HealthCareForAmericaNow

 
Members of Congress schedule town hall meetings to provide their constituents an opportunity to be heard and to provide answers to constituents’ questions.  These ready-made events offer a great opportunity to bring the mission and message of the Health Care for America Now (HCAN) campaign to Member of Congress and to fellow community members.

Listed below are suggested approaches, questions, and statements that HCAN coalition members may wish to use at Congressional town Hall meetings.

APPROACH

 

1. Prior to the start of the town hall meeting, hand a copy of the “Which Side Are You On?” statement to the Member of Congress or the Member’s staff and indicate your hope that the Member of Congress will sign-on to the statement of principles. Download a copy of the Which Side are you sign on form. (PDF)

2. Sit near the microphone stand (if there is one) so you have a better chance of being able to ask a question.

3. It is ok if more than one constituent asks a question about the Member’s support of HCAN.  

4. After the town hall meeting, don’t leave too quickly.  There may be a chance to talk with the Member of Congress or the Member’s staff.  Also, others in attendance at the town hall meeting may have questions about HCAN, how to get involved, etc.

QUESTIONS

1.    If the Member of Congress has been supportive in the past on health care issues, thank him/her “for all your work in the past on health care issues” and communicate that we really need him/her again now.  

•  “Will you work to enact a guarantee of quality, affordable health care for everyone in America in the next Congress in 2009?”

2.    HCAN does not have a specific legislative proposal that it is pushing, but rather a set of principles that we believe should guide the development of legislation.

• “Will you support our principles, the HCAN Statement of Common Purpose?”
  
  
• “Will you sign-on to our “Which Side Are You On?” statement in order to help us build momentum with your colleagues and the general public for enacting comprehensive health care reform in 2009?”

3.    Central to the HCAN principles is choice: ability to keep the insurance plan we have if we like it, the option of another private insurance plan, and the option of a public insurance plan.

• “Do you believe all Americans should have a range of health insurance options that they can afford, including keeping one’s current plan if they like it, other private plans, and a public plan?”

4.    Many people have experienced themselves or have a family member or friend that has experienced an instance where their insurance company denies them coverage for health care treatments right at the time they find out they need the treatments.  Through federal standards, we need to strengthen the rules protecting patients from insurance companies doing this.

• “I understand Senator McCain’s health plan would move a lot of people from their employer coverage into the individual insurance market and then, for the first time, allow insurance companies to pick which State they want to be regulated by when selling insurance coverage to individuals and families.  Some states have horrible consumer protections that are even weaker than the minimal protections in our state.  Do you support this approach?”

5.    There are a number of conservative proposals to health care reform that raise the amount of out-of-pocket costs that average Americans would have to pay when we need medical care – one of these proposals is a so-called high deductible health savings account.

• “Do you agree with Senator McCain’s approach that a major problem with our health care system is that patients are not paying enough out of pocket?  I don’t.”
  
  
• “Today, only 4% of the privately insured individuals and families are in plans with high deductibles of $1,000 to $11,000.  But if the government were to push these high deductible plans—as Senator McCain does—wouldn’t the insurance system become even worse (more fragmented) as young and healthy people opt in to these bare bones plans leaving older and sicker patients in the traditional insurance plans?  Won’t my insurance premiums go up even faster than they already are?”

6.    I and others supporting Health Care for America Now would love a chance to meet with you and your staff to explain HCAN, who we are, what we are working to accomplish, and how we can support your efforts to enact a guarantee of quality, affordable health care in 2009.

• “Can we schedule a time to meet with you to talk about Health Care for America Now?”

STATEMENTS

Health Care for America Now --

HCAN is a national grassroots campaign organizing millions of people in America to win a guarantee of quality, affordable health care for everyone. We want to make sure health care reform is the first order of business for the new President and Congress in 2009.

Membership

HCAN has more than 270 member organizations on the national, state, and local level, and we represent more than 10 million people nationwide. Our coalition is comprised of labor unions, community organizations, faith-based groups, health care providers, small businesses, and individuals.  This number is growing daily. Individuals and organizations can sign up through our Website at “HealthCareforAmericaNow.org”.

Why we’re unique:

The HCAN solution to health care reform involves real choice and a guarantee of quality, affordable coverage. Choice means you can keep what you have, you can pick a new private insurance plan, or you can join a public health insurance plan. Quality means a standard for health benefits for everyone. Affordable means health care coverage with out-of-pocket costs including premiums, co-pays, and deductibles that are based on one’s ability to pay and without caps on payments for covered services.

We also want government to set and enforce rules on the insurance industry so they can’t continue to deny people coverage for pre-existing conditions (which they define) and either raise premiums, refuse coverage, or drop coverage altogether when people get sick. 

We are not advocating a specific policy or a particular piece of legislation right now. We have a set of principles we call our Statement of Common Purpose, and we believe successful health care reform will meet these principles.

What we do:

Our first step is asking “Which side are you on?” We want individuals, organizations, and elected officials to sign on in support of our vision of health care reform. We see our side as being in support of quality, affordable health care we call can count on. We see the other side as any solution that advocates leaving us alone to fend for ourselves in the complicated, unregulated insurance market.

We launched this campaign on July 8th in DC and 52 other cities in 38 states across the country. We ran a $1.5 million dollar national advertising campaign on TV, in print, and online and have received extensive press coverage both nationally and locally. Our next advertising campaign starts early October.  

Grassroots and Online work:

We’re currently using new “Click to Call” web technology that helps constituents reach Congressional offices and ask Members of Congress which side they’re on.

We’re scheduling and having meetings with Members of Congress and their staffs in DC and in their home states and districts.

On Sunday September 14th, we held more than 320 house parties nationwide in 180 cities and 40 states – the most ever for a single issue advocacy campaign - at which we screened a Brave New Films documentary made exclusively for HCAN focusing on the insurance industry’s bad practices.

How is this campaign different than the last time around in the early 1990’s?

This is an unprecedented campaign spearheaded by some of the largest labor, grassroots, netroots, and community-based organizations around the country. We have a common approach and a common goal.

Last time around, when the insurance industry fought reform, no one fought back. And this time, our approach to reform makes just the right amount of change. We would guarantee quality, affordable coverage, but at the same time, we’d let people keep the health insurance they have if they want to.

Download and print the talking points. (Word Doc.)