[Oe List ...] Health Care -current state in Congress

Tue Sep 1 10:00:34 CDT 2009

Mary and I attended Congressman Lloyd Doggett's health care forum at a
downtown Methodist Church in Austin, last Saturday.

This was Doggett's first major public event in Austin since being
hassled by anti-reform activists in a local supermarket parking lot a
few weeks ago (it's all over You Tube).

We came a way from the two hour forum greatly heartened. For one thing
there were 2,000 people in attendance, nearly all local Democrats. The
audience was not only civil, but overwhelmingly supportive of
comprehensive health insurance reform, including a public option. For
another, the forum consisted of a dozen speakers bearing witness to the
need for reform and what was in the proposed bill. They included clergy,
healthcare practitioners, patients, policy experts, civil rights
leaders, and Doggett (unbowed and feisty) himself.

A fiery, young (to me) local Presbyterian pastor called Jim Rigby kicked
the meeting off with "If you want to do something about improving
healthcare for all citizens they call you a Christian. If you actually
do something about it they call you a Socialist."

I was even more impressed by the power of the witnesses - the personal
stories and experiences - which cut through he "isms" and the cartoon
slogans of fear and hatred that a few protestors were holding up outside
the building, and cut to the core of matter - that the US health care
insurance system is badly broken, unjust, and in need of radical repair.

I also became convinced that the real heroes in the fight ahead are the
medical practitioners who are willing to risk their reputations and
livelihood to stand up to the insurance companies and call for
comprehensive change. A couple of those bore witness last Saturday.
Powerful stuff.

Family doctors are the best patient advocates and the most trusted
witnesses of a broken system and its cost on human lives. Hopefully we
will be hearing from more of them in the days ahead.

Cheers,

Stuart

________________________________

From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On
Behalf Of Marsha Hahn
Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 2009 9:27 AM
To: Order Ecumenical Community
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Health Care -current state in Congress

Pat and I attempted to attend a town meeting hosted by our very
progressive congresswoman last night.  Hundreds and hundreds of people
were there.  We waited in line, but had not arrived early enough to get
in.  Apparently, you needed to get there about 2 hours early.  We had an
interesting and somewhat creepy experience, though.  We were sandwiched
in line between two very vocal anti-public option, anti-change pairs of
people.  The guy behind us made a really rude remark which got dear
Pat's "Irish" up.  Pat turned around and suggested the guy can it (in
much more florid language).  The guy's response was to ask Pat if he
wanted to continue the discussion in front of the TV cameras.
Interesting.  Pat just turned around and ignored him at that point.  A
couple of minutes later we learned that we would not be able to get in,
so we left the line and walked to another area.  Within a minute, the
same guy who had been behind us in line approached us with a somewhat
conciliatory tone.  Pat walked off, but I decided to talk to him.  He
was very prepared with his arguments, and at one point he mentioned he
was from Buffalo NY.  I asked him why he was at our town meeting in
Chicago, at which point he looked nervous, was silent for a moment, then
stated that "no one paid me to be here,"  I pressed him and he finally
said he'd had business in Chicago, and had decided to come to the town
meeting.  I do not believe it.  He was clearly there to stir things up.
I don't know who he was representing, but there's no doubt in my mind
the role he was playing.

Good luck, Ann.  It was a very emotionally charged atmosphere here, and
I'm sure it will be in Texas.  Keep your cool and get there early.

Marsha

________________________________

From: Ann Shafer <asgoodasitgets at earthlink.net>
To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 7:24:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] Health Care -current state in Congress

Janice, Thank you so much for the helpful information from
HealthCareForAmericaNow.Org. We have a town meeting here on Thursday
with our very conservative congressman. I am planning to go with a
letter written that I can leave with his aids and a statement. I am also
emailing others who should be there. I am open to comments from anyone
on what the best way to attend this meeting and help bust the myths
around this health care bill are. Thanks. Ann Shafer in Fredericksburg
Texas

________________________________

From: oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net [mailto:oe-bounces at wedgeblade.net] On
Behalf Of Janice Ulangca
Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2009 11:38 PM
To: Order Ecumenical Community
Subject: [Oe List ...] Health Care -current state in Congress

Colleagues,

August 27 I attended a meeting where a representative of a national
coalition for healthcare reform gave a 2 hour power point presentation
on the bills currently in congress.  HCAN - Healthcare for America Now
is a coalition of liberal groups - unions, community organizations,
Latino and African American organizations, etc.  Their web site is
www.HealthCareForAmericaNow.org
<http://www.healthcareforamericanow.org/>     What they stand for can be
found by clicking the About Us tab at the top.  Seems like a very good
list to me.  Whether you agree with their positions or not, you might
find the  page on the current step of the legislative process useful.
They say they update this page frequently - it was last updated August
26.  That version is copied below.  Links to the full text of bills are
on this page.

As you may know, there is no single health care bill now.  So there is
no definite bill to either support or oppose.  Things are moving fast,
though.  So phone calls are important - stating what is important to
you.  Lobbyists are certainly active - we'd better be.

Janice Ulangca

----------------------------

>From the HCAN web site:

Completed Steps

Click on each completed step to see where we've been and what we've
accomplished towards our goal of winning quality, affordable health care
for all. 

Step 1: Initial Proposals 

Step 2: Committees Hold Hearings/Draft Legislation 

CURRENT STEP - Step 3: Committees Pass Legislation

Because health reform legislation is so complicated, five different
committees - three in the House and two in the Senate - are entitled to
have some say in the legislation. Each House and Senate committee in
charge of different parts of health care reform has been holding
hearings and drafting legislation. Committees consider their first
draft, usually called the Chairman's mark, in a process called
"mark-up." During these committee meetings, members propose changes to
the Chairman's mark (amendments) and then vote on final approval in
their committee. The committees may consider hundreds on amendments in
the process. 

Once each committee completes its process, the two Senate committees
will combine their bills and work out any differences to bring one bill
to the Senate floor. The same process will be happening among the
committees working in the House. The committees involved in health care
reform have pledged to work together to minimize differences and make
this process easier.  

Where We Are Now 

In the Senate, the HELP Committee has passed a health reform bill (full
text, pdf) that includes a strong public health insurance option. (Click
herefor Health Care for America Now's statement on the HELP bill.) The
Finance Committee is expected to begin the markup process when they have
agreed on a starting draft. After both committees pass bills, they will
be combined together to be moved to the Senate floor for amendments by
the whole Senate and a full vote. 

In the House, the Chairmen of the three committees of juristiction -
Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Education and Labor - have
released a combined "tri-committee" bill. The bill meets all of Health
Care for America Now's principles (fact sheets, changes from House draft
[pdf], committee summery of the bill [pdf]). All three committees held
hearings on the bill draft in June and each are marking up the package
now. Like in the Senate, the committees will combine their bills into
one package and take it to the House floor for a vote. The House Ways
and Means Committee (roll call), Education and Labor Committee (roll
call), and Energy and Commerce Committee (roll call) have passed the
health reform bill, HR 3200, and referred it to the full House. 

When Congress gets back from recess on September 8th, the House will
vote on HR 3200. The Senate should also refer a bill to the floor for a
vote around the same time. Both committees in the Senate will have to
vote out bills by the October 15th reconciliation deadline to maintain
the reconciliation option. 

After both houses pass a bill, the House and Senate will resolve their
differences in "conference." When they agree to one bill, it goes back
to the Senate and House for final votes, then to president Obama for his
signature. 

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