The Blair House Project

PREVENT A HORROR-MOVIE ENDING: PASS HEALTH REFORM NOW!

Healthcare advocates expect excessively shaky camera work at Thursday’s high-stakes meetings, to be held at the Blair House in Washington. Will our leaders break the political impasse to bring about real health care reform? Or will they sentence lifesaving legislation to permanent banishment in the woods?

During Thursday’s nationally televised summit on health reform, President Obama and congressional leaders must chart a course out of the political thicket obstructing final passage for health reform legislation.  The hopes of tens of millions of uninsured Americans—and tens of millions more who will surely lose affordable coverage—rests in the outcome of this meeting. 

Contact Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid NOW and urge them to do whatever it takes to pass comprehensive health reform through budget reconciliation.  Call them—and your own members of Congress toll-free at: 1 (800) 828-0498. Go to www.congress.org to find out who represents you.

In addition, call the White House comment line 1 (202) 456-1414 NOW and leave this message: “The President must exert strong leadership to achieve final passage of health reform through budget reconciliation.  Starting over is not a path that will result in a strong bill.  Finish the job now.”

Separate bills passed in both the House and Senate would result in a minimum 100,000 low-income and uninsured HIV-positive individuals gaining access to Medicaid insurance coverage for the very first time.  More highly regulated group and individual insurance markets would end insurance discrimination against people with HIV and other chronic conditions.  Federal subsidies would help make mandated insurance coverage more affordable for middle-class consumers, and out-of-pocket spending caps in the bill would help prevent bankruptcies that too often result when catastrophic injury or illness strike.  

While less comprehensive than the House-passed bill, the Senate bill would reduce the amount of uncovered medication expenses within the so-called donut hole in Medicare Part D.  The bill would allow AIDS Drug Assistance Program expenditures to count toward individuals' out-of-pocket obligations in Medicare Part D.  The federal government would also invest $15 billion in prevention and wellness activities and mandate insurance companies to coordinate with Ryan White-funded providers.

The White House is posting online today its version of the bill, which the President will discuss at the healthcare summit.  Finalizing passage of health reform via budget reconciliation rules would require only simple majority votes to secure passage, thereby sidestepping threats of a Senate filibuster.

The time to pass health reform legislation is now.  Government leaders must hear from constituents that allowing health reform to disappear into the woodwork of the historic (haunted?) Blair House mansion is an ending no one wants to see.  Make your calls now!