I'm giving a speech Sat on health care reform HELP

[Omaha Steve]

I need some talking points and links. I have 48 hours to prepare. I just found out.

OS

[elleng]

1. To whom, for what occasion, where?

[Omaha Steve]

5. It is a pro reform rally

I'll post the time & place info tonight when I get home. It is being done by Working America.

http://www.workingamerica.org /

[rurallib]

2. Maybe contact Senator Harkin's office since he is the new chair of HELP

SIOUX CITY

320 6th Street
110 Federal Building
Sioux City, IA 51101
[phone] Phone
[phone] Fax

His staffers are usually very nice

[rwork]

3. A few things.

I don't like mandatory.

We need to look at what state has the best system.

We need a system like our US senators and representatives enjoy.

Matt Baucus's 13% tax is ridiculus.

We need a Public Option to force the insurance companies to be honest.

Doctors and hospitals need to lower prices. We have a local doctor who lives in a castle type home. It has a tower at each end.

[DCKit]

4. Medicare 4 All

Shortest speech ever.

France spends ~$3,600 per capita to the U.S.'s $7,000+.

The difference x population = savings that could be spent by consumers to stimulate the economy.

$3,300 (give or take) x 360 million = $1,188,000,000,000 in potential savings with the "real" public option.

We're already overspending by more than a trillion dollars, and that's compared to the next most expensive plan. It's already funded.

[endless october]

6. Rolling Stone, issue 1086 Sept. 2009

article by Matt Taibbi.

best article i've read on the subject.

also, here's a chart :

[Emit]

7. Depends on what approach you want to take. First, do you want to

summarize what's going on with the current Baucus bill and the Congressional bill(s)? Point out the problems with Baucus' bill - no public option, mandates, etc.? Discuss action for your audience to take in contacting their reps and White House to demand public option, no mandates, etc. - how they should be calling, emailing, etc? Discuss how Republicans are not going to support it, how Jay Rockefeller also won't support it and recently wrote letters to Baucus about it? Point out the outrageous lies and silly things the right wing nuts are doing to intimidate and prevent any bill?

I think it would be best to discuss it in terms of where the bills are today.

Here's a link to S 703 with reference to HR 676: http://www.healthcare-now.org/hr-676/s-703 / and more info on HR 676: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-676 and http://www.healthcare-now.org/hr-676 /

Here is some info on mandates: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Here is recent news from New England Journal of Medicine showing overwhelming support for public option: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Here's a recent thread about letter Rockefeller wrote to Baucus, et al: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

I don't have a link to the outrageous lies and the extent to which the Repugs are getting in the way of health care reform - that will take more time and effort. But there are several sources addressing lies,and pointing out the groups behind the tea parties (Maddow's done some good work) and the recent march on DC that occurred last weekend are a good place to start.

On further edit, the link you provided up thread has some details you may want to hit upon - in fact they have a lot of info you may want to go through their website to get more ideas:

For Example:
# Countering Health Reform Misinformation

# Hot Facts: America's Broken Health Care System (PDF)
http://www.aflcio.org/issues/healthcare/facts.cfm

Are they supporting a particular bill?

Also, I can't stress how in these talks and meetings - it is so important to ask people to get involved by calling, writing, organizing, etc. We need more people to get involved. Good Luck!

updated

[WeCanWorkItOut]

8. Would it be too much of a "downer" to say that unions have failed so far?

... and that now is the time for a new direction?
Now is the time to put less faith in "the medical-industrial complex"
and more faith in your own intelligence and your own energy?
Now is the time to do something about the monopoly power
in health care, the overpriced drugs, the overpriced hospitals,
the overpriced doctors and insurance, the unhealthy lifestyles and
unnecessary ignorance of American people --can you say such things?

Probably not. Are you even allowed to criticize
"an $880 billion bill that requires the middles class to
buy health insurance that they will in no way be able
to afford ... (with) big deductibles and out-of-pocket costs"? http://healthpolicyandmarket.blogspot.com /

Maybe that's not suitable to the occasion either.
But maybe you could bear these things in mind.
Best of luck.

Oh, there's a wonderful Interactive Exhibit
by the McKinsey Global Institute, Jan 2007,
"Accounting for the cost of health care in the United States"
that just might be helpful. http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/rp/healthcare/accounting_co...
In the box at the far right you click on
"view interactive graphic overview"

[madrchsod]

9. here ya go..when it rains it pours.

http://www.saukvalley.com/articles/2009/09/10/18323179/...

[Omaha Steve]

10. Saturday at Hanscom Park (Omaha) at 10:00AM til about 11:00AM

I'll be speaking sometime in that hour.

OS

[Spazito]

11. Here is one with some good points re why reform is good for the economy...

U.S. healthcare lies Part II

snip


But there are many other economic advantages to universal health care which makes one wonder why the Republicans, conservatives and business interests haven’t been pushing for it. Instead, they are gearing up for a battle against President Obama which is, frankly, acting against their own best long-term interests. Here’s why:

1. The U.S. spent 16.2% of its GDP on health care plus up to 3% more on litigation concerning medical bills while other countries spend 10% and nothing on litigation because bills are paid by everyone. This is America’s number one competitive disadvantage going forward.

2. People with serious illnesses are uninsurable and are stuck in jobs they cannot leave or remain unemployed because they are unemployable.

3. Tens of millions of uninsured people in the U.S. end up with health problems that become a drain on the society and economy in the long run.

4. Doctor, nursing, hospital and drug costs are out of control in the U.S. because of the profit motive, compared to countries where universal health care provides the basic underpinning. (By the way, in Canada only 50% of total healthcare expenditures are covered by governments and the rest by individuals such as eyewear, dental or elective surgeries.) U.S. costs are higher because doctors can over-service those with health insurance, and patients can over-demand. Litigation also leads to over-doctoring (too many tests or too many days in hospitals) as well as high expenses in the form of malpractice insurance, an overhead which, in comparison, is negligible in Canada or Europe.

5. Detroit’s three automobile companies have gone bust in large measure due to “legacy” or gold-plated healthcare promises at America’s excessive prices that made that were unaffordable. This is not unique to the auto sector and has driven many jobs offshore in manufacturing.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/francis/archiv...

Although the article was written in defense of universal health care, the points made also relate to the reforms with the public option being proposed currently (NOT the Baucus/Insurance Industry travesty)