Who says activism can't be delicious? That's why Change that Works Montana is bringing together seniors and activists to eat pancakes, and discuss one of the most important battles in the fight for quality, affordable health care: the choice of a public plan.

We cannot let big business insurance and their propaganda win the battle in the conversation for health care reform. A public health plan option would help ensure that everyone who needs it would have access to affordable, health care coverage, by providing more choices for those who need it.

Join us in reaching out to Senator Max Baucus and urging him to support a public health care plan option. By writing letters, making phone calls, and signing cards, let's convince Senator Baucus that a public health care plan option is a crucial component to effecting real reform.

RSVP for LIBBY

RSVP for POLSON

RSVP for GREAT FALLS

Thanks to your efforts, we can make a difference the fight for health care reform. As one of the most influential senators working to reform health care, Senator Baucus is in unique position to make a real difference. Let's remind him that Montanans want real reform, and not a bandaid, but actual change for everyone. And the first step towards that change is supporting a public health insurance plan option. That, and pancakes.

SEIU President Andy Stern weighed in this morning on the National Journal's health care experts blog. He talked about cutting through the argument between two extremes that has halted progress on health care reform and finding a middle ground solution that addresses the crisis head-on:

Fixing health care means offering choice and flexibility as part of any solution. Too often, Americans are presented with false options: either a government-run system funded by high taxes or a deregulated private market that puts profits ahead of patient care. Neither extreme would get the job done.

Andy's comment comes on the heels of major developments in our movement to fix health care. Last month, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT) released a call to action and a comprehensive plan to immediately solve the health care crisis. Last week, Tom Daschle - the leader of President-elect Obama's health care transition team - issued a similar plea for Americans to take ownership of the movement to fix health care.

Read Andy's entire response here and, if you haven't already, join our movement to fix health care.

How much does health reform really cost, and what are the best and worst ideas for achieving it?

"The failures of our current system are already costing us billions. If we do nothing and let health care continue on its current course, the cost would be greater than the cure," writes SEIU President Andy Stern yesterday on NationalJournal.com's Health Care Expert Blog.

Read the rest of Stern's response addressing the real cost of health reform:

As it is, health care costs are going up every year, threatening the economic security of working families and hurting business productivity. As costs rise, more and more Americans are forced to drop their health coverage -- resulting in people getting sicker, showing up at hospitals without insurance, and driving up costs for everyone. Meanwhile, U.S. business spending on health care is nearly twice as much per person as our OECD competitors. The longer we wait to fix health care, the worse it will get.

That's why Sen. Baucus's "Call to Action" is so timely -- and such an important step to move this process forward. We at SEIU were especially pleased to see strong support for access and coverage -- including a public plan option that ensures coverage for every American -- plus, strategies for cost containment, payment and delivery system reform, transparency, and more options for long-term care. We agree that the only way to fix the problem is to address access, quality, and cost together.

The New America Foundation estimates that our economy loses as much as $200 billion a year because of the poor health and shorter lifespan of the uninsured -- far more than the price of reform.

So, if it's cost we're talking about, we can't afford not to fix health care.

Check out Andy Stern's post on National Journal here - and then please make the pledge to help keep health care on the map in 2009.

Top leader of nation's largest union of health care workers highlights connection between economic and health care crises at Senate Finance Committee hearing

WASHINGTON, DC - Pointing to the combined impact of the health care and economic crises on the lives of working families nationwide, SEIU International President Andy Stern called on President-Elect Barack Obama and key leaders in Washington today to work together to address the nation's ailing health care system in the short-term.

Read his entire prepared testimony before the Senate Finance Committee.

"Working people in this country are living in fear. Fear of losing their jobs and their health care. Fear of being just one illness away from financial ruin," said Stern in his testimony today before the Senate Committee on Finance led by Senators Max Baucus (D-MT) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA). "If we're going to revive our economy--if we're going to restore a sense of economic security to ordinary American families--we have to fix health care."

Today's hearing entitled "Health Care Reform: An Economic Perspective" is the latest in a series of hearings on health care reform held by the Senate Committee on Finance. Stern's appearance before the Committee comes as urgency continues to build to address a health care crisis typified by skyrocketing costs, rising numbers of uninsured and underinsured individuals, and a general trend toward decreased quality of care and coverage:

• Post-election polling by Lake Research Partners showed voters ranking health care among their top overall issues--and health care costs as their number one economic concern.
• Meanwhile, a new analysis by the New America Foundation entitled "The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why the Cost of Failing to Fix Our Health System is Greater than the Cost of Reform" shows average rising health care premiums outpacing wage increases and a trend that will result in "Americans will continue to pay more for less-generous health coverage; and fewer employers will offer health insurance to their workers."

With two million members, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is the largest labor union for health care workers in the country and has been a leading voice in the effort to win quality, affordable health care for all Americans. In the last two weeks alone, SEIU has partnered with other organizations in advertising and other outreach efforts to President-Elect Obama and Members of Congress calling for improvements to the nation's health care system--including Divided We Fail, Better Healthcare Together, Partnership for Quality Care, Partnership to Fight Chronic Diseases, and Health Care for America Now! Last Wednesday, SEIU applauded the release of Senator Baucus's "Call to Action" blueprint to address the health care crisis.

"SEIU's millions of working families are ready to find common ground to win health care. Already, we're participating in coalitions with diverse and sometimes unlikely partners--including employers we disagree with on a lot of other issues, but who all agree we need to fix health care now," said Stern. "It's up to all of us--workers, business, and government--to deliver the change that voters demand."

Mr. Chairman, Senator Grassley, and Members of the Committee, on behalf of SEIU's 2 million members--including more than 1 million workers who went to work today in hospitals, nursing homes, and people's homes--thank you for inviting me to testify this morning. We recognize the significant challenges in addressing the economic problems of our country. But we also believe we have a once in a lifetime chance to address the economic insecurity of too many Americans by responding to the urgent need to address our nation's health care crisis.

We appreciate and applaud Senator Baucus in particular for your most recent proposals on how to take the next large steps to make our health care system have quality, control costs, and expand access--the holy grail of health care reform.

You'll hear a lot of facts and statistics today--if you haven't heard enough already over the years; yet the facts are truly alarming:

• 46 million uninsured.
• Annual premium growth that is double to quadruple the size of wage growth.
• US business spending on health care nearly twice as much per person as our OECD competitors, but our investment is not rewarded appropriately, as medical outcomes are no better and in many categories we're actually doing much worse than many other nations.

But the facts are for the head. To get to the heart of the matter, you simply need to hear the story of Paula Hall, a childcare provider and SEIU member in Spokane, Washington:

In 2001, after Paula's husband was hurt working in a machine shop and lost his job, they both lost their health insurance. They couldn't afford COBRA payments, and they didn't qualify for state aid because they made too much money, so Paula and her family lived without health insurance.

Four years later, after open heart surgery and three angioplasties, Paula was left with $250,000 in health care bills.

Now, Paula and her husband rent a much smaller house so Paula is only licensed to take care of seven children. Ironically, because her income has fallen, Paula now qualifies for state aid and health coverage again.

In the richest country on earth, bankruptcy, foreclosure, and lower incomes should not be the path to health coverage for Americans who work hard, and take responsibility for their families. America is better than that.

And if we are going to solve the economic insecurity crisis of working people living in fear in this country--of losing their jobs, of not being able to afford their health care or being just one illness away from financial ruin--the only cure is to fix health care.

Too many families are faced with impossible choices today. Do they pay their premium share or pay for groceries? Do they pay their mortgage or take their prescription every other day? Does fear of the future and increased co-pays mean postponing doctor visits and treatments? Do they take on credit card debt with outrageous interest rates or loans?

We see the alarming results: according to the Commonwealth Fund, there are now 72 million Americans struggling with medical debt, many of whom thought they had insurance that protected them. Another study indicated that crushing medical debt accounts for half of bankruptcies.

And without a sense of health care security, families will not begin to spend at the levels we need to revive consumer spending in retail which dropped an astounding 2.8% in sales just last month!

With these kinds of choices facing working people today, it's hard to argue that health care isn't tied to the economic crisis. If we do nothing, health care will only continue to fuel the economic crisis for years to come.

Working families and our economy can no longer survive the status quo. Failure to act is a policy decision with dire consequences:

• According to the New America Foundation, if we fail to act to address the current trends, the full cost of a typical, employer-based family health insurance plan will rise 84% to more than $24,000 by 2016, which will collapse the employer-based system. The full cost of paying for health care--that is, the worker's share and the employer's share--could skyrocket to half of total income for one in two households by 2016.
• If we do nothing, our national health expenditures will double from more than $2 trillion to more than $4 trillion in less than ten years. And as we spend all that additional money, American businesses who we need to create jobs will become less competitive as they not only take responsibility for their own employees' costs but an even greater cost-shifting tax from other employers' workers who are not offered affordable insurance.
• Federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid accounts for 4% of our economy today. If we do nothing, spending on these programs will grow to 12% of our economy by 2050.

The single most important way to dramatically improve our economic and fiscal outlook is to take steps to put health care spending on a growth rate more closely in line with overall economic growth.

Chairman Baucus and members of the Committee, we have a moment here. Post-election polling by Lake Research Partners showed voters continue to name health care among their top issues--and those who cited the economy as their top issue said health care was their number one economic concern.

As opposed to 1993, remarkably, voters, business, consumers, unions, the insurance and pharmaceutical industries are all ready to work for real change.

We understand this is not a Democratic or Republican problem, it is an American problem that threatens our country economically every day we fail to live up to our responsibilities as leaders--to find common ground and act as voters have demanded.

SEIU's millions of working families have been participating in coalitions with diverse and sometimes unlikely partners--including the Business Roundtable, NFIB, Wal-Mart, Intel, and Manpower--employers we may disagree with on a lot of other issues, but who all agree we need to fix health care now. In fact, Mr. Seidenberg and I come to you today as two of the partners of Divided We Fail. We stand ready to work with you, Mr. Chairman, and members of the Finance Committee, to get the job done.

That is why the Chairman's "Call to Action" last week was so timely, so bold, and such an important step to move this process forward. We were especially pleased to see strong support for access and coverage (including a public plan option that ensures coverage for every American), strategies for cost containment, payment and delivery system reform, transparency, and more options for long-term care. We agree that the only way to fix the
problem is to address access, quality, and cost together.

Senator Grassley has a long record of supporting policies that ensure coverage for all Americans, and SEIU is proud to be working with him on transparency and long-term care. Senators Rockefeller and Hatch have shown great commitment to all of these issues. Senator Wyden has also shown true leadership and has been calling for action well before this economic crisis, and President-Elect Obama has promised voters that he will reach across the aisle to ensure we pass comprehensive health care reform.

We urge all of you to work together and take action to ensure health care for every man, woman, and child in this country is enacted in the first 100 days of the new Administration.

When it comes to the health care crisis, we have to take a lesson from the economic crisis: the longer we wait, and the less we do, the worse it gets.

There are those who will say we can't afford to reform our health care system. But we say we can't afford not to. As you, Mr. Chairman, have said, if we try to fix the economy and don't fix health care, "America will just have more economic problems down the road."

Chairman Baucus and members of the Committee, it's time to fix the health care system so it works for Paula, for American businesses, and for our country. We look forward to working with you to build a stronger, healthier America.

Thank you.

Head of nation's largest union of health care workers, leading advocate for reform to address powerful Senate Committee on Finance chaired by Senator Max Baucus

WASHINGTON, