Greetings,

Daily Note on Health Care Reform in Congress

Tuesday, 10.22.09

Mobilization: We are asking every affiliate to select at least one or two worksites to distribute stickers and solicit calls on November 5, 2009.  Please mobilize your members and prepare them to make the calls on November 5.

1)    Action Request:  Please order your stickers now at www.aflcio.org/shop or fax the attached order form to 202-637-5058.  Please order what you need to supply

Each worksite where you are distributing stickers.  Stickers come in rolls of 100.

2)    Action Request: We are encouraging affiliates to make this the largest mobilization we have ever done to turn out calls.  We will engage every dialer, robo patch through dialer, e activists network etc. we can get access to on November 5.  The dialers are not the answer our members need to call their Senator, what they do will help form what the Health Care Reform Bill looks like in the end.  It is our members who have helped the polling number climb to 57% in favor of a strong Health Care Plan that includes a Strong Public Option, No taxation Of Workers Benefits and Not Exempting Any Employer.

3)    Action Request:  Veterans Day week is possible recess for Congress either part or all week.  Please start setting up In State Lobby Meetings with Senators or their staff in every in state office and please take community allied leaders and clergy with you.  Try to pick one day and send two people in every hour in each in state office 1 labor and 1allied leader or clergy.

Health Care Talking Points – Washington Post/ABC Poll – 10/20/2009

• Great news in our fight for health care reform that includes a public option:  A new poll released Tuesday, October 20^th by the Washington Post and ABC News shows:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/19/AR2009101902451.html?hpid=topnews
• The American public overwhelmingly supports a public option by 57 percent to 40 percent.
• That’s a 5 percentage point increase since August.
• By 51 percent to 37 percent, people would rather have a public option than a bipartisan bill that doesn’t include one.
• The unions of the AFL-CIO – especially at the grassroots – deserve a huge amount of credit for fighting for the public option.  Now the public is joining us in calling on Congress to provide one.
• Nobody has stepped out more than President Trumka, who has been the leading progressive voice in the media calling for the public option.
• The 11 and half million members of the unions of the AFL-CIO – including Working America – the state federations, labor councils and staff have been working non-stop to ensure that Congress hears the voices of America’s workers.
• Recently, in one week alone, workers from 27 states held over 100 meetings with Congress, sent in over 42,000 hand written letters and made over 30,000 phone calls, all calling for a public option.
• But we cannot rest on our success.  We must redouble our efforts to fight for real health care reform.  Working together, we will win reform that:

o   Includes a robust public option to lower premiums through competition and break the stranglehold insurance companies have over the current system. 

o   Doesn’t tax working families’ benefits -  The Senate Finance Committee bill slaps a 40 percent excise tax in 2013 on plans valued at more than $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families – an enormous tax that would soon hit more than 30 percent of all plans.  Most likely to be hit:  plans with people who are older or sicker or those who work for small employers.  A new tax on the middle class is unacceptable. 

o   Requires companies to pay a fair share of costs.  Over 160 million Americans get health care at work, but more than $1,000 of each family plan premium paid by employers and employees actually goes to cover the cost of the uninsured—mostly those whose employers do not pay.  The only fair way to cover the cost of care for all is to include an employer responsibility provision that requires all employers to provide health coverage or contribute a truly meaningful sum to help pay for subsidies. 

Other News

House Judiciary Committee Votes to Lift Anti-Trust Exemption for Insurers

The Health Industry Anti-Trust Enforcement Act of 2009 was approved by the House Judiciary Committee yesterday and sent to the full House for a floor vote, which is expected within days.

Insurance Companies Control a Significant Share of the Market. In the past 13 years more than 400 corporate mergers have involved health insurers, and a small number of companies now dominate local markets. The American Medical Association reports that 94 percent of insurance markets in the United States are now highly concentrated. [Health Care for America Now, 5/09]

In Nearly 40 States, More Than Half the Insurance Market is Controlled by 2 Insurance Companies. In at least 21 states, one carrier controls more than half the market. More than half of the market is controlled by two carriers in at least 39 states. [Center for American Progress, 6/09]

In Alabama, the biggest insurer holds 89 percent of the statewide market, the highest rate in the nation for a single company. [Health Care for America Now, 5/09]

*          In Hawaii, Rhode Island, Alaska, Vermont, Alabama, Maine, Montana, Wyoming, Arkansas and  Iowa, the two largest health insurers control at least 80 percent of the statewide market.” [Health Care for America Now, 5/09]

*           At the local level, where distinct provider markets exist in metropolitan areas, the health insurance industry’s market concentration is even more severe. The U.S. Justice Department considers a market ‘highly concentrated’ if one company holds more than a 42 percent share of that market, a level that is common in Virginia and more than 30 other states. In Abilene, Texas, for example, the top insurer controls 85 percent of the market. In Bangor, Maine, the biggest insurer controls 74 percent of the market. The market leader in the Battle Creek, Michigan, area holds 83 percent, and 57 percent of the Lincoln, Nebraska, market is served by a lone insurer.” [Health Care for America Now, 5/09]