The claim that health care reform would harm seniors isn't anything new. In recent months, Republicans have refused to back away from the cynical politics of scaring seniors and claiming reform will make premiums skyrocket for traditional Medicare recipients. A new coalition - Seniors to Seniors -- seeks to provide a clear and concise overview of health reform and what it means for you.

This coalition of senior citizen advocacy organizations (including AARP, Families USA and SEIU) is working to educate seniors about what the current health care reform legislation means for them. The coalition's goal is to help filter through the hype and all the clutter to inform seniors about how health insurance reform will help keep doctors in Medicare, stop physician payment cuts, improve long term care choices, keep Medicare affordable, and close the prescription drug "doughnut hole."

CIR/SEIU Healthcare President Dr. L Toni Lewis, MPO Loretta Johnson and Linda Bock, RN of 1199SEIU Maryland, all appear in the coalition's new video about health reform. Watch here:

The changes Congress is considering would protect Medicare for today's seniors and for future generations, so all Americans can have the health coverage they need when they retire. Learn more at www.seniorstoseniors.org.

More about the House's passage of H.R. 3962, "The Affordable Health Care for America" Act" on Nov. 7th here.

Last week, Democratic Rep. Russ Carnahan's health care town hall in St. Louis, Missouri turned violent after conservative right-wing protesters clashed with pro-reform union workers. On MSNBC's "The Ed Show," Dr. L Toni Lewis, President of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), discusses SEIU's ongoing efforts to keep the focus of town halls on the need for health care reform.

Fact check on St. Louis town hall here.

Tonight at 6:15 p.m. (EDT), CIR/SEIU Healthcare President Dr. L Toni Lewis will be live on the Ed Show on MSNBC to discuss the ongoing healthcare town halls. She will discuss how SEIU members, from Louisiana to North Carolina to President Obama's event today in New Hampshire have pledged to keep the focus on the need for reform.

Fact check on the St. Louis town hall: For clarity on what happened at last week's Missouri healthcare town hall meeting, visit http://www.seiu.org/a/healthcare/truth-about-what-happened-in-missouri.php

In union news this week...

• Disability service workers at the Ulster-Greene ARC in New York State voted overwhelmingly to join SEIU Local 200United over the weekend. These 600 workers provide services to more than 1,000 people with developmental disabilities-- epilepsy, traumatic brain injury, autism, Down syndrome and cerebral palsy, to name just a few.

• On Friday, SEIU hosted a myth-busting conference call with HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and thousands of SEIU members across the country. "This is our moment in history and we don't want to look back and say 'if only we had...'" said Sebelius, urging SEIU members to attend local health care town hall meetings and spread the word that those supporting reform need to write letters to their Congressperson or Senator "so our representatives know we need healthcare reform this year."

• Just eight months after U.S. creditors pulled its credit lines and forced the 100 year-old company whose employees make suits for President Obama to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the Hartmarx purchase is (finally!) finalized...thanks largely to the efforts of Workers United members, who saved the company--and their jobs.

• SEIU 32BJ's Training Fund has developed the first-ever Green Buildings Initiative to train building superintendents in the latest, state-of-the-art, best practices in energy efficiency to foster the greening of NYC's buildings.

• Andy Stern discusses healthcare reform with Roland Martin on the Tom Joyner Morning Show.

• "Fixing our country's health care system is a pressing issue for every American, but it's of critical importance to communities of color," writes CIR/SEIU Healthcare President Dr. L Toni Lewis and SEIU Healthcare Chair Dennis Rivera in a guest op-ed on BlackAmericaWeb.com entitled "Why We Need Healthcare Reform Now."

• The NY Times publishes an op-ed by Dr. L Toni Lewis honoring journalist Sidney Zion's work to uncover the connection between hospital staff hours and medical errors.

• The 1021 NewsWire and other SEIU Local 1021 publications win a total of six awards for excellence in writing, design and production from the International Labor Communications Association (ILCA). Congrats!

Things are turning ugly. Town halls, which typically serve as open, safe environments to ask questions of elected officials, have degenerated into violent shouting matches.

Last night in St. Louis, Missouri, a reverend and member of SEIU was assaulted at a town hall. The incident, along with a town hall in Tampa, Florida, has been all over the radio and cable news shows. GOP operatives are rushing to paint it as SEIU "thug" violence. That couldn't be further from the truth.

