Last week, over 160,000 letters were sent to House Republicans by ABM supporters asking what parts of the health care reform bill they want to repeal. So far, we have heard back from only a few -- none of which mentioned specifics.
However, we DID hear about how some House Republicans were just forwarding these emails onto DFL legislators -- just to try and jam the DFL-side inboxes as a sort of retaliation.
The response we got was one of the biggest yet for any ABM action -- which is why we alerted the media to this effort. However, there was no mention of the more than 160,000 emails in any of the stories written about Republican efforts to repeal health care. This email push actually knocked out the email system for legislators in some cases.
Before we sound like whiners for not getting some mainstream media attention, let's compare it to a similar incident earlier in the yea when a handful of phone calls made in February, when the MNGOP directed some party members to call legislators while they were on the floor of the Senate. In that case there were at least 5 stories about it:
So, after we jammed the email system, we moved onto social media. This campaign generated hundreds of tweets asking Marty Seifert, Tom Emmer, the MN GOP, and other Republican legislators to be specific about which parts of health care reform they wanted repealed. But we didn't stop there -- we asked folks to visit theFacebook pages of the GOP, Marty Seifert and Tom Emmer to ask our questions again.
Here are some great comments that people have posted (note we snatched some of these screenshots before they were scrubbed):
It doesn't seem balanced to report on GOP hijinks while not even mentioning more than 160,000 emails. Is there another reason we're missing?
“Betty McCollum you’ve been dry f***** by the liberal party.” So read a letter, which also contained a condom removed from its packaging, received by Rep. Betty McCollum’s office on Monday. Another letter contained a shredded American flag drenched in gasoline along with a note that reads, “It represents Obama and your liberal filth. Open the bag, it’s covered in the stench you’ve brought to our government … Because of you, we are now a country of dirt, shame, corruption and slime.”
McCollum’s is one of many congressional offices that are reporting threatening tactics by anti-health care reform activists, particularly members of the Tea Party movement. McCollum released a statement on Thursday saying she will not be intimidated: “I will not back down in the face of attacks, threats, and violence. I do not regret my vote, and I will proudly stand in the face of opposition and defend my support of health care reform.”
The kind of threatening tactics right-wingers are employing against pro-reform Democrats are the direct result of the "death panel" and "freedom fighter" rhetoric that Republicans have been using to incite fear, anger, and hate in the minds of their conservative base.
Take Minnesota's own Michele Bachmann, who just yesterday said she was "like Nostradamus" when she predicted last year that President Obama had "anti-American views."
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN): “I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us, having a revolution every now and then is a good thing, and the people – we the people, are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to lose our country.”
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN): “And are they going to listen? Oh yeah, oh yeah, they're going to listen. It was Thomas Jefferson who said a revolution every now and then is a good thing. What do you think?”
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN): “The number one thing people can do is come, see their member of Congress, look at them in the eyes, especially with other freedom fighters in tow, and let them know that the lessons of August, they should not forget, at their peril.”
It's the Bachmann brand of rhetoric, aimed at whipping the conservative fringe into an anti-health care reform frenzy, that's created an angry monster capable of cutting the gas line at a house identified as Rep. Tom Perriello's on a Tea Party blog and faxing pictures of nooses to a civil rights leader.
Just look at the anger in this woman, who showed up at a "Kill the Bill" rally at Rep. Betty McCollum's office on the Friday before the health care vote:
It's time for Michele Bachmann, John Kline, Erik Paulsen, and the Minnesota Republican Party to take responsibility for the monster they've created -- and put a stop to it.
But I wouldn't count on it. Taking a page from John Boehner and Eric Cantor, Bachmann's office justified the irrational rage among fringe conservatives her rhetoric helped create.
In a written statement, Bachmann's office said it did not condone threats or violence but suggested Democrats are to blame because of health care reform.
"Americans are upset for being ignored by the Democrats "This frustration should be channeled into repealing this monstrosity of a bill."
