For more than 14 months, SEIU's online activists took action every day for health reform. On numerous occasions, online activists were asked to call and write their members of Congress in support of reform. But the work didn't end there. Throughout the campaign, online activists worked as muckrakers, debunking the avalanche of misinformation that sometimes blanketed the media and public debate. We also advocated for specific enhancements to the legislation, through our "I am not a pre-existing condition" campaign to expose gender inequities in health care coverage.

We wanted to revisit the series of small victories that led up to a big win for America. There's no doubt that health care reform represents the first major piece of legislation passed through a groundswell of online activism.

1. Confirming Sebelius: In March 2009, one unidentified Republican Senator was single-handedly blocking the confirmation of HHS nominee Kathleen Sebelius from moving forward. While Republicans had effectively shutdown the process, the first cases of H1N1 were being discovered in states across the country - and panic was spreading fast. Thousands of SEIU online activists responded, by signing a petition demanding action on confirming an HHS Secretary. Our Google ads and petition drive received nationalmedia attention, and helped pressure Republican Senators to remove their anonymous "hold" on this position.

2. Sinking Swift-Boats: Last spring, groups opposing health insurance reform were spending millions on attack ads chock full of distortions and half-truths about reform. The worst offender? Rick Scott. Health reform advocates pressured television networks to thoroughly fact-check Scott's statements - both in interviews and when deciding whether to broadcast his ads. The effort paid off.

One of the popular "swift-boat" refrains was to equate U.S. health reform with Canada's health system. We fought back with humor.

3. Calling Out Republican Misinformation: In June, Senators Chuck Grassley and others were relying on Lewin Group information to attack health reform. Using a tool on our site, online activists took to Twitter, slamming GOP senators for citing the Lewin Group as an "independent" source of information (yep, they're owned by an insurance company). Within days of our Twitter campaign, the Washington Post reported on the story and many in Congress stopped citing Lewin Group data.

4. "The Tweeter Becomes Tweeted." SEIU and Change that Works activists ran an online campaign that connected Iowans with Sen. Chuck Grassley on Twitter. TechPresident reported on the campaign, calling it a "creative" and "timely" way to advocate for reform. Iowa newspapers also reported on the campaign.

5. HAARM. In May 2009, the now-infamous Frank Luntz memo for Republican messaging on health reform leaked to the media. Luntz's memo included detailed instructions on how to scare the beejeezus out of Americans, and became the blueprint for the opposition's campaign. We read the memo, and decided to parody Luntz's tactics with a fake organization, Healthy Americans Against Reforming Medicine (HAARM).

6. "I am not a pre-existing condition." The t-shirt says it all.

(Our breaking news blog post on domestic violence as a pre-existing condition in 8 states and DC also ranked as the SEIU Blog's top read post in 2009, period).

7. Whipping Votes. Online activists and SEIU members made hundreds of thousands of calls to Congress on the days leading up to all three major health care votes (2 House, 1 Senate). Our conversations with House and Senate staff helped our team tally support on the Hill, and eventually pushed Congress toward finally passing reform.

8. Busting the Filibuster. In November, Sens. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) had each been targeted by the opposition to join a Republican filibuster on health care reform. In response, SEIU launched our "Adopt-a-State" campaign to reach out to constituents of Senators who may not support a cloture vote. Online activists participated in a phone bank for more than 55,000 voters in these "health care swing states," talking to constituents in these states about why its important to have an up-or-down vote on reform.

Joe Lieberman was a special case. In the weeks leading up to the Senate vote, Sen. Lieberman took a hardline "it's my way or the highway" approach to health insurance reform, refusing to vote for any bill with a public option (as well as Medicare expansion, which he had supported only months before). SEIU launched a petition telling Lieberman not to hold health reform hostage, pointing back to the year 1995 when Sen. Joe Lieberman introduced legislation to abolish the filibuster.

More than 10,000 activists signed it, and members of the Connecticut faith community also staged a candlelight vigil outside his home in Connecticut.

9. Giving thanks for reform. Last Thanksgiving, SEIU joined Organizing for America and Minnesota SEIU in posting Facebook and Twitter messages about why we're thankful for healthcare reform, tacking on #hcr to the end of tweets. Here is an example message of what reform supporters posted:

I'm thankful that w/ health insurance reform, I won't be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. http://bit.ly/64c97T Pls RT #hcr

10. SEIU Exposes Limbaugh's Hypocrisy. Limbaugh used his own emergency hospital visit to declare to the world that the U.S. health care system is "working just fine."

On the SEIU Blog, we noted that the care Limbaugh deemed "the best that the world has to offer" was courtesy of a unionized nursing staff. Numerous online and television news sources including Keith Olbermann's Countdown, Politico, Huffington Post, Salon, Eschaton, The American Prospect, ThinkProgress, Media Matters, and FireDogLake picked up the story.

11. Virtual March for Health Care. On February 24, 2010, over a million people marched on Washington for health reform. SEIU members and online activists joined with MoveOn and Health Care for America NOW! for a massive, online day-of-action last month, at the same time several hundred spirited activists and union members on the ground in DC joined the last leg of Melanie's March from Union Station to Capitol Hill.

Both online and on the ground, well over one million voices advocating health insurance reform on were heard by members of Congress via phone calls, email messages, blog posts, faxes, social networking updates, and in-person visits as part of the Virtual March on Washington to urge lawmakers to get reform done.

12. 72 Hours to Rescue Reform. Our union has a reputation for bold leadership in times of crisis, and helping give Congress the political courage to finish the job on health reform was no exception.

In January 2010, SEIU members pledged to take one or more actions to speak out for health insurance reform, including calling or emailing members of Congress, writing a letter to the editor, posting on social networks, flyering their worksite, and recruiting friends and family to take part. The Locals who pledged the most actions were 1199WKO, 1199SEIU, 1000, 521 and 775. View the countdown here. By taking action in the days and weeks after Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts, SEIU members helped defeat the notion that health reform was "dead," and ultimately convince Congress to finish the job.

13. A Symbol to Organize Around. In the summer of 2009, SEIU partnered with Florida-based artist Derek Gores to create an image that captured and inspired the health care reform movement. Activists received posters and used the image at rallies - but the image also spread online.

When a simple message ("No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick spread like wildfire on Twitter and Facebook, many others posted the Derek Gores piece as their avatar--and some even made the "Uniquely American Solution" health care poster their own by adapting the image.

To offer health reform supporters something tangible, we also gave away hundreds of Gores' limited edition print on health care reform. Celebrate the passage of health care reform by reserving one for yourself today.