Watch the video with footage from these events: http://action.seiu.org/townhall

Cable news channels are broadcasting images of neighbors turning against one another in chaotic, sometimes frightening town hall meetings. Incited by extremist radio and TV hosts, "teabagger" protesters are yelling and chanting talking points that span from radicalism to racism.

Enough is enough. Click here to sign a pledge for civil, honest debates about health care reform: http://action.seiu.org/townhall

It is extremely discouraging to see people treating one another like this. And it's a reminder of how GOP scare-tactics ("the government will kill the elderly,!" "the government will choose your doctors!" or "the government will ration care!") use fear to overpower the truth.

We are at a turning point. To succeed, we will continue to elevate this conversation, distinguish ourselves from the opposition, and speak to our fellow Americans with respect and dignity. Where we disagree, we'll invite discussion. And when we agree, we'll work together toward a solution.

That's the only way we're going to solve our nation's health care crisis. When it comes to quality, affordable health care, the stakes are too high to let shouting run the show.

Thanks for standing up.

When was the last time you got a paycheck for $9,600?

If it was last pay period, the health care reform bill in Congress may not be for you. But if you're one of the 98% of Americans who make less than $250,000 every year, you stand to save a lot of money.

The health care reform bill being voted on in the House this week will save you up to$2,200 per year. It would have people who make more than a quarter of a million dollars help pay for reform by rolling back Bush's tax cuts for the rich.

The bill is headed for a vote in the next 48 hours. Click here to write a letter to your representative and urge them to pass historic health reform so you can save money.

For decades, giant corporations have refused to pay their fair share of rising health care costs. All the while, workers, small business owners, and our families have picked up their tab.

We can change that. But we've got to act now. Click here to tell Congress it's time everyone - even millionaires - did their part to fix health care.

This bill guarantees us quality, affordable health care. It will cover the uninsured and significantly lower the costs for those of us who have insurance. Let's pass this bill, so we can lower ours.

A new blog, www.examinebarnabas.org, was launched last week to help the Bronx community get the full story about St. Barnabas Hospital, a 461-bed acute care hospital and Level I Trauma Center that thousands of patients depend on for critical care.

Given St. Barnabas's declining revenue, the resident physicians at the hospital are concerned certain members of the staff are being paid excessively high salaries--for example, the top 5 executives at St. Barnabas Hospital received aggregate pay increases of 35% between 2002 and 2007. So if St. Barnabas executives got raises, it must mean they deserved it because they improved the hospital's financial performance, right? Not quite.

A quick look at the hospital's financial statements over the past four years suggests that financial performance is getting worse, not better. In 2008 alone, St. Barnabas posted a loss of $10 million on hospital operations and additional $30 million loss on investments.

Between 2005 and 2007, St. Barnabas ex-CEO Ronald Gade's post-retirement yearly salary of $1.2 million per year would have made him one of the highest-paid hospital employees in New York City. Yet this was the salary Gade received when he was no longer even employed with the hospital--rather, this was the yearly payment he received as a consultant in 2005, 2006, and 2007.

So who pays the price for executive raises? While St. Barnabas executives have been receiving increases, they have used the hospital's declining financial performance as a reason to cut back on benefits and health coverage offered to hard-working health care professionals at St. Barnabas. (Here are copies of memos to employees announcing benefits cuts.)

In a letter sent last week to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, CIR President Dr. Nailah Thompson asked for an investigation of executive pay at the struggling Bronx hospital. Hospitals like St. Barnabas are essential to the health of the communities they serve--and the hospital's revenue is largely thanks to the public, as this is the type of funding most of the hospital's revenue is derived from. The question is, how much of American taxpayers' dollars are executives keeping for themselves? "With so much of our economy in flux, now more than ever, the people of New York need to be reassured that the institutions we rely on are worthy of the trust that we put into them," said Dr. L. Toni Lewis, president of the Committee of Interns and Residents.

"Examining St. Barnabas" will provide information and commentary about the hospital's fiscal health, executive salaries and patient satisfaction. The blog will also follow the hospital's efforts to expand to new areas of the Bronx, as well as seek input from site visitors. What do you think about millionaire "non-profit" CEOs in the Bronx? Visit www.examinebarnabas.org and share your thoughts.

Members of the healthcare, hip-hop and progressive community sat together on a "HealthCare Remix" panel on Wednesday to discuss the state of healthcare reform and how to raise awareness of the urgency of the problem.