Once again, Michele Bachmann misses the point. I'll let Rep. Tom Perriello -- the freshman member of Congress whose brother's house had his gas line cut -- explain why:
“No, the answer is, we want those people to go to jail who are committing a crime,” he said. “We want all those other good, law-abiding people who are adamantly opposed to health care to join our campaigns.”
In less than 48 hours, thousands of pro-health care reform Minnesotans wrote over 160,000 emails to Republican legislators, and the state legislature's email system couldn't handle that many messages.
That's incredible.
Don't worry -- we're going to make sure your voice is heard. I'm going to go through our software to find all the emails that didn't make it through -- and I'm going to deliver them in person.
Thanks again for helping us tell the 68 anti-reform Republican legislators that they don't speak for Minnesotans. As someone who traveled across the state on the Obama campaign, I know how much Minnesota needs health care reform. The last thing Minnesotans need is for Republicans to succeed and return us to the status quo we've fought so hard to change.
We've already flooded their inboxes, now let's flood their Twitters. Below is a list of some of the anti-reform Republicans on Twitter, click the links to send them a message on Twitter:
Just hours after 68 Republican legislators announced they would ask the State Attorney General to repeal President Obama's historic health insurance reform legislation, Minnesotans from all over the state stood up to protect health insurance reform.
In just one day, 2,158 people have sent 144,408 emails to the legislators who have decided to put the insurance companies ahead of working Minnesotans once again.
"These state Republican legislators have decided that they would like to go back to allowing insurance companies to deny care to folks with a pre-existing condition, massive rate hikes, and the all-too-frequent medical bankruptcies of the past instead of moving our state, and the country forward," said Denise Cardinal, Executive Director of Alliance for a Better Minnesota.
Alliance for a Better Minnesota, a progressive advocacy organization that uses online tools to increase engagement amongst working families, set up a contact page for the Republican legislators that have urged AG Swanson to push for repeal of the new health insurance law.
The over 2,100 Minnesotans who have already used the feature have sent a letter to each of the 68 legislators for a total letter count of over 140,000.
A new report from the Minnesota Department of Health confirms what we've been saying all along in this health reform debate: the status quo is not an option.
The report found that more than 100,000 Minnesotans lost their health insurance between 2007 and 2009, largely due to the bad econom, raising the total of uninsured Minnesotans from 374,000 to 480,000 -- 85,000 of those being children under the age of 17.
The survey found that some groups were hit harder than others. More men than women lost their employer-sponsored insurance as sectors that traditionally hire men -- manufacturing and construction, for example -- were hit hard by the recession. Some 12 percent of male Minnesotans were uninsured last year, compared to 6 percent of females.
Young adults were also far more likely to be uninsured, as were minorities.
Equally worrying was the finding that more people were going without insurance for long periods. Researchers asked respondents if they had been continuously uninsured for the past 12 months; 6.2 percent said yes, up from 4.6 percent when that question was asked in 2007.
So not only are more people uninsured, but they're staying uninsured for longer.
Under the current proposal for health insurance reform being debated in Congress, 519,000 Minnesota residents who currently don't have insurance -- and 356,000 residence who have nongroup insurance -- could get affordable coverage through the health insurance exchange. An additional 282,000 residents could qualify for premium tax credits to help them purchase health coverage.
Note: This post originally appeared on the ABM blog on Feb 08, 2010.
Last night, the House of Representatives made history by passing health care reform for all Americans. This legislation will rein in the power of big insurance companies and guarantee that all Minnesotans will get the same health insurance as Congress.
Despite having her own health care paid for by American taxpayers, Rep. Michele Bachmann voted against historic health care reform legislation. She voted "NO" to a ground-breaking bill that will expand access to 32 million uninsured Americans, lower costs, and end the era when insurance companies could discriminate based on pre-existing conditions.
With this vote, Bachmann has said "NO" to her constituents who will benefit from this landmark health care reform.
Americans United for Change is running an ad targeting Bachmann for voting against giving Minnesotans the health insurance that is as good as her own government plan. Watch the ad here.
