National Health Care Campaign Uses New Technology to Flood Congress with Calls for Reform
“Click-to-Call” uses web, finds Members of Congress, and connects for free
Contact: Jacki Schechner
202-454-6196
Washington, DC (August 12, 2008) - Health Care for America Now (HCAN) – the national grassroots campaign organizing millions to win quality, affordable health care for all – is using new Click-to-Call technology to help hundreds of thousands of supporters call Congress and ask their members to support real health care reform.
Click-to-Call is a new online advocacy tool created by Advomatic – a New York-based web development firm. The tool asks for your phone number and address, identifies your Senators and Representative, and then – when prompted – calls you back and connects you to Congress for free. The program also generates a sample script for you to read off the screen in case you need helping deciding what to say. Blue America PAC recently used the technology to fight retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies and facilitated more than 20,000 calls in less than two days. HCAN’s use of the web tool will be the first implementation of the technology in a large-scale, multi-week advocacy campaign. See it here.
The online Click-to-Call campaign launched Monday and expected to reach more than 5 million supporters via email in the next two weeks is just one component of Health Care for America Now’s outreach to Congress. Coalition members are currently scheduling meetings with Senators and Representative both in DC and in their home states and districts across the country. Whether on the phone, on the Hill, or at home, the question we’re asking is the same, “Which Side Are You On?” - the side of quality, affordable health care for all or on the side of leaving us alone to fend for ourselves in the unregulated, bureaucratic insurance market.
HCAN is keeping score of Senators and Representatives who support HCAN’s principles and then sign on to the campaign’s Statement of Common Purpose.
About Health Care For America Now: Launched on July 8, 2008 in Washington, DC and 52 cities (including 38 state capitals) across the country, Health Care for America Now is a national grassroots campaign committed to winning a guarantee of quality, affordable health care we all can count on. HCAN’s steering committee includes American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Americans United for Change, Campaign for America’s Future, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Center for Community Change, MoveOn.org, National Council of La Raza, National Education Association, National Women’s Law Center, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Service Employees International Union, United Food and Commercial Workers, and USAction. With more than 135 member organizations – and more joining everyday - HCAN is building a movement that will expect health care reform to be the first order of business for the new President and Congress in 2009.
About Advomatic: Founded by members of the Howard Dean for President web team, Advomatic serves the progressive political, grassroots and arts communities. We work to build a better internet infrastructure to aid in the advancement of good causes, and to give grassroots organizations the tools they need to effectively communicate with each other and their constituents. By utilizing and contributing to open source solutions, Advomatic can offer the advanced tools that most organizations often lack to aid them in the promotion and participation of their activities.
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