In August, we took our message of health care reform to our elected officials during town halls all across the country, and they listened. But, now that they are back in Washington, they are again under the influence of the insurance industry, which is fighting hard to defeat real reform.

So now we need to take on the insurance industry! Today, SEIU members all over the country took part in the "Big Insurance: Sick of It" rallies hosted by MoveOn, HCAN and our other progressive allies. From LA to New York, members arrived at offices of major health insurance providers and demanded to know why they were standing in the way of health care reform.

MINNESOTA: Fifty SEIU members joined nearly 250 other activists in marching up to the doors of UnitedHealthcare. They presented their demands to UHC representatives, and staged a 15-minute die-in to bring home the point that insurance companies are truly killing Americans. Local member Tammy Brown, who participated in the protest, said, "Big insurance companies are a roadblock to reform. As long as they keeping reaping record profits, the rest of us will keep losing our raises, our health, and even our lives."

FLORIDA: A group of 60 people protested outside the headquarters of Hygeia, a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare Group. A delegation of eight protestors met with Hygeia representatives and presented them with their demands.

NORTH DAKOTA: Fifty local activists met with the Vice President of Corporate Communications for Blue Cross/ Blue Shield in Fargo, North Dakota. She promised that BCBS would respond to their demands in writing by Friday, and suggested they also meet with the company's CEO.

NEBRASKA: A small group of SEIU members and supporters, led by a local pastor, formed a prayer circle outside the offices of UnitedHealthcare. The pastor also tried to deliver the group's demands to UHC executives, but the staff locked the doors to the building and would not let him enter.

NEW YORK: About 500 people attended an event outside the UHC offices at 1 Penn Plaza. One of the speakers, a new member of 32BJ, recounted how he was forced to go into debt paying for his wife's cancer treatment. Recently, he finally received health insurance, which has allowed him to pay for her medication.

COLORADO: Over 150 people, including 40 SEIU members, protested outside the Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield building in Denver. Three of the participants shared their personal stories about being denied health insurance. Their stories were then underscored by a street theater demonstration that made the same point. The event culminated with three activists attempting to deliver the protestors' demands to BCBS officials. They were turned away at the front door.

CALIFORNIA: Up and down California, SEIU members joined with other activists to take the "Big Insurance: Sick of It" message to the offices of Wellpoint Blue Cross in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento. And in Santa Ana, United Healthcare got the same message. Over 700 participated in the actions including 265 SEIU members from locals in every division of the union.

Last Saturday, I attended a large health care reform rally in Fargo, North Dakota. The rally was attended by over 800 people, and featured a rousing speech by former state Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp and music by the popular regional band Low.

(picture courtesy of Joe Geinert)

One of the attendees, Rev. Carter Dary, ELCA spoke to us about why he believes health care reform must happen now:

I was struck by the polite shyness of the crowd. To a person, they were simply demanding that Congress get back to work on reforming our health care system. More than at any other event I've attended this past month, those people who are irredeemably opposed to health care reform seemed starkly out of place, gnashing their teeth in frustration.

(picture courtesy of Joe Geinert)

The message was clear, from stem to stern, from speaker to spectator - no matter the difficulty of the task ahead, Congress had to get back to work and press forward with health care reform.

You can see more pictures from the event here. Help us send Congress back to Washington with a clear directive on health care reform--take part in send-off rallies being held across the country.

Well, you can't say that Earl Pomeroy won't make good on a threat. Late last night, Rep. Pomeroy voted to keep denying coverage to 11% of North Dakota's residents. Late last night, Rep. Pomeroy effectively voted to keep levying a hidden health tax of roughly $1,000 on premiums on North Dakota's businesses and families as a direct result of subsidizing the uninsured.

I recognize that Medicare reimbursement rates for rural providers and hospitals - like those in North Dakota - are a concern. But Pomeroy is incorrect in saying that the bill would keep them as they are now. In the Health Insurance Exchange that is created by the American Affordable Health Choices Act, the public plan that Pomeroy is so adamant will prove harmful for North Dakota pays providers and hospitals Medicare rates plus 5% - and that's only for the first three years! After that, the plan begins negotiating with providers and hospitals for a payment rate. It could remain the same...or, what is more likely, it could increase! In fact, the American Medical Association, which has an even bigger interest in Medicare reimbursement rates than Earl Pomeroy, looked at the same bill he voted against...and endorsed it!

What's so harmful about that?

In North Dakota, small businesses comprise 81% of businesses in that state - but only 36% of those small businesses offer coverage to their workers, because of the crushing costs of coverage. A public option would allow those small businesses to take care of their workers and compete in today's economy.

What's so harmful about that?

