Millions call on Congress to act: it's time for health care reform

Last Wednesday, people across the country sent over one million messages to Congress urging them to finish the job and pass real health care reform.

Five hundred people physically assembled to greet Melanie's March - a group of health insurance company abuse survivors who marched for eight days and 135 miles from Philadelphia, PA to DC in honor of Melanie Shouse, an Obama volunteer and health care activist who died because she didn't have affordable health care and access to the care she needed to detect and treat her breast cancer - at Union Station and walked the last leg together to Capitol Hill.

UFCW members were there along the way to show their support. Local 1776's John Meyerson commended the marchers and lent his voice to the call for health care reform now (see video).

Millions to join "Virtual March" for health care reform.

Get it done. Get it done. Get it done.

I don' t know how many more times Congress needs to hear it before they start listening, but if it takes a million, that's what we're going to do.

Join today's Virtual March!

Here's the scene here in DC:

Melanie's March - a group of insurance industry survivors who walked 135 miles from Philadelphia to Washington - arrives in DC today. They'll tell their stories and send our message directly to Majority Leader Harry Reid, who's greeting them when they arrive. And tomorrow, leaders in Congress will meet at the White House with President Obama to decide the fate of health reform.

Meanwhile, today, we are going to make sure Congress gets the message. Together with MoveOn.org and a dozen other partners, we're going to send a million messages to Congress will today via phone, fax, email, Facebook, Twitter and petition.

This is huge. And we are running out of time. Tomorrow is the President's health care summit. If you haven't called Congress yet, this could be your last chance to do so. They need to hear from you because the opposition has a lot of dollars they are trying to drown us out with.

Today's partners released the following joint statement:

“As Washington plays politics as usual instead of fixing our broken system, people are dying. Americans simply cannot wait for comprehensive health care reform - it's time for Congress to stand up to Big Insurance and their conservative allies, and get reform done right. During the Virtual March for Real Health Care Reform, we'll send a million messages to Congress to make sure they know that voters want them to get to work and get health care done. Our message is simple: It's time for Washington to stop stalling. Pass real health care reform now.”

While you might not be marching from Philadelphia to DC, and you might not be invited to the President's health care summit, you can still make your voice heard.

Join today's Virtual March!

136-mile march to the White House begins

Antoinette Krause, Bill West, Athena Ford, and Amy Fitzpatrick are four Pennsylvania residents who set out this week on a 136-mile march from Philadelphia to DC to bring their message to Congress: it is time to listen to the American people- not the big insurance lobbyists- and pass health care reform.

The four are marching in memory of their friend Melanie Shouse, who lost a long battle with breast cancer after missing out on critical treatment due to a lack of affordable health insurance.

Join the Virtual March!

You can follow the marchers' thoughts from the road at MelaniesMarch.com:

As many of you know, a few of us left Philadelphia yesterday to embark on a mission – to walk 136 miles in 8 days and arrive in DC to tell Congress it’s time to Finish Reform.

A rally in Philly sent us off, over 150 people came and many marched with us the first couple of blocks. A few folks even marched the entire way to Delaware County where we ended the day with a vigil in front of Taylor Hospital.

The actual walking part has been more difficult than expected. We hadn’t accounted for the simple obstacle of snow – four feet of snow iced over covered a good portion of the sidewalks we had been relying on for safe passage. Weaving in and out of snow banks, crisscrossing streets -were able to pull it together to finish the miles of the day. And, amazingly, we’ve been able to keep on pace for the most part in order to make it to our events.

Despite the obstacles and sore legs, spirits are high! Today, a man threw up his window and cheered us on. A Pastor, welcomed us into his church with a rally and a home cooked meal. A clapping group of locals met us at Mr. Pasta for a meet up where they shared their stories and massaged our necks. And a groups of teenagers eagerly awaiting the legal driving age gave us the most quizzical look and asked “why don’t you just drive?!”

The press has been following us closely. Word about the March is really getting around. We’re all so very proud of the volunteers making this such a success. One of our organizers, Dave, is so proud, in fact, that he took two of them to get pedicures tonight.

I’m currently drafting this from the entry way of a church in Wilmington that has shown us incredible hospitality. After finishing up this blog post and brainstorming for final activities, Antoinette and I are going to prepare for tomorrow.

We’ve got another 17 miles of adventure ahead of us.

Awesome Video Showing How Stimulus Bill Worked to Create Jobs

We still have a long way to go, but one year after President Obama signed the Recovery Act into law, it's clear that that things are improving and jobs are being created. Check out this video that shows how it's helped, simply and effectively:

If Democrats Don't Pass Health Reform, Will They Lose Younger Voters?

As a new article in Newsweek points out, young Americans are the least likely to be insured. And no, not because they're lazy or don't want to pay:

Young Americans are uniquely affected by the nation's broken health-care system. The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that aims to improve health care, found in a report released in December that nearly half of all young adults between 19 and 29 said they were uninsured at some time during the past year. Because this age range brings with it a number of transition points that can lead to coverage being cut off—high school and college graduation, and early internships or jobs that don't provide coverage—it's a decade fraught with peril.

Given the weakness in the economy, says Sara Collins, co-author of the report, young adults looking for insurance through their employers face an uphill battle. If the economy gets worse, so too will the health-care outlook for young Americans.

So it's no surprise that young Americans are more in favor of comprehensive health care reform than any other age group. From the article:

...even after months of demonization, including countless falsehoods about government takeovers and "death panels," young people remain the group that supports health-care reform at the highest rates. When the Commonwealth Fund asked young respondents whether it was important for Congress and the president to improve the health-care system, 88 percent said yes.

Now if Congress lets down young people on health care, will young people turn away from political involvement? If one of the most important issues to young Americans is allowed to wither and die, what will young people think of the politicians they voted for, the ones who promised that this time would be different? From the Newsweek piece:

If the Democrats drop health care, there will be an entire generation of young voters unable to point to a single major legislative accomplishment from the party during their lifetime. And as far they will be concerned, when it came time for the Democrats to act on an issue that was particularly important to them, they folded.

Democrats worried about their re-election campaigns this fall should be very concerned about this. Young people are a crucial part of their base, and were instrumental in Obama's electoral success. If they turn away from the Democrats or from politics, much like my generation did after the promises President Clinton made turned to dust, it will be the party's loss most of all. So Congress should pass health care reform--if not for the country, if not for all the uninsured or under-insured Americans outthere--to at least keep alive the hope, activism, and civic-mindedness of our nation's youngest voters. After all, corny as it sounds, they are America's future. Let's keep them healthy, happy, and politically engaged.

Locked-out workers need your support

On November 3, 2009, Alden Leeds, Inc. locked out 46 Local 1245 members at their South Kearny, New Jersey plant.

These workers have been without work for months now, fighting to preserve quality jobs that set the standards for pay and benefits in the North Jersey area.

Alden Leeds, Inc. manufactors and distributes swimming pool chemicals throughout the United States under these names: Nu-clo, Sparkle, Ortex, PolyClear, and Maxibrom.

The New Jersey workers work hard for Alden Leeds, Inc. and help contribute to the success of the company.

Please take a moment to send a letter and tell Alden Leeds, Inc. to give workers the respect they deserve.