| Without a public option--without every American having the choice to buy their own affordable health insurance--we won't succeed at truly reforming insurance in this country. While angry conservatives rail against giving regular Americans access to insurance, a group of progressive Congresspeople has been holding the line on progressive reform, refusing to vote for any plan that doesn't include a strong public option.
Today, Blue America PAC launched an ActBlue fundraising page for the progressives in Congress making sure that all Americans get real health care reform. Called They Took The Pledge, the page lists the members of Congress who are committed to preserving a public option.
Now, it's time to stand with them them, and encourage other Congresspeople to get on board as well. As the fundraising page states:
Democratic members of Congress need to understand that a healthcare reform bill with a Public Option is simply not an option--it's a requirement. The congressmembers on this list have said in no uncertain terms that they will not vote for a bill without a public option all the way through Conference. That takes courage, and we need to show them how much we appreciate them for doing so.
The efforts are already attracting attention from the national media, who are catching on to the fact that the Town-Hall Shriekers don't represent the vast majority of Americans who want and need health insurance reform. Money talks, and while progressive activists don't have the buying power of Blue Cross or United, we can show our support for the Congresspeople who hold strong to our values. The ActBlue page has already raised $47,000 $49,000 $51,000 so far today (seriously, they raised over $4K while I wrote this post), and the higher it goes, the more the national media will listen to our calls for real insurance reform.
These are our progressive champions in the House, the Congresspeople who stand up for the little guy and gal as a matter of course. Now, it's time to stand with them.
Here in Texas, we're lucky to have three such Representatives on the list: Lloyd Doggett (TX-25), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), and Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30). It shouldn't escape your notice that these three represent the urban areas of Austin, Houston, and South Dallas, respectively. Their districts contain huge numbers of uninsured residents -- all higher than the national average of 15%.
Austin is 20% uninsured.
Houston is 28% uninsured.
Dallas is 24% uninsured.
Their residents so desperately need this reform, and we need to stand with them to make sure that all Texans have access to affordable health care.
The list is pretty broad, and contains folks from states like Florida and Kentucky, and Netroots candidates including Donna Edwards and Eric Massa. So, go drop some coin into the ActBlue page. You know, while some of folks may be safe in 2010, it's still important to put our dollars where our values are. |
