time for us to push the politicians

FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE'S CONTACT INFO HERE: congressional directory

the white house switchboard is: 202-456-1414

Well it is now one of those times when every one of us needs to do our civic duty and take part in our democracy. A couple quick phone calls is all that is called for.

As we have been witnessing, the politicians in Washington have been debating what to do about our health care system for some time now. We have now been told that both the Senate and House bills will include a public option.

It is a weak, watered down, innefficient version (single payer would be much better of course) but we must put the pressure on to keep the public option and to support some of the progressive ammendments like Bernie Sander's state single payer option.

Know that without a public option rates are likely to go up! The legislation is forcing companies to take preexisting conditions, cover pregnancy, etc. The companies have said this will make them raise rates so they can continue their obscene profits.

Also it is requiring everyone get insurance and without a public option the tax payers will be paying the private insurance companies to insure the people who cannot afford it.

There is going to be a lot of pressure being put on those in congress by the insurance industry and conservative groups and we need to balance that with pressure from the citizens for whom health care reform is intended.

Of course there will be lots of debate and there are many ammendments to be considered - ranging from single payer bills from the left to who knows what from the right. So bottom line we still do not know what we will end up with.

What is important right now is that we all call our representatives and tell them how we want them to vote. Ask them to take a stand for single payer if you want, but most importantly, if you believe in having a public option then tell them you will be watching how they vote very carefully and that we need a STRONG PUBLIC OPTION.

You can also call Harry Reed and thank him for including a public option in the Senate bill, it was not a given that he would do that, it was key that he did, and he is taking heat from the senators who represent the corporations and not the people for doing it.

FIND YOUR REPRESENTATIVE'S CONTACT INFO HERE: congressional directory

also call the white house and tell them you want Obama to use his leadership to push hard for a strong public option.

the white house switchboard is: 202-456-1414