verla insko

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.

I suspect that some of you know the mysterious pundit-turned-public-prosecutor, Joe Sinsheimer, but I don't. All I know about him is what I've read and heard over the past year. For example, Joe was featured this week on the State of Things (WUNC radio), which was reported by the Dome Blog today.

Sinsheimer first showed up on my radar in relation to Jim Black. He was on the case early and relentlessly, a bulldog, so to speak. He's often sought out by the MSM reporters, perhaps because he has a way of forcing dialog and putting elected officials on the spot.

His next foray into Democratic house-cleaning involved Representative Wright, where he called early and often for investigations and action. He apparently sent a letter to Speaker Hackney and, for whatever reason, Hackney felt compelled to respond. (I'm jealous. Hackney never answers my letters.)

And now Joltin' Joe is on a new trail of corruption, as evidenced by his calling out Verla Insko. Here's the text of the letter he sent Verla, posted on Squeeze the Pulp.

that isn't as stupid as the shrub's plan is all right with me. I've plugged Verla Insko's Health Care for All bill, and the National Health Insurance Act (HR 676), and cheered almost any reform idea that comes along, because any step in the right direction is a start.

In an opinion piece that came out today, Phil Mattera of the Corporate Research Project asks,

"Why are we keeping a hopeless, for-profit health insurance system alive?"

You can read and comment on his article here.

Mattera opines on what each of several political figures want to do about health care reform, but basically all he says about John Edwards is that Edwards wants to tax the upper class to help the uninsured. I think Mattera has overlooked the most important features of what John Edwards is proposing to do, and how it could lead to phasing out private insurance companies' involvement with health care. Edwards recognizes that it's just not politically viable for us to jump straight to National Health (a la the United Kingdom or Canada). At this point in time, the insurance lobby is just not going to let fully nationalized health care happen, and Edwards knows that. What he calls for is to have both at the same time; consumers[I hate that word] people can individually choose between private health insurance or public health insurance, but everyone will be required to have one or the other. Because public health, like Medicare, will be more efficient, the insurance companies, in competition with public health, will have to streamline, tighten up, and (though Edwards doesn't say) accept more modest profits. Edwards sees this as a good way to transition, and his vision beyond is that eventually the people will vote on whether to keep a dual system or go fully to National Health. (It'll be a no-brainer.)

Dear friends,

Once again I'm asking you to take action to fix our broken health care system.