An 8-against-1 match-up might seem unfair at first glance, but Rep. Bachmann can hold her own in the ring!
In the gubernatorial corner, eight out of nine GOP candidates for governor (including frontrunners Marty Seifert and Tom Emmer) said they don’t believe in human-caused climate change. The one-two punch of GOP climate change deniers might be enough to take down defending March Badness champion Michele Bachmann.
She’s not going down by knockout, though. Rep. Bachmann encouraged opponents of health care reform to “make a covenant, to slit our wrists, be blood brothers” in opposing it.
What is appropriate for professional athletes to tweet about? This is a question Terrell Owens should have been asking himself last year when he tweeted about Tom Brady’s injury status, the Browns starting QB and the Cowboys Tony Romo problem (see the photo!).
You wouldn’t be wrong to think that SD 26 candidate Mike Parry is the TO of March Badness. After tweeting that President Obama is “a Power Hungry Arrogant Black Man,” among other offensive and racist things, Parry scrubbed his Twitter account and deleted 33 tweets.
Parry faces a worthy opponent in former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Palin is probably our most well known March Badness contestant this year. After she resigned as Governor of Alaska, Palin wrote a factually inaccurate book and became a Bachmann-esque national media personality. She made it to March Badness with a Hail Mary attempt to kill health care reform by spreading lies that it would create “death panels.”
Can Mike Parry’s failed attempt to make his offensive tweets disappear knockout March Badness heavyweight Sarah Palin or will she take the victory by “going rogue?" It’s up to you, so vote now!
A new study by the Commonwealth Fund and the Center for American Progress Action Fund estimates that health care reform legislation will lead to greater savings than the Congressional Budget Office had predicted. While the CBO does not score savings from prevention, modernization, and payment reform, this study uses a more inclusive analysis, according to the Wonk Room.
Economists David Cutler, Karen Davis and Kristof Stremikis go beyond the CBO/CMS methodology by relying on business literature about the inefficiency in the health care sector, experiences of health practitioners, and the real world experiences of Geisinger Health System, Health Partners, Denver Health and others.
So how different is this new study from the CBO estimates?
The report finds that the Senate bill would reduce the deficit by up to $459 billion over ten years (approximately $300 billion more than CBO estimates) and produce Medicare savings of $576 billion (nearly $200 billion more than CBO estimates for the Senate bill).
That would be a huge reduction to the deficit, much greater than the CBO calculated. This study highlights how the status quo is absolutely not an option. The Star Tribune reports that the national per-person spending on health insurance premiums will jump 94 percent by 2020 without reform. Premium costs in Minnesota are already among the highest in the nation, and we simply cannot afford for them to increase.
It is past time that we had quality, affordable health care for all Americans. You can find out if your Senators and Representative voted to support universal health care or sided with insurance companies.
Our friends over at Media Matters Action Network put together a highlight reel from yesterday's rally against health insurance reform. Check it out below:
With a vote on health care legislation in the House expected this weekend, Organzing for America is encouraging folks to call their members of Congress in support of reform. If you haven't called before, call now. If you've called before, call again and encourage your friends to join you.
A new ad from MoveOn.org shows actress Heather Graham as the public option, forcing “lazy, bloated” private insurance companies to get back in the race and compete.
“Insurance companies have gotten lazy, bloated from the profits of raising our health care costs sky high while the health care crisis keeps getting worse. A public health insurance option is the key to quality affordable care for Americans. And over 70 percent of Americans want the public option. Some in Washington say this is unfair competition. But competition is as American as apple pie.”