In short, Earl Pomeroy voted against North Dakota's interests deep in the dark of night. The bright light of day shows his arguments for what they are, because nothing can be more harmful for the people of North Dakota than a health care system that defers and denies their dreams of success and security, a health care system that leaves over a tenth of its population uncovered and ill-treated, and shackles its economy in competitive chains.

Mr. Pomeroy, you can and must do better for the people of your state. A state and nation are waiting, but can ill afford it for much longer.

Below is the text of a message we sent out today. Please take a moment to write both Senator Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad to urge them to continue listening to us here in North Dakota:

It's hard to imagine how things could be worse these days: between unemployment, the financial crisis, and the state of healthcare, it's no secret that North Dakota is hurting.

But if you can believe it, there's a group that continues to fight ways to improve the lives of North Dakotans.  For years, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has done all it can to stop working people in North Dakota from getting ahead.

Click here to write to Senator Conrad and Senator Dorgan and tell them to continue listening to the needs of working people, not the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

What would North Dakota look like if the U.S. Chamber got its way through the years?  The picture isn't pretty.

• The U.S. Chamber opposed the minimum wage hike in 2007.  About $20 million would be generated for 48,000 North Dakotans resulting from the 2007 schedule for minimum wage increases, research shows.  The U.S. Chamber says they have "consistently opposed increasing the federal minimum wage."
• The U.S. Chamber opposed a bill to expand healthcare coverage for children.  5,460 North Dakotan children would gain from the 2009 healthcare initiatives, studies indicate.  The U.S. Chamber opposed a bill to expand
  healthcare coverage for millions of uninsured children.
• The U.S. Chamber consistently defends outsourcing jobs.  4,300 North Dakota jobs were lost to outsourcing in 2007 alone.  The U.S. Chamber says that there are "legitimate values in outsourcing" and that Americans are "short of skills."

The U.S. Chamber's been on the wrong side of so many issues important to North Dakota's families.  But that's just the beginning.

Just like they're going all out to stop healthcare reform, the U.S. Chamber is doing anything it can to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act - yesterday heir lead lobbyist warned of "Armageddon on Capitol Hill."

Click here to write to Senator Conrad and Senator Dorgan and tell them to continue listening to working people, not the greedy CEOs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

We need to make sure our senators know that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce doesn't have the best interests of our state in mind: just those of the same greedy CEOs that hurt our economy in the first place.

Click here to send a message now.

Thanks for writing to Senator Conrad and Senator Dorgan.  Your voice can make the difference.

In solidarity,

Ryan Nagle
North Dakota Change that Works
www.changethatworks.net/ND

Watch the video above as two North Dakotans make the case for quality, affordable health care reform for all.

North Dakota State Legislators Sen. Aaron Krauter, Sen. Carolyn Nelson, and Rep. Richard Holman signed onto a letter along with 700 state legislator from every state, to the President, HHS Secretary Sebelius and leaders of Congress, asking them to support key ingredients for real health care reform. Today, a delegation of legislators from around the nation will be on Capitol Hill to meet with the White House and deliver the letter.

State legislators are at the forefront of good health care reform with states like North Dakota looking for ways to implement health care reform through mechanisms like the State Office of Rural Health.

From the letter:

Key priorities for reform are reflected in recent state initiatives and public opinion polls which show that Americans want more choices and options for quality health care. Americans recognize that the private sector alone has proven incapable of creating a high-quality, fair, and accountable health care system that works for all families. Therefore, a key priority for reform is the choice of a public health insurance plan that is available to businesses, individuals, and families.

These are elected officials who have been legislating on health care reform for years, and have a keen understanding of how burdensome our broken health care system is for state budgets and for people's pocketbooks.

Read the entire letter being delivered on the Progressive State Network's website. You can find a list of North Dakota state legislators after the jump.

On Wednesday, you saw Sen. Kent Conrad sit down with Andy Stern & others to discuss health care reform. Yesterday, SEIU released a report (PDF) on rising health care costs and the value of reform in North Dakota. These are the facts behind our argument.

The facts speak for themselves - in a state like North Dakota, health care reform is not just about improving the health and safety of Americans, it's also a bottom-line, balance sheet issue. The rising cost of health care is precisely why we need a public option for health care.

Government, families and businesses large & small stand to save trillions from fixing health care. It will strengthen North Dakota's businesses, help us retain jobs, and provide greater access and choices to citizens in need of care, especially if a public option is present.

Here are some highlights from the report:

On cost & savings: A reformed system will save people over $7,000 in premium & out-of-pocket expenses over the next decade.

• In North Dakota, health insurance premiums grew by 74.3%, while median earnings only grew by 26.4%.
• The median yearly wage for North Dakota in 2007 was only $24,255, but the average health care premium was $10,674. By this metric, premiums grew nearly 2.8 times faster than wages.
• This year, 90% of North Dakotans with health insurance are projected to spend over 10% of their pre-tax income on health care costs.
  