Watch highlights from the discussion:

Read more about the "Healthcare Remix" panel here and here.

Update: new video added. Watch it here

Today's hip-hop "Healthcare Remix" panel discussion at SEIU's headquarters in Washington, DC shed a bright light on the need for healthcare reform that does more than just expand insurance coverage--and why it is imperative that every community has a voice at the decision-making table. The event was held in honor of J Dilla, an influential hip-hop MC and producer whose rising star was cut short by complications stemming from his battle with Lupus.

Panelists spoke on the tremendous need for the hip-hop and artist community to advocate publicly on the need for healthcare reform, both in their communities and on Capitol Hill. "Hip-hop understood the power of being organized and the power of collaboration and diversity in organizing before it became the [more mainstream] term it is today. Unions understand this too," said panel moderator CIR/SEIU Healthcare president Dr. L Toni Lewis. "What you have is your voice to let Congress know what needs to done for healthcare equality today."

"Our people--poor people--are dying in America today because they don't have a card<," said Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., the president and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus of the millions of people whose suffering might have been prevented if they had been able to afford to receive the life-saving care they needed. Watch Rev. Yearwood speak about the biggest battle facing our generation in the 21st century:

Check out photos from the Healthcare Remix discussion here.

$1.4 million dollars per day.

That's how much the health care industry is spending to lobby against President Obama's health care reform plan, according to the Washington Post. They know they don't have the support of the American people, so they've resorted to buying their way into the debate with record amounts of spending on lobbying and political activities.

And now that Congress is moving on a specific legislation, our opponents are redoubling their efforts. We need to be there to meet them head-on.

Will you make sure the true voice of the majority is heard? Call Congress and tell them to support a plan that makes health care affordable for everyone: 1-800-603-SEIU (7348)

As SEIU members, our calls are especially important right now. Industry lobbyists may have deep pockets, but they can't talk about health care the same way we can. They don't understand what it's like to live this crisis every day - and to have our family members, our friends, and our neighbors struggling to provide decent care for themselves and their loved ones, too.

We get it and we need to make sure Congress gets it, too. Call your member of Congress right now: 1-800-603-SEIU

Today, SEIU is coordinating thousands of calls across the country in support of a plan for affordable health care. I hope you'll take 5 minutes to be a part of it by calling 1-800-603-SEIU and telling your member of Congress to fix health care now.

P.S. - After your call, you can let us know how it went by filling out our brief report back form: http://action.seiu.org/page/s/hcreportback. We'll use the information from your reports to help plan the next stages of our campaign.

This Wednesday, SEIU is hosting a discussion at our headquarters on how health care reform can prevent the kind of financial stress and hardship J Dilla's loved ones--the Yancey family--has endured due to the high cost of medical treatment.

WHO: Mr. Malik "Phife Dawg" Taylor, member of A Tribe Called Quest & Diabetes patient; Ms. Maureen "Ma Dukes" Yancey, J Dilla's mother; Dr. L Toni Lewis, President of Committee of Interns & Residents/SEIU; Reverend Lennox Yearwood, Hip Hop Caucus; Casey-Rae Hunter, Future of Music Coalition

WHAT: Roundtable discussion about health care reform and its implications for individuals in the arts and beyond.

WHERE: SEIU International Headquarters
1800 Massachusetts Ave
Washington, DC 20036

WHEN: Wednesday, July 8th 1 - 2 PM

If you're interested in attending, please contact healthcareremix@gmail.com

Presented by SEIU, LFAGW & Hedrush Entertainment, the 4th Annual J Dilla Tribute & Fundraiser will take place that same night at Liv Niteclub in Washington, DC at 9pm. This is a free event, but donations are encouraged. To RSVP, visit http://dilladc09.eventbrite.com/.

Sitting among the insurance executives, business leaders, and Washington lobbyists in the audience of yesterday's roundtable on health care reform were a handful of frontline caregivers from SEIU. They came from across the country to be on Capitol Hill yesterday, and they served as a powerful reminder of the people the debate over health care reform is really about - patients and their caregivers.