Families USA released a report today that has hit the Star Tribune on the 45,000+ Minnesotans that have now lost their health insurance by losing their jobs. This is quite a scary number, and it certainly points to the need to reform our broken insurance system. However, there is a line in the Star Tribune story on this report that would almost slip by you if you weren't careful. It both points to the need for health insurance reform AND the positive effects of a program designed to take care of those who need it the most...lets see if we can pick it out:
The states with the biggest losses are California (661,600), Texas (396,900), Florida (297,600), New York (253,100) and North Carolina (184,700). By contrast, the number of uninsured children stayed stable due to public coverage for children through Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Find it? Right after listing the hundreds of thousands of people who are newly uninsured, the story notes that children in these families have not suffered the same fate. The reason? Super socialist/evil/mean government run health insurance! This is not really surprising for supporters, that is why it was developed and passed in the first place. However on a political level, with regards to the current reform effort, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the government program that uses tobacco taxes to pay for health care for poor and working poor children (in brief), is particularly useful for us to look at, because this program was just enhanced and expanded at the start of this year after George W Bush and Republicans had blocked and watered down parts of the legislation in 2007. Despite this program's obvious success and the essential service it provides, the program has been hammered with the same attacks being shouted against President Obama's current reform efforts.
Just take a look at some of the crazy conservative Republicans like Michele Bachmann have talked about this program, which is now preventing millions of children from suffering the same fate as their parents in going uninsured, I promise you'll recognize a few:
"[B]ecause now President Obama even voted for the SCHIP bill, which we all know will now for the first time swing the door wide open for illegal aliens. I know one thing: The people in my district are not interested in paying for the health care for illegal aliens that are coming across our border to be yet one more magnet to bring people in that should come here legally." (Michele Bachmann, from Minnesota Independent, 3/18/09)
Rep. King of Iowa introduced a new acronym for the program. He called it the, "“Socialized Clinton-style Hillarycare for Illegals and their Parents” (Think Progress, 10/18/07)
Rep. Tom Feeney of Florida had his own little acronym, "Socialized, Cuba-style Health care for Illegals and their Parents" (Think Progress, 10/18/07)
Both Bachmann and John Kline voted against this program a grand total of six times.
Yet none of these Glen Beck styled conspiracies about coverage for non-citizens, socialism running around lawless, a government takeover and the end of the private insurance market have come true. What has happened, though, is that millions of children are now getting access to the care that they need, staying out of expensive emergency room visits keeping costs down for everyone, and allowing their parents to sleep a little easier at night. Something that isn't happening for adults because of the powerful interests that have blocked reform in the past are gearing up to fight yet again.
The point is, folks, that all of the theatrics about the current reform effort are just the same old sick scam that conservative Republicans have trotted out against every reform effort that may dip in to insurance company profits, including successful ones like the State Children's Health Insurance Program. We need to extend the same access to all people that we fought so hard for to give to our children. Head over to our health care website and learn about past attempts to distract from and destroy reform, and then share it with your friends. If you're more the phone type, make a call to your legislator about the urgent need for real health insurance reform for all Americans.
Working families have been diligent in their fight for health care reform that includes a public option. With the Senate vote at hand, things are bound to move quickly through Congress this month.
That's why it is important that Senators Franken and Klobuchar hear from you TODAY so they get the message loud and clear for quality, affordable health care we can count on.
Tell our two senators that we can’t wait any longer for health care reform that:
* Controls costs and doesn’t tax our benefits.
* Provides guaranteed coverage to all Americans.
* Includes a public health insurance plan option.
* Holds insurance companies accountable.
* Requires all employers to pay their fair share.
Thank you for making the calls.
Minnesotans have been working together through the Health Care for America Now! coalition to build support for federal health care reform in Minnesota. They accomplish this through coordinated efforts to write and call legislators, as well as actions that escalate the awareness and need for reform now.
Doctors from all 50 states gathered at the White House yesterday to show their support for President Obama's health insurance reform plan. The first doctor interviewed in the video below is Dr. Nathan Bahr from St. Paul, who is the Minnesota State Director of Doctors for America, a grassroots groups of doctors who believe the American people deserve a better health system.
Dr. Bahr, who grew up in Caledonia, says that he become a doctor so that he could help people -- not to haggle with insurance companies about prices and coverage.
