June 26, 2009 01:41 AM UTC

Tell Congress: Support a healthcare public option

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• by: Alan

Nearly $1.4 Million dollars PER DAY. That’s what the health industry lobby is spending in Washington right now to defeat healthcare reform.1

Let’s fight their money with our voices and get real healthcare reform.

Those of us who have insurance are seeing our premiums go up at twice the rate of wages,2 higher and higher deductibles, and shocking tactics by insurers to avoid paying claims. More and more employers are dropping insurance altogether because they just can’t afford it any longer, adding to the ranks of more than 47 million Americans who have no insurance.3

That’s why polls show the vast majority of Americans support healthcare reform that includes a "public option" – public health insurance that would compete fairly with private insurance companies and offer consumers greater choice, expand coverage to more Americans, and ultimately lower healthcare costs.4

So why are there so many news reports that a public option is in trouble? You think maybe that has something to do with the millions of dollars that Big Insurance is throwing around in Washington?5

Congress and the President are seriously focused on healthcare reform for the first time in over fifteen years. We can’t afford to let Big Insurance defeat healthcare reform again. Please support the public option:

https://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/publicoption

We’ll hand deliver this petition to every member of Colorado’s Congressional delegation – both senators and all seven of our representatives – on July 13th at their offices in Washington.

Bills are already moving through committees in the House and Senate. Whether or not a public option remains on the table will be decided in the next couple of weeks. Please take action now:

https://www.ProgressNowColorado.org/publicoption

Thanks for speaking out.

1 Legislating Under the Influence, Common Cause, June 24, 2009.
2 The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Employee Health Benefits: 2008 Annual                  Survey. September 2008.
3 The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
4 Building on Success: The Role of Public Coverage Programs in Health Reform, Center for American Progress.
5 Legislating Under the Influence, Common Cause, June 24, 2009. In addition to lobbying expenditures, the health industry has spent about $373 Million on campaign contributions to members of Congress since 2000.