Are you listening, Congress?

NBC and the Wall Street Journal have published results of their latest national poll, and the news is not good for those who want to maintain the stranglehold of private insurance companies on our health care system. When asked:

In any health care proposal, how important do you feel it is to give people a choice of both a public plan administered by the federal government and a private plan for their health insurance – extremely important, quite important, not that important, or not at all important?

76% of Americans said the choice of a public option is either “extremely” or “quite” important to any reform of our broken health care system.

But that’s just one poll. The results must be an outlier, right?

Wrong. Results of a new poll by the non-partisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) show even stronger support for a public option. When asked about reform that includes “creating a new public health insurance plan that anyone can purchase” – 83% said they support it, including a majority – 53% – who “strongly support” such a plan.

But wait, there’s more! The EBRI poll was paid for by opponents of health care reform, including the association of insurance companies everyone loves to hate, Blue Cross Blue Shield, a foe of reform in the 1990s and today.

Health care reform & public option – winning issues

It’s time for members of Congress to do a little soul searching about who it is they went to Washington, DC to represent.

Is it private health insurance companies that monopolize health care, cancel polices on sick people after collecting premiums, deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions, and raise rates year after year, on and on?

Or will our elected leaders in Washington stand with the vast majority of Americans who are sick of being sick because they cannot afford care and tired of being tired from fighting for the coverage they paid for and depend on?

URGENT – Call Sen. Hagan today (!) at 877-662-2889

Tell Sen. Hagan health care reform must:

• Include a public health insurance option that will bring down costs and guarantee quality affordable health care for all.
• Require employers to pay their fair share to prevent them from shifting costs for their workers to taxpayers and firms that offer good benefits.
• Ensure affordable coverage for pre-Medicare retirees, who cannot get affordable coverage on their own.
• Reject schemes to tax health benefits, which would unfairly raise costs for workers – especially vulnerable workers.

This isn’t a game of inside the beltway process. The need for reform is real, and the dithering in Congress over a public option has real life consequences.

Health care reform without a public option is no reform at all – just another waste of money, time and patience – which for the millions of Americans without health insurance (and those going bankrupt even though they have it) is running out.

***We cannot overstate the importance of these phone calls*** Senator Hagan has not declared herself on the public option, but her staff is telling us they’re getting an earful from ideologues that oppose it.