I'm working for reform for my patients and for every American; we deserve better. While some Americans can access wonderful healthcare, too many have no access at all or find out that they don't have enough coverage to pay for the care they need when it counts. I'm fighting for a system that allows me to be the doctor I strive to be. I want to supply great, efficient care to my patients without the very system I practice in interfering with my ability to do so.
Denise Cardinal sent out this email earlier in the week announcing Sick Scam, a a website dedicated to telling the truth about how the big insurance companies and their allies in Minnesota are working together to block reform.
Friend --
We are closer to real health care reform now than we have ever been, but conservative Republicans, their allies here in Minnesota, and the big insurance companies have spent the last few months trying every tactic they can think of to destroy President Obama's vision for reform and it's hitting home with some of our neighbors.
Wondering what you can do to help much-need health insurance reform get through Congress and on to the President's desk?
That's why we're launching Sick Scam, a website dedicated to telling the truth about how the big insurance companies and their allies in Minnesota are working together to block reform.
Check out the site and share the information with friends and neighbors about who's holding up the health insurance reform that all Americans, whether they have insurance or not, desperately need.
Sick Scam shows how insurance execs have been raking in millions in pay, conservative Republicans have been rolling in the campaign donations, and all the while 14,000 people a day have been losing their insurance.
Yesterday, around 150 Minnesotans gathered outside of UnitedHealth Group's headquarters in Minnetonka to protest the insurance industry's efforts to block health care reform while it continues to make record profits. The demonstration was part of a national day-of-action effort organized under the theme "Big Insurance: Sick of It."
MINNETONKA - When many Americans can’t afford basic health care, is one insurance company executive worth $744 million? That’s the question demonstrators asked Tuesday outside the headquarters of UnitedHealth Group, one of the nation’s largest insurers.
“We have a question for (United Health CEO) Stephen Hemsley,” said the Rev. Grant Stevensen. “How much is enough?”
In Minnesota, protests were held at UnitedHealth in Minnetonka and OptumHealth in Duluth. Minnesotans also participated in a rally at the Blue Cross Blue Shield offices in Fargo, N.D.
“We need to shed light on the fact the insurance companies are profiting on our losses,” said Laura Askelin, president of the Southeast Area Labor Council in Rochester. “They’re making money off sick and dying people.”
Our friends at the Minnesota AFL-CIO have a wrap-up of all the "Sick of It" events across the state, including video of many of the speakers.
Marchers carried seven hundred and forty-four green balloons emblazoned with white dollar signs--symbolic of the $744 million in unexercised stock options held by UnitedHealth CEO Stephen J. Hemsley. They performed an action in front of the UnitedHealth lobby that you can watch in the above video. In addition to the green balloons, MNA nurse Diane Johnson and ISIAIAH Pastor Grant Stevenson carried a blown up policy document, asking that Hemsley sign the pledge to support real health care reform. The pledge demands that UnitedHealth Group:
Not stand between a doctor and a patient when it comes to deciding what care that patient needs.
Not deny coverage or raise rates for individuals or businesses based on a pre-existing condition and end arbitrary caps on payments for necessary medical care.
Terminate any policy or incentive that rewards employees financially or otherwise for denying care and rejecting claims.
Not use any resources--including funds, employees, and facilities--to lobby against and oppose aspect of the health reform proposals supported by President Obama and being considered by members of the United States Congress, including but not limited to a national public health insurance option available on day one.
The corporate bureaucrat that met the group stated that she would review and show the demands to the CEO, but was unable to give a date in which UnitedHealth Group would give a response.
A short rally was held after the above events and you can view a slideshow of photos from it here.
You can track tweets from across the country about the Big Insurance: Sick of It campaign on Twitter, just use the hashtag #sickofit.
Igor Vovkovinskiy, the "World's Largest Obama Supporter" who got a shout out from President Obama during his visit to the Target Center earlier this month, says he owes his life to the government-run Medicare program, which provides insurance for the elderly and disabled.