If this keeps up, by 2016, North Dakota's families will be paying around $20,000 each year - the cost of a new family car. It would mean that 41% of the median household income in North Dakota would go towards health care costs.

On the uninsured: There are over 47 million uninsured Americans. Each day, another 14,000 people join their ranks. Because of that, we pay a hidden tax on our insurance premiums of 8% - coming from a failure to cover all Americans. In North Dakota, that means that families with insurance pay over $1,000 a year extra on their insurance premiums to help cover the cost of the uninsured.

• Each day, 10 North Dakotans lose their insurance;
• As of 2007, North Dakota had over 14,000 uninsured children, and 150,000 non-elderly adult North Dakotans had no health insurance. Of that number, 85% were employed, but either they couldn't afford their employer's health insurance plan, or their employer simply didn't offer coverage of any kind.
• Over 19,000 of the uninsured adults were between the ages of 50-64, meaning that over 7% of North Dakota's aging adults are uninsured.

On fixing the economy:

We cannot fix the economy without fixing health care. The cost of health care is out of control, and we can do better. We need affordable health care we can count on, and federal action is essential to helping Nebraska cope with soaring health care costs.

• In 2007, North Dakota's economy lost as much as $269 million because of the poor health & shorter lifespans of the uninsured. That adds up to $4,400 for each uninsured North Dakotan.
  
• As of 2007, 14% of all state spending in North Dakota has gone to Medicaid and SCHIP. $513 million went to Medicaid alone.
• Nationally, health care spending accounts for 16% of our gross domestic product (GDP). That share is projected to nearly double in the next 25 years.

Modernizing our health care system could save us nearly $600 billion in health spending over the next decade and $9 trillion over the next quarter century.

There's more in the report, which you can download here (PDF). One thing is made clear - the American people deserve action, and action now, on creating an affordable health care system for all.

Union Members in North Dakota and Across the Country Earn Significantly More Than Non-Union Workers. Over the four-year period between 2004 and 2007, unionized workers' wages in North Dakota were on average 13.8 percent higher than non-union workers with similar characteristics. That means that, all else equal, North Dakota workers that join a union will earn 13.8 percent more--or $2.28 more per hour in 2008 dollars--than their otherwise identical non-union counterparts. [Unions are Good for North Dakota's Economy, 2/18/09]

• Employee Free Choice Would Pump Money Into Rural Economies. The League of Rural Voters writes, "Declining worker incomes have meant declining incomes for farmers and ranchers who produce food, fiber and biofuels. And that means less money has been coming into the rural economy. A big reason for shrinking worker paychecks is that big business has made it nearly impossible to join unions and bargain for solid benefits and fair wages (15 - 25 percent higher than non-union jobs). In fact, thousands of people are illegally fired every year just because they tried to organize a union. The Employee Free Choice Act can help level the playing field by making it easier for people to join unions and bargain for a better standard of living. It can give regular working folks the purchasing power to revive the economy - and to buy the products we grow and sell in rural America." [League of Rural Voters, 5/19/09]
• Higher Wages & Benefits Help U.S. Economy by Giving Workers the Ability to Purchase More Goods & Services. According to the Center for American Progress Action Fund report, unionization is good for the economy overall and "putting more money in workers' pockets would provide a needed boost for the U.S. economy." Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich stated that higher wages and higher benefits would give workers the purchasing power they need to buy more of the goods and services that this economy produces. [CAP Report: Unions are Good for the American Economy, 2/18/09]

Workers At Dakota Gasification Co. Waited More Than a Year for Their First Contract. In July 2001, the Bismarck Tribune reported, "Tuesday's decision by the Dakota Gasification Co., board of directors to approve its first union contract for plant workers ends months of uncertainty for both sides. It also means that the 447 plant workers who were represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers during contract negotiations can now become union members. Their membership was pending a union-bargained contract, which hit some rough sledding the last two months, including a confidential strike vote and federal mediation." [Bismarck Tribune, 7/12/01]

• Union Accused Management of Changing Items in a Negotiated Contract. In June 2000, workers at Dakota Gasification Co. voted to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. In June 2001, the Bismarck Tribune reported, "Dakota Gasification Co. workers have ratified what they believe is the company's contract offer, but negotiations could end up in a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers approved their version of the contract Tuesday, charging that plant owner Basin Electric Power Cooperative changed or deleted a number of negotiated items. Union business manager Gary Leinius said if Basin doesn't accept the contract ratification after it's presented to them Monday, the union will make a formal complaint based on bad faith negotiations." [Bismarck Tribune, 6/14/01, 6/21/00]

Union Accused MDU Resources Group of Failing to Negotiate in Good Faith. In August 2008, "The International Union of Operating Engineers/Local 49 filed an Unfair Labor Practices charge against Knife River, a construction materials and mining subsidiary of Bismarck-based MDU Resources Group Inc. Knife River is an aggregate producer in Sauk Rapids, Minn. Local 49 business manager Glen Johnson said the 25 workers at the Minnesota plant approached Local 49 for representation in negotiating a contract in January. After nine months without success, Local 49 filed the charges, saying that Knife River was not negotiating fairly and in good faith... Johnson said he believes the company is deliberately trying not to come to an agreement, because after a total of 12 months they are no longer legally obligated to negotiate the contract." [Bismarck Tribune, 8/13/08]

Amy Ingersoll is a hard-working North Dakotan. Every day, she helps save lives as a 911 dispatcher in Bismarck.

When her son Devon was diagnosed with asthma, though, Amy and her family didn't have health insurance. Devon's medicines cost more than $600 a month. If she had gotten insurance through her work, she would've spent $900 a month; an independent plan would have cost her between $300 and $500 a month, but because they considered Devon's asthma a "pre-existing condition", the plan wouldn't have covered *any* of the costs.

Amy's only alternative was to pay for Devon's medicines out of her own pocket. During that time, Amy spent over a third of her income just to cover Devon's illness.

Sadly, Amy's story isn't unique. Too many Americans across the country are at the mercy of unreliable employer-based plans, and too many fall through the cracks.

"Now's not the time for black-and-white arguments," Amy says. "People worry that our current system will be swallowed up by a new one that leaves us without choices, i.e., "socialized
medicine." But this isn't an either/or proposition, and we shouldn't fall into that trap. We are creative enough to enhance our own system and fill in the gaps to make it work for everybody. We need to find our own American solution to our healthcare crisis."

The time is now for open minds and better alternatives in our health care system. Reforming health care doesn't mean replacing our current system; it means we make it work for everyone once more.

We cannot get our economy back on track without repairing the American health care system. Health care reform is not just a moral imperative, but also an economic necessity. In 2007, the U.S. economy lost as much as $207 billion as a result of the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured. Skyrocketing health care costs add to families' already overwhelming burden, threatening their health and financial security. We can do better. Solving America's health care crisis will improve quality of care, reduce costs and make businesses more competitive. The urgent need for reform is more apparent now in North Dakota than ever. In the past eight years, health care premiums for family coverage have risen more than twice as fast as wages. With 3.5% unemployed, many families are at risk of losing their health coverage. The message is clear: North Dakota's families urgently need Congress to take direct action on health care reform.

Supporting Facts

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• Health Insurance premiums in North Dakota increased by 74.3% from 2000 to 2007, while median earnings only increased a mere 26.4%. The median yearly wage in 2007 for North Dakota was only $24,255, but the average health care premium for a family was $10,674. This means that premiums grew 2.8 times faster than wages.


• In North Dakota, approximately 155,000 non-elderly people spent more than 10% of their pre-tax family income on health care costs in 2008. 89% of those people have insurance, but are underinsured. 138,000 North Dakotans with insurance spent more than 10% of their pre-tax income on health care costs, and 48,000 spent more than 25% of their income.


• By 2016, projections show that North Dakota families will have to pay around $20,000 for health care or over 41 percent of median household income. This would represent an 76 percent increase over 2008 levels.


• In addition, more and more North Dakotans have been forced into the exorbitantly expensive individual market, as unemployment reaches massive heights. As of December 2008, 12,848 North Dakota residents were unemployed. That reflects a loss of over 1,078 jobs statewide last year alone, increasing the state unemployment rate by over .3 percentage points.


• If the state keeps losing jobs at the rate it did last year, 14,025 people in North Dakota will be unemployed by 2010. 66% of insured North Dakotans depend on their employers for their health insurance. If nothing is done to stem the economic downturn and reform our health care system, 630 North Dakota workers will lose their current health coverage, meaning that 235 more people will likely enroll in COBRA. That leaves 395 people who will have to enroll in Medicaid, fend for themselves on the private market, or become uninsured.


• As of 2007, 14% of all state spending has gone to Medicaid and SCHIP. $513 million of North Dakota's budget went to spending on Medicaid alone.


• As of 2007 there were already 14,305 uninsured children in North Dakota, and more than 53,677 uninsured adults. 16,927 of uninsured adults in North Dakota also live below the Federal Poverty Line. North Dakota's economy lost as much as $269 million because of the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured in 2007. That equates $4,400 per uninsured North Dakota resident.


• Of the top 10 employers in the state of North Dakota, 8 of them are Healthcare Providers. According to the US Census, almost 42,000 individuals work in the Heath Care Sector in the state & make an average of $3,264 per month, which accounts for $137 million in wages per month.

The health of the American economy cannot improve without addressing the healthcare crisis. Building on the existing healthcare system, quality, affordable healthcare can be guaranteed to every American. It's the reform truly needed to rebuild North Dakota's economy.