Dear AFSCME Brothers and Sisters,

The folks at AFSCME asked me to do something I've never done before and write you this e-mail. My name is Tom Connelly, and I'm a proud AFSCME member with Local 2026 in Warren, Ohio. I'm also a registered nurse at Trumbull Memorial Hospital.

Today I hope you'll join me in a national call-in day for health insurance reform. Tell members of Congress that we need a public health insurance option, a requirement that employers provide coverage and no taxing our benefits.

AFSCME and dozens of other groups have a goal of making 100,000 calls to Congress today with this message: it's time to deliver. It might seem like a tall order, but I know it can be done — it has to be done. This is a once-in-a-generation chance to fix our health care system. The insurance industry is fighting tooth and nail to keep things the way they are. They want a bill that is nothing more than a sugar pill. Washington lawmakers need to hear from you and me that we demand a real cure for our health insurance crisis.

• Failure is simply not an option. Our economy is directly linked to health care. If we don't do something to fix it, the entire economy will continue to be dragged down. My hospital is going bankrupt because of skyrocketing costs. If we can't make it, not only will thousands of people be out of jobs, but it will also add to the strain of the whole health care system here in Warren.
  
• We need more access and affordability. I'm at the mercy of the insurance companies. They tell us how to do our jobs and what treatments to provide, which means people don't get the preventative care that they need. Only when we have real reform that includes choice and competition, will we be able to provide care that stops diseases before people get too sick. (The insurance companies won't do it on their own — where's the profit in healthy people for them?) 
  
• It's a moral issue. Being on the front lines of the health care crisis every day, I see people that lack coverage and are left in the cold by a health insurance industry that puts profits ahead of people. It's sickening — and I believe that as citizens of this great country, we deserve better. Everyone deserves quality, affordable health care, and the public option is the best way to make good on that.