health care for all north carolina

Given the recent activities of the North Carolina Senate, cowing to the real estate agents, I have little hope that they will stand up for the working class in North Carolina. The working class are those who are most hard hit by being uninsured and underinsured, it's not the guy making $80,000 a year who decides not to be insured. It's the guy that has two kids and is working a full-time blue collar job. The guy who has seen his winter heat bill quadruple, his gas bill triple, his food bill double, and his health insurance costs grow steeper and steeper for less and less coverage. Those are the people that we need to help in North Carolina. Unfortunately, they don't have big-time paid lobbyists like BCBS. But, they do have a voice.

Another informative email list that I belong to is the "Quote of the Day" from the Physicians for a National Health Plan, of which Health Care for All NC is the North Carolina chapter. I'm going to post the highlights of today's Quote of the Day, which shows the full hypocrisy of the health care industry in action.

The Quote of the Day for October 31, 2007 was from a Modern Healthcare article, "Universal healthcare crosses the partisan divide," which mentioned that many attendees at the meeting of the Health Industry Group Purchasing Association seemed to believe that, "Like it or not, within the next few years the U.S. is going to have a nationwide, single-payer system." Following is a response to that article, and two responses to the response.

From the New York Times, via the RWJF Health Insurance Coverage, we find that the Congressional Research Service has finished a study that says 21 states will run out of money to fund their Children's Health Insurance Program during the coming year if Congress continues spending at current levels.

The result?

States, unsure of federal money, are drafting contingency plans in case it runs short.

Officials in charge of the child health program in California said Tuesday that they were adopting rules to allow the state to create a waiting list and to remove some of the 1.1 million children already on the rolls.

“The stalemate in Washington is having a real impact on children here,” said Lesley S. Cummings, executive director of the agency that runs the child health program in California. “Given continued uncertainty, we will have to start dropping children from the program — 64,000 a month, starting in January — to save money. This is getting less and less hypothetical.”

Photo from the original NYTs article after the break, showing the 21 states who will run out of funds including our own North Carolina.

Hi all, two updates.
1. We have already had about 60 people RSVP for the event!!!

2. To clear up a misunderstanding, we are not funded by a powerful right-wing think tank, so the pizza will NOT be on the house : (
Perhaps when BlueNC starts generating Daily Kos-like advertising revenue we will be able to host events like this. In the meantime....

Greetings Health Care Fans!
Consider this your formal invitation to join Health Care for All North Carolina, the Orange County Democratic Party, and the John Edwards One Corps for A Night on the Town with Sicko.

What: Dinner and a Show
Where: The Varsity Theater in beautiful downtown Chapel Hill, NC followed by an informal gathering at Pepper's Pizza just a few doors down (it's all about the walkability).
When: Sunday, July 15th, starting at 4:20pm
RSVP: Email me so we can have a head count for DINNER.

The event will start with Rep. Verla Insko giving a brief introduction to the state of health care legislation in the state of North Carolina. Mental Health Parity, High Risk Pool, Health Care for All, and more.

Following the movie, at 6:30pm, we'll meander down Franklin Street to Pepper's Pizza for some great food and atmosphere and to talk about THE NEXT STEP. It might be the end of the event, but it's just the beginning of the battle.

Recently, a group of activists had the chance to discuss "non-profit education of legislators" with a Raleigh lobbyist. His suggestions:

1. Each legislator must be contacted at least ten times to stir interest.
2. The legislative assistants receive the emails and pass on those of interest.
3. The content of the message is secondary to having each SUBJECT LINE being informative and THE SAME.

In light of this advice, I'm giving y'all this LINK. This link will open your email browser and create a new message, address it to the MASS EMAIL HOUSE list that each legislator receives, give you a subject line, and BCC it to me. From there, you can cut and paste what I wrote below the break, which I sent in a similar letter, or you can write your own information.

See, wasn't that easy?