Texas Voice for Health Reform Weekly Update | August 7, 2009
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Action
Go to Your Member of Congress’ August Recess Events!
In the news this week we have seen many Members of Congress return to their home districts to be greeted by “angry, sign-carrying” protesters who oppose health reform. A leaked memo details the marching orders given to these right-wing protestors by organizations behind the efforts to disrupt events with Representatives. Although these protests can be jarring, it is critical that pro-health reform voices are heard at these events! Here are some tools to help you get out there:
- Calendar of events with members of Congress all over the state. If you know of events that are not on this calendar, please forward to quongcharles@cppp.org.
- Tips for organizing at town hall meetings
- Messaging: Winning the Debate on Health Care Reform
Visit http://www.house.gov to find your representative, and then see below for a calendar of known district events.
Make the Pro-Health Reform Message Go Viral!
The opponents of health reform have been very effective at spreading their anti-reform message on the Internet. So, we need to make sure that the pro-health reform message goes viral! Here are two excellent videos on the importance of health reform; one from the Children’s Defense Fund on the “Lottery of Geography”, and “450,000 Doctors Can’t be Wrong” from Heal Health Care Now. Forward these videos by email to your friends and family, and post them your Facebook and Twitter profiles with the following message:
RT @TVHR: Watch two great videos on the importance of health reform now: http://bit.ly/V9YEf and http://bit.ly/VxNNU
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News and Updates
Last week we shared the rumors on Energy and Commerce Committee proposed changes to the House tri-committee health reform bill. Some key changes adopted to secure Blue Dog support included:
- Public Option health plan will use rates negotiated by Secretary of HHS (not Medicare rates);
- Doubling the payroll size from $250,000 to $500,000 for employers exempted from “pay-or-play” assessments if they do not provide health benefits;
- After two years of 100 percent federal funding of Medicaid, states would have to pick up 10 percent of the cost (filed version tri-committee bill has 100 percent federal funding indefinitely);
- Reducing slightly the subsidies for insurance and out-of-pocket costs for Americans from 150-400 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL), but also says the subsidies will be increased if certain savings on medications, administration, and limits to premiums increases allowed are shown to materialize.
There other committee amendments of note which are helpfully laid out in the Kaiser side-by-side. Of particular interest is the Energy & Commerce amendment that prohibits the use of Comparative Effectiveness research to delay, deny, or ration care or to make coverage decisions in Medicare—squarely addressing one of the most egregious outright lies being circulated about the bill. When the House returns from break on 9/7/09, they will have to reconcile the amendments from the three committees before a full house vote can take place, so be aware that amendments adopted by any of the three committees will not be 100-percent certain to survive to the floor vote, particularly is they involve a cost to the bill’s price tag.
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Resources
Special Feature on Facts and Myth Busting in National Health Reform
In an effort to quell some of the negative characterizing and blatant misinformation about health reform that is being circulated online, Texas Voice for Health Reform has produced two new resources and built an online library of myth-busting information.
From the TVHR Facts and Myth Busting Library
- E-mail ‘analysis’ of health bill needs a check-up by Politifact.com
- Fight the Smears by Health Care for America Now
- Exposing the Euthanasia Scare, by The New Republic
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Calendar
Please email quongcharles@cppp.org if you have health reform activities for our calendar For more details, visit our online calendar of events.
Other online calendars:
- 7th: Senate breaks for August recess (reconvenes September 8th)
- 8th: Representative Burgess Town Hall meetings
- 10th: Representative Brady Town Hall meetings
- 12th: Representative Brady Town Hall meetings
- 12th: Coffee with Representative Ciro Rodriguez
- 13th: Dallas Phone Bank
- 13th: Houston Phone Bank
- 13th: Texas Medical Association Town Hall
- 15th: Mission and Edinburg Canvass
- 15th: Houston Phone Bank
- 17th: Representative Barton Town Hall meetings
- 18th: Representative Gene Green Town Hall meeting
- 19th: Representative Barton Town Hall meetings
- 19th: Representative Gene Green Town Hall meeting
- 20th: Houston Phone Bank
- 20th: Representative Barton Town Hall meeting
- 20th: Representative Gene Green Town Hall meeting
- 22nd: Representative Gene Green, 14th Annual Immunization Day
- 22nd: Houston Tax-Free Weekend Events
- 22nd: Mission and Edinburg Canvass
- 22nd: Dallas Canvass
- 23rd: TVHR presents at Gray Panthers Annual Forum, AFL-CIO Hall, Austin, TX
- 26th: Representative Brady Town Hall meeting
- 27th: Representative Brady Town Hall meetings
- 27th: Dallas Phone Bank
- 29th: Mission and Edinburg Canvass
- 29th: Austin Rally – Details TBA
- Date TBA: Dallas Area Interfaith House Meeting on Health Reform
- Representative Green Town Hall meetings
- 11th: Deadline to submit entries in Texas Impact’s Health Reform Sermon Contest