Beyond a chance to see the president, Vovkovinskiy said he wanted to be there to support the call for health care reform.
Vovkovinskiy said he wouldn't be alive without the initial medical care the Mayo Clinic provided at no charge and the continued medical care funded by the federal Medicare program for the elderly and disabled. He worries about the people with fewer medical needs but no insurance.
"People should at least have the basics," he said.
One of the myths being spread by people who want to defeat health insurance reform is that, under current proposals, Americans wouldn't be able to get the coverage they need. That's simply not true.
The truth is, health care rationing does exist. Under the status quo, health insurance companies -- not you or your doctor -- decide what care you can and can't have. And these decisions aren't based on your doctor's diagnosis or the treatments you may need, instead, they're based on what kind of insurance you have.
Here's the truth about health insurance reform, as explained by President Obama:
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who accompanied President Obama on his trip to Minneapolis over the weekend, just released a new analysis of the latest Census numbers regarding the uninsured.
The results, which found that the number of uninsured jumped from 39.8 million in 2001 to 46.3 million in 2008, "only serve to further confirm a reality that far too many American families live with every days," says to Secretary Sebelius. "Our health care system has reached a breaking point. The status quo is unsustainable, and continuing to delay reform is not an option."
The status quo is not an option. The number of uninsured in Minnesota has increased from 370,000 in 2001 to 444,000 in 2008. The percent of non-elderly adults without insurance increased from 9.4% to 11.1%. And this number only considers people who are uninsured for an entire year – it does not include people in Minnesota who have more recently lost coverage through the recession, or who had shorter gaps in their coverage.
Private coverage is eroding under the status quo. The percentage of people with employer-based coverage decreased from 84.3 % of the population in 2001 to 76.8% in 2008.
More workers are being left without protection from health care costs. Too many workers in Minnesota do not have health coverage, at 290,000 in 2008. And the proportion of workers from Minnesota without insurance has increased, from 8.9% in 2001 to 10.6% in 2008.
The problem of the uninsured is a problem that crosses income brackets. The new Census numbers also drive home the fact that everyone in Minnesota is vulnerable to losing health insurance. An additional 12,000 from high-income households are now uninsured.
At the Target Center on Saturday, President Obama called for health insurance reform that brings stability and security to those with insurance and affordable coverage to those who don't, including the choice of a public health insurance option. But if we're going to make President Obama's vision a reality, we need to take action now. Populista over at the Minnesota Progressive Project explains how:
We are closer than ever to winning. 4 out of 5 congressional committees have passed health reform that meet the President's principles, hundreds of thousands of Americans have contacted their representatives for health reform in 2009, hundreds of thousands of Americans showed up at health townhalls this August and made suporters of reform outnumber the teagbaggers, 6905 have donated to representatives who stood up for the public option, and many more have taken action in other ways.
Health Care for America Now launched a new ad campaign today. The message? If the insurance companies win, you lose.
We’ll be doing national and DC television, plus print and online advertising targeted at Washington. Why so much beltway focus? To make sure lawmakers on Capitol Hill understand that there will be winners and losers in the health care debate and they have a choice to make between us and the insurance companies.
Last night, the House of Representatives made history by passing health care reform for all Americans. This legislation will rein in the power of big insurance companies and guarantee that all Minnesotans will get the same health insurance as Congress.
An 8-against-1 match-up might seem unfair at first glance, but Rep. Bachmann can hold her own in the ring! 
Parry faces a worthy opponent in former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Palin is probably our most well known March Badness contestant this year. After she resigned as Governor of Alaska, Palin wrote a factually inaccurate book and became a Bachmann-esque national media personality. She made it to March Badness with a Hail Mary attempt to kill health care reform by spreading lies that it would create “
A new study by the Commonwealth Fund and the Center for American Progress Action Fund estimates that health care reform legislation will lead to greater savings than the Congressional Budget Office had predicted. While the CBO does not score savings from prevention, modernization, and payment reform, this study uses a more inclusive analysis, according to the 
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