Two SEIU Healthcare leaders - Dr. L. Toni Lewis, MD and Cathy Stoddart, RN - took notes on their time in Washington and offered to share their perspective as caregivers. For Dr. Lewis, the importance of yesterday's hearing set in before she even arrived on Capitol Hill:

On the way to the Senate, we were talking about health care reform - sharing our thoughts on how we KNOW it's happening this year because so many people are so committed to it. Our cab driver, Germaine, asks if he can share his story. He tells us that he is 64, works more than 12 hours a day and still can't afford health care - Germaine has diabetes, and the cost of his supplies, medications and follow up are overwhelming. Mind you, Germaine is not upset - he understands hard work and appreciates that - he is glad to tell us his story. Germaine believes that we are getting ready to get this done - so he gives us an encouraging smile as we leave the cab and enter the Senate building.

In the hearing, Cathy Stoddart was encouraged by many of the senators' serious commitment to fixing health care:

Senator Menendez rocks! He did not mince words, which I think the American public are tired of. He asked straightforward questions and focused on the fact that the time is now - and that no one assembled was against reforming health care.

Senator Schumer was right on, too. He talked about the playing field for a public health insurance option vs. present private insurance plans. He talked about the lack of trust Americans have in private insurance companies and how they have been the gatekeepers of access to care; they are, in essence, rationing care for my low and middle income patients.

The discussion left Dr. Lewis excited that we're finally talking about true health care and not the "sick care" that our current system promotes:

I loved the fact that there was a discussion not only on coverage, but also on oral health, home care, end of life care, prevention and wellness, and primary care. We're actually talking about comprehensive coverage!

Both Toni and Cathy agreed that the people who need to be leading the movement to fix health care aren't the ones in Washington - it's the caregivers at the bedside. Cathy summed it up well:

There is something about returning someone to health so that they, too, can contribute to a better society. It feels good; it's a legacy to be proud of. It is what people deserve and it is why I become a nurse. We have a big role to play in this movement. We've all got to put our hand in and steer it in the right direction.

All over America this April, thousands are mobilizing their members of Congress to pass quality, affordable healthcare for all in 2009. Members of the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare (CIR) have been participating in in-district health care reform events during the Congressional spring recess. Several events took place over the past week in New Jersey, New York and New Mexico.

On Tuesday, small business owners, workers, consumers and leaders in the movement to fix health care packed the room at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Montclair, NJ for a town hall meeting. Attendees shared personal stories of the struggles they face in obtaining good quality, affordable health insurance for themselves, their families and in some cases, their employees. CIR Regional Vice President Dr. Snehal Bhatt and Dr. Michael Nagar, a pathology resident at Robert Wood Johnson, represented CIR at the forum. Other attendees included Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ), member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on Health, and SEIU New Jersey State Council Director David McCann. Photos of the event here.

In New York, members of the Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU Healthcare (CIR), 1199SEIU and SEIU Local 32BJ joined more than 20 other local and national organizations to discuss healthcare reform with Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) at a roundtable and press conference on April 13. During the discussion moderated by L. Toni Lewis, M.D., CIR Director, the Senator agreed to support an affordable public health insurance option with comprehensive benefits, access for all including immigrants, and which adopts the House budget reconciliation process to achieve goals in spending.

Read more about the event. Photos here.

In New Mexico on April 9, CIR helped organize a 500-person rally and dance party in support of health care reform at Albuquerque's Tiguex Park. CIR National President Dr. Toni Lewis and Secretary-Treasurer Dr. Elizabeth Burpee both spoke at the event, "Salsa to Save Lives," emphasizing the need for health care reform from a doctor's perspective, healthcare disparities, and the public insurance option. Legislative staff representing the voices of four of the five members of the New Mexico congressional delegation--Sens. Bingman, Udall, and Reps. Heinrich and Lujan--also spoke at the event. Rally participants called members of Congress on their cell phones to support the public option and health care reform.

We have a narrow window of opportunity to take a big step toward fixing health care. But it has to happen today.

Congress is getting ready to re-introduce a bill that would extend health insurance to more than 4 million children currently without coverage. It's the same bill that was supported by Democrats and Republicans in 2007, but vetoed by President Bush.

Will you call your members of Congress and urge them to support the reauthorization and strengthening of the children's health insurance program? Click here to get connected to your representative: www.seiu.org/kidshealth

Beginning this week, SEIU health care professionals, leaders and members will hold discussions with the Obama transition team about making comprehensive, affordable health care a reality for everyone in America. "Take the momentum of the win from election and actually turn it into change that works," said Dr. L. Toni Lewis, President of SEIU's Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR).

Submit your information and ideas directly to the transition team or sign up to host your own health care reform discussions.