districts and in New Hampshire with the goal of educating people as to their candidates’ positions on health care. According to Lake Research Partners, the sophisticated campaign was extremely successful and “changed perceptions on health care had a significant impact on voter choice, increasing the margin for the pro-health care candidate by +13 points.”

Watch the TV ads here: http://www.whichsidearetheyon.com/site/video/

But the conversation about health care is not just happening on TV and in Congress. It’s also happening in neighborhoods and on doorsteps around the country.

HCAN has distributed more than 1 million pieces of literature in key states through a canvass run by Progressive Future, and HCAN has mailed comparison pieces to 240,000 households in five Congressional districts, using sophisticated commercial models to reach people who are most responsive to health care. The campaign currently has ads on the air in North Carolina giving people the facts about John McCain’s health care plan and is mailing a corresponding DVD to people who have requested it through an “opt in” telephone program.

Watch the NC ad here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euYK8tm-OQY
Watch the DVD here: http://www.whichsidearetheyon.com/site/facts/

HCAN’s coalition members are also doing extensive health care outreach.  SEIU has a very intensive ground effort in 7 House districts and 2 Senate races. In each of these districts, they’ve done careful modeling to identify health care voters and issues and are contacting about 700,000 households with mail and phone, and in some cases, door-to-door efforts.  SEIU also ran ads in 1 Senate race (NH), 1 House race (VA 2), and in the presidential race addressing McCain on health care.

Other unions are making health care a key issue in communicating with their undecided members in battleground states. AFSCME has focused on 166,000 members in 17 states. NEA is focused on its members in 10 battleground states and has launched a website for its members called http://www.mccainhealthcaretax.com. The AFL- CIO has sent 3 million pieces of direct mail to working class members on health care. In PA, OH, MI, and WI, they have distributed 1 million worksite flyers on health care, knocked on 300,000 doors on health care, and made more than 300,000 phone calls on heath care. In addition, 3,500 local unions (ranging from 50 members to 10,000) sent local mail about health care. They have also had 75 home district Congressional meetings on health care since late July.

Planned Parenthood is reaching more than 600,000 households in 9 battleground states with a multiple mail program focusing, in part, on women’s health.

“While November 4th may mark the end of many campaigns, the push for comprehensive health care reform will not only continue but will accelerate exponentially,” said Kirsch. “The momentum we’re seeing now is just the start of the movement.”

Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is a national grassroots campaign made up of millions of individuals and more than 425 organizations committed to winning a guarantee of quality, affordable health care for all in 2009. HCAN's steering committee includes ACORN, AFSCME, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America’s Future, Campaign for Community Change, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Children’s Defense Fund Action Council, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, MoveOn.org, National Council of La Raza, National Education Association, National Women’s Law Center, SEIU, United Food and Commercial Workers, and US Action. Health Care for America Now is currently asking Members of Congress, "Which Side Are You On? – the side of quality, affordable health care for all or the side of leaving us alone to fend for ourselves in the bureaucratic, unregulated insurance market? HCAN's Statement of Common Purpose includes 10 principles the campaign believes will lay the foundation for effective, comprehensive health care reform in 2009.