Health Care Voices

The website of President-Elect Obama's transition team – Change.gov – is asking Americans to submit their opinion on the health care crisis:

"Tell us your story, why health care is important to you, or what you'd like to see an Obama-Biden administration do and where you'd like the country to go."

Take a moment to send Obama and nominated Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle your thoughts on health care reform.  We've provided a sample letter, but you should feel free to edit it to reflect your own experiences. 

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am very encouraged by your receptiveness to the opinions of American citizens like myself on the issue of reforming our health care system.

We have a lot of work to do in the coming months to make sure that all Americans have access to affordable health care. While you are weighing all of the considerations that will go into any health reform bill, I urge you to make sure that the following two concerns are kept in mind.

I believe that no employer should be able to free load off another company when one of their employees opts to be covered by a spouse or parent's health care plan. In these cases I strongly encourage you to make such employers either provide insurance for their employees or pay into a public plan for un- and under-insured Americans.

Also, I want to make sure you pay special attention to people between the ages of 55 and 64. These individuals are too young to be covered under Medicare, but often cannot afford health insurance plans because of their age and health status. Employers with older workforces and employers who offer retiree health insurance tend to have much higher health costs than employers with younger workers or don't offer health coverage to retirees. Please make sure that these Americans are not left out in the cold and the employers who shoulder the cost burden are offered relief.

Thank you for your consideration of my concerns.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
December 15, 2008