| Friends - Thanks for your willingness to support the "Free Our Health Care NOW!" petition. More than 1,123,000 Americans have voiced their opposition to nationalized health care and the increased cost, reduced access and lower quality which it threatens to impose on us. Please help us reach our goal of 1.5 million signatures - the largest policy-oriented petition ever delivered to Congress - by attending your elected representative's town hall meeting, talking to your member of Congress and encouraging fellow concerned citizens to sign the petition. If each of you could help us by adding 5 new people we will reach our goal. Print the petition at http://actionpack.ncpa.org and take copies with you to the town hall meetings so that you can encourage other concerned citizens to join their voices with the more than one million Americans who are fighting to keep the health care system that protects our health. Don't be shy: grab the microphone and tell your representative and your neighbors about the "Free Our Health Care NOW!" petition - protecting our nation's health care system is that important. Amazingly, despite the importance of the health care reform debate, 67 percent of Congress does not plan on holding a town hall meeting during the summer recess. If your representatives are not planning on hearing from their constituents, call, write and email them, encouraging them to hear from you and the voters who they've sworn to represent! Finally, you are welcome to join us when we present the "Free Our Health Care NOW!" petition to Congress on September 9, 2009. We will get you more details next week. HEALTH CARE CO-OP: A PUBLIC OPTION BY ANY OTHER NAME Earlier this week, leading liberals withdrew the public option from health care reform legislation and proposed a Health Care Co-op as an alternative. Clearly not up-to-speed with the latest round of talking points, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scuttled the President's attempts to differentiate the widely unpopular 'public option' from a 'health care co-op,' saying, "We're going to have some kind of public option, call it 'co-op,' call it whatever you want." Staying off-point, Senator Chuck Schumer said, "We don't care what it's called." The President's rhetoric may be confusing members of his own party, but it's not confusing the American people. However carefully President Obama may apply lipstick to this particular pig, the American people still recognize the public option/health care co-op as the porker of an idea that it is: the proposed health care co-op would take the bad ideas of the public option-the creation of an unfair, heavily controlled, uncompetitive market-and make it worse-shifting responsibility from an elected official to an unelected Board. http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Understanding_Co-ops_Web.pdf
THREE MYTHS OF HEALTH CARE REFORM Last week, millions of Americans watched President Obama talk about health care reform during a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. We've included just a few of the President's statements. Obama Myth #1: You can keep your doctor; you can keep your health care plan.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that nearly 6 million Americans currently covered by an employment-based plan would not have coverage under the current reform proposals. Obama Myth #2: The AARP supports ObamaCare.
In response to the President's claims, the AARP issued a statement which asserted that "indications that we have endorsed any of the major health care reform bills currently under consideration in Congress are inaccurate." However, 60,000 AARP members have discontinued their membership - so one might assume it is a business decision for them. Obama Myth #3: 46 million Americans are uninsured and uninsurable.
According to the Census Bureau, of the 46 million Americans who are uninsured: - 10.1 million are individuals who have income of $66,000 for a family of four, but who elect to remain uninsured.
- 9.3 million are non-citizens who generally do not pay tax.
- 6.4 million who are enrolled in Medicaid or S-CHIP but reported to the Census taker that they were not. (This phenomenon is known among statisticians as the Medicaid undercount.)
- 4.3 million are eligible for Medicaid or S-CHIP but have not enrolled.
- 5 million are childless adults, mainly healthy, young adults who simply do not wish to pay for insurance.
In short: Most uninsured Americans are uninsured by choice, not by circumstance.Myths such as these confuse and frustrate Americans who simply want the best for their country. WANT TO RECEIVE DAILY UPDATES ON THE POLICIES IMPORTANT TO YOU? By signing the Free Our Health Care Now! petition, you've chosen to let your voice be heard in the national debate over health care reform. As important as this petition is, it is only part of the work we do at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). In addition to policy research, presentations and Congressional testimony, the NCPA also produces a free, daily, electronic newsletter - the Daily Policy Digest - which brings you the most wide-ranging public policy findings five times a week. We know your time is valuable, so we find and summarize the most topical public policy issues from today's newspapers, magazines, websites, government reports, scholarly journals and other think tanks. Sign up now and start receiving our newsletter free every Monday through Friday. There are lots of ways to get involved!
Continue to send us the town hall meetings in your area! Include the date, time, location, address, congressperson, and any other important information so we can enter them in our database.
Attend the Congressional Town Hall meetings in your area:
http://www.freeourhealthcarenow.com/thm/
Take ObamaCare Talking Points to your Town Hall meetings:
http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Obama_Care_Talking_Points_Web.pdf
Go with questions to your Town Hall meeting:
http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Questions_for_Town_Hall_Meetings.pdf
There is also a wealth of other educational and resource material available, including better alternatives to government-run health care:
Health Care Solutions:
http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Health_Care_Solutions_072909.pdf
Five Steps to a Better Health Care System:
http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Five_Steps_to_a_Better_Health_Care_System_Web.pdf
Dr. John Goodman's Blog - Current, up-to date information on the debate:
www.john-goodman-blog.com
We have recieved feedback about the petition and many of you have questions. Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions: http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/FAQ_Web.pdf.
Heartland Institute's Health Care Solutions:
http://www.chcchoices.org Thank you again for your support of the "Free Our Health Care NOW!" and for fighting against nationalized health care. Jeanette Nordstrom
National Center for Policy Analysis
www.ncpa.org
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