The White House announced today that the President is going to push back a scheduled trip he had to go to Guam, Indonesia and Australia to stay in the U.S. to make sure health care gets done. Health care supporters are pushing for a vote sooner rather than later, so President Obama is going to hang back to make sure this gets done. And now it seems like Speaker Pelosi is telling the Democrats to cancel their weekend plans next week because a vote is coming.
Ok, so the President isn’t going on his trip and will be working the phones and having meetings to get the job done. And the Speaker is gearing up for a vote. But, what about you? What are you doing to make sure health care reform stays on track? Did you attend the health care rally in DC this week? Are you organizing phone banks or letter writing campaigns to connect with your member of congress? Are you talking to your friends and family about health care reform?
Let us know what you’re doing to remind your elected officials that health care reform matters to you and want to get a bill with meaningful reform passed now.
Tags: activism, health care, health care reform, Obama
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Jason Bio: Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com |
Ha! Why would I try and help get unconstitutional tyranny pushed on we the people? Mandatory health insurance is going to cost your audience bigtime.
Why don’t you just admit that this website is propaganda? Real “Rockers” are libertarians.
45 million Americans are uninsured and young people have a hard time getting proper heath care coverage. People in their 20s get dropped from their parents’ health care (assuming their parents have health care) and when they go to work after high school or college, many find it hard to afford health care and they go uncovered. When they get sick or injured, the uninsured will face hospital bills they can’t afford. That’s when everyone loses.
While the constitution doesn’t say “All Americans are granted access to affordable health care.” It’s simply un-American to allow someone to die because they can’t afford health care.
Asking your elected officials to protect the 45,000 people who die each year from lack of access to affordable health care is hardly propaganda.
Jason,
You are right about one thing. The constitution does not grant the power to the federal government to compel every citizen to buy a product, upon pain of fines and imprisonment. The health bill is just the sort of power grab that the drafters of the constitution sought to avoid by setting up a system of limited, enumerated powers. No amount of wishing or appeals to what is “un-American” will change the fact that the government does not have the power to force you to buy insurance.
Thanks for writing Andy.
While I understand your point about mandatory insurance. I have to say, I’ve never heard government mandated auto insurance, which is the law in a state like California, called tyrannical. Why is it more important to insure our cars than our health?
State-mandated car insurance is very different in two ways. First, states have much broader law-making powers than the federal government. As I said, the federal government is limited to the powers enumerated in the constitution. States have broader law-making authority.
Second, no state mandates that every citizen must purchase car insurance. Rather, they say that if you want to drive on public roads, you have to insure against harm that you may do to others. If you don’t drive, you don’t have to buy insurance. This heath care bill is unprecedented because it is the government telling you that you must buy a certain product as a condition of being a U.S. citizen. Nothing like that has ever been done here, and it will set a scary precedent, assuming the Supreme Court does not strike it down as unconstitutional.
There is access to health care for those with limited funds. Most walmarts have a machine which checks your blood pressure. If one donates blood, they get their pulse, blood pressure, cholesterol and iron levels checked. There are companies which provide blood tests cheap, such as $50 for a complete blood count. Other companies provide packages for less than $200 which includes an Echocardiogram, Electrocardiogram, Arterial Stiffness Index, Carotid Ultrasound, Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Test, and Ankle-Brachial Index.
Health insurance is NOT health care. It only helps you after you have become sick…..I keep hearing about how those without insurance end up “costing us all”, but these critics have no problem with expanding medicaid which costs us a far greater amount…..Insurance is gambling. Most people end up paying for decades before they make a claim.
Auto insurance is not a good comparison. One who rides a bicycle on the roads or walks along the sidewalk have just as many dangers as a car driver, yet we don’t force them to carry insurance.