If you're going to call about HR3: a script via Sady Doyle

With a crappy piece of legislation like this - where the hate and cruelty are almost too much to bear - it helps to have a script when you're calling. Luckily, Sady Doyle provides one:

Sady Doyle - Script for Calling the Democrats Who Support HR3

I think it's still a little too long (staffers appreciate brevity) so I would cut it a little shorter, after you ask for the staffer who handles healthcare or women's issues:

1. Mention the bill # right away so it's at the top of the message: Hi, I'm calling to leave a comment about HR 3.

2. Tell the staffer what you want the Rep to do (again, so it's at the top of the message): Please oppose HR3.

3. Then boil it down to your top 3 bullets so they can summarize it for the legislator or the main staffer on this issue:

Going beyond Hyde, in an unprecedented way, HR 3 strips current rights from rape survivors, women and girls who need abortions.

HR 3 redefines rape to mean only sexual assault involving 'force' will be covered, contradicting existing statutes that already defines sexual assault. Sexual assault statistics and rape victim advocates show that 70% of rapes aren’t “forcible.”

HR3 also makes it much harder for women to purchase private insurance that may include abortion services, harder for companies to cover women who need abortions, and strengthens “conscience” clauses, which means doctors can refuse to provide critical reproductive medical care to women at any time. It is discriminatory.

4. Then give your contact information and let them know you expect a response: I look forward to hearing from the Congressman on this matter.

5. Thank them and hang up.

Pass it on.

dear GOP: help my friend get healthcare

Dear GOP:

I'm so glad you're concerned with the plight of the millions of American people (especially women) who are either under-insured or uninsured.  Seeing your concern during the Healthcare Summit yesterday prompted me to write you.  I'm actually hoping you can help a friend of mine.

She's a very hardworking woman and a rather wonderful friend.  (She makes the best hummus, ever!)  Like others in the financial services industry, she was laid off a few years ago from a multi-million dollar financial services firm in Chicago and she has only recently been able to find steady work as a sub-contractor for a federal gov't office. In the 3 years between her initial layoff and her contract work now, she has gone back to school and started her own business.  But when her rather generous severance package ran out, she had to give up COBRA coverage and purchase an individual healthcare insurance policy.

Then she ran into a few issues.  The economy got very soft and she needed to supplement her small income by working some uneven retail jobs.  I don't know if you know, but most hourly retail jobs don't pay benefits.  Her business wasn't really making a profit and her savings were dwindling.  Retail only paid her several hundred dollars a month and her expenses (rent, food, utilities, insurance) were eating the majority of her savings.  Pretty soon, her savings were gone.  So last year, she went on food stamps and reluctantly canceled her individual health insurance. Later that year, she was late with her rent and when her landlord started to make noises about eviction, she moved in with a friend with a spare room because she was literally steps away from being homeless.

You should know she discovered a lump, too.  She's had this lump for about a year now and has never had it checked.  Breast cancer is rampant in her family history.  She's working a full time job with this federal government office but only as a contractor, which doesn't offer benefits of any kind.  So even though she's earning some money, she has to put a lot of it into savings in order to get ready to move out - she can't live in her friend's spare room forever.  Anyway, the point is she hasn't gotten her lump checked.  It's still there.

I keep telling her there are public services in Illinois for breast screening for low income women (since she only earned $16,000.00 last year, I think she qualifies as low income.)  But she refuses because she doesn't want to get slammed with a preexisting condition when she finally gets managed care.  And now that flu season is still kicking around in Chicago, she's got this bad cough and her job won't let her take any days off so she's going into work sick.  It would be great if she could get a few antibiotics into her.

Can you help her?  It would be great if you could let her know that you guys have a plan to resolve her situation.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

A Concerned Friend

where cognitive dissonance rears its confused head

like every other morning, i'm watching GMA while i get dressed.
and, like every other morning, they are covering the latest happening in PObama's healthcare reform push. and, like every other morning, their coverage makes my head explode.

first, there's Stephanopoulous reviewing PObama's poll numbers; an ABC poll finds that folks are just about evenly split. 48% for; 48% against the way PObama has been handling this. (which i find a stupid question, anyway.) then george notices that the poll numbers get slightly worse when the dreaded Public Option is mentioned and that if PObama just dropped the Public Option then maybe his numbers would jump a couple of points, rightly or wrongly.

and this is when my head exploded.

rightly or wrongly?

why are we still acting like this healthcare reform fight is like who's running for senior class president in high school? rightly or wrongly, this isn't a popularity contest. rightly or wrongly, we seem to be in danger of caving into the demands of people whose demands have no bearing on reality or fact. rightly or wrongly, we are illogically ceding this fight to the really stupid masses who think that making their healthcare affordable will make their healthcare worse than it is now. rightly or wrongly, there is nothing worse than now.

i mean, rightly or wrongly, i CANNOT afford my healthcare.

rightly or wrongly, i have hobo mouth and will need an oral surgeon (who will be charging to my medical insurance) to extract two problematic teeth and, rightly or wrongly, the cost (nearly $6000) will almost certainly bankrupt me if i cannot think of some way to pay for it. rightly or wrongly, the bacterial infection in one tooth could spread if left untreated and could lead to nerve damage or worse.

you know, rightly or wrongly.

rightly or wrongly, without a public option, healthcare reform will be negligible.

healthcare dumb

Do not laugh at my question.

But...um, can anyone give me links to *really good* summaries/breakdowns/outlines of this healthcare reform thingy? Timelines, analysis, what have you.

I've been so buried in work and NewGuy, that I haven't devoted one single minute to forming a rational opinion on it.

And, really. I don't want to hear about how Obama is going to kill your grandma. I'm not that healthcare dumb.

So please, well-informed readers. Help me. (All 10 of you.)