Today the leadership of the Democratic Caucus in the House and the chairs of all three committees with healthcare jurisdiction released their plan for healthcare reform. It seems to be pretty good. See Ezra Klein, Jon Cohn, Scarecrow and Matthew Yglesias for more about the policy ins and outs. Healthcare for America Now likes it. So does President Obama.
We are closer to archiving major healthcare reform than ever in our history. If we can get a bill like the one proposed today people who would have died will live, people who would have gone bankrupt will stay afloat. But we won't be able to pass this unless we step up our organizing efforts. But the insurance industry is powerful, they won't give up easily.
The House is planning to vote on the bill by the end of this month, in less than three weeks the fate of the House bill will be decided. Over the next few weeks three House committees will be marking up the bill. The Senate HELP committee will vote on their healthcare reform bill tomorow. We need to gear up our organizing and do it fast.
Luckily many groups are doing great work already and have provided easy ways for you to get involved.
CALL CONGRESS:
The single most important thing you can do no matter where your representatives stand. OFA and HCAN both have calling tools that make it easy. Every congressional office keeps tabs on the calls on major issues like this and the ratio of calls for and against legislation has a major impact on the votes of congresspeople. Only call if you live in the district or state of a Congressperson, make sure you identify yourself and the town and state that you live in at the start of the call, congressional offices value calls from in state far more than outstate calls.
CANVASS FOR HEALTHCARE REFORM:
Another important way to take action. OFA is organizing canvasses across America, see if there is one near you. Canvassing people near you and getting them to sign up in favor of real healthcare reform and getting them to call their representatives is extremely important. We have strength in numbers.
SHARE YOUR STORY:
Share your story with Organizing for America or by writing a letter to the editor. It's important to put a human face on healthcare reform.
DONATE:
The insurance industry has a lot of money and they won't hold back in fighting reform. We have lots of good groups running ads, doing field organizing and all kinds of other actions that need our help NOW. Here are some good groups to consider donations to.
Organizing for America
Healthcare for America Now
Change Congress
Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Blue America
Democracy for America
MoveOn
FireDogLake Action
Healthcare Heros
SHOW YOUR HEALTHCARE REFORM PRIDE:
OFA isgiving away free healthcare reform stickers. What's not to love? Show your healthcare reform pride!
There you have it. Five easy, quick ways to get involved. They are not the only ways to get involved and I'll have more ways later. But they are five ways to get started. We don't have a lot of time, it's crutch time. We all need to step up.
Here's some Paul Wellstone for inspiration
Sí se puede!