Talking Points: What to tell Congress during their August recess

The message below is the result of a collaborative effort among Archimedes Movement Community Leadership Council members and staff. Members of Congress are holding town hall meetings all over the country in August. We're maintaining a list of the Oregon ones here. 

Now is the time to share your views on health reform.

We have the opportunity to influence the proposals being considered in Congress today. We must take action and not lose this opportunity to overcome well-funded special interest efforts to maintain the financially disabling status quo that undermines sustainable health reform. Everyday more and more people are being denied access or have limited access.

Scare tactics abound, such as the specter of a "government takeover of health care," which ignores the fact we currently enjoy several immensely popular government-run programs, including Medicare and health care for veterans. It is crazy to hear someone say, "keep your government hands off of my Medicare" when the reason Medicare runs so efficiently is because it's a government-run program. Special interests want to play on people's fears, and we need our leaders to know that we are not afraid. We are demanding change.

Staying the course ensures a deepening crisis, more Americans losing their health insurance and more businesses struggling to stay competitive while burdened with rising health insurance costs. 

The Archimedes Movement urges you, during the August recess and when Congress reconvenes in the early fall, to let your congressman and senators know how important this issue is to you, to your community, to your state.  

We offer the following points to assist you when you contact them:

The Archimedes Movement supports comprehensive health reform that would accomplish the following:

• Every U.S. resident will have access to a clearly defined set of essential health services.
• Has clearly stated objectives to:
  
  • Improve the overall health of the population,
  • Reduced per-capita costs, and
  • Improve the individual's experience in terms of clinical outcomes, patient safety and patient satisfaction.

• Provide and promote prevention, health education, and wellness services.
• Reduce and eventually eliminate disparities in terms of access to care and health outcomes between people of differing socioeconomic and demographic status. 
• Transform the delivery system to provide greater access to effective primary care and chronic disease management, linking specialty care with primary care providers.
• Develop and implement Electronic Health Records to promote and support evidence-based decisions and improved efficiency of health care delivery.
• Change the business models within our health care system so that health care providers are rewarded for keeping us healthy and out of the hospital and not for adding unnecessary visits, additional tests and more fee for service procedures.
• Include a competitive publicly-funded insurance option that gives Americans an affordable and fair choice of health plans. 
• Explicitly acknowledge that public resources are finite. Some people may be able to purchase services that are beyond those provided as part of the "essential health services" available to all residents, and they should be allowed to do so. But the "essential health services" must be sufficient to meet the basic health care needs of all individuals and families.

When opponents question whether we can afford the cost of reform two things are important to note:

1) Any analysis of costs should include the long-term savings that would be derived from having a healthier population. We are being given distorted reports of the cost of the proposed reforms. By focusing solely on the federal portion of health care costs, while not looking at the savings we could gain from prevention, chronic care management and health delivery system redesign efforts, the message is not getting out that health reform will actually lower our costs long term. In addition, the savings from avoiding forced medical bankruptcies, lost wages, lost production and unnecessary pain and suffering inflicted on families only adds more compelling reasons that we must pass comprehensive and effective fundamental health care reform.

2) The investment of $1 trillion over ten years to rebuild our health system will be money well-invested compared to the approximately $2.5 trillion we now spend every year in a very inefficient system.  Spending an additional $100 billion per year is a bargain if it can deliver the shared vision of a healthy productive nation while lowering our overall costs. We believe that this is every bit as important – even more so – than the money we have spent on bailing out the banks, mortgage lenders, and automakers. 

Improving access to care and the quality of health in this nation is an absolute essential prerequisite for improving our nation's economy, education, and environment. It is as an investment in our shared future and well-being. We can't afford to ignore our health.

Let Congress know that you stand behind legislation that leads to comprehensive health care reform and a healthier future.