With Labor Day rapidly approaching and the Congressional recess coming to an end, we're experiencing the most explosive, critical debate on healthcare reform in our nation's history. This Labor Day, nothing is more critical to working families than seeing real progress on healthcare reform.

No one knows better than working families and healthcare providers the mounting cost of inaction--and the stakes just keep getting higher. Employer-sponsored health coverage for families has increased by 119 percent between 1999 and 2008 and rates could jump by 94 percent (to $23,842 per family) in the coming decade if cost growth continues on its current course.

Every Week that Health Insurance Reform is Delayed:

* 44,230 more people will lose their health insurance coverage
* 16,653 more people will file for bankruptcy because they can't pay their medical bills
* As many as 423 people will die because they lack health coverage

"Access to quality affordable health care should be a right, not a privilege," said Kenioun Williams, a youth minister at Greater First Baptist in Helena, Arkansas. "We live in the richest country in the world and need to do better for the least among us. Something must be done to control skyrocketing premiums, and the time is now to pass health insurance reform." The bottom line is simple: we cannot restore economic balance and bring prosperity to all Americans without drastically bringing down healthcare costs and ensuring that all Americans have access.

Concerns and fears about healthcare reform are tainting peaceful dialogues and crippling efforts by Congress and the White House Administration to fix the U.S. healthcare crisis. And so as members of Congress head back to Washington, DC after the recess, we need to make sure they hear loud and clear that health insurance reform must happen this year. Join the fight for health reform by attending a send-off rally.

« For a listing of events being held on Labor Day, Monday, September 7th by SEIU and HCAN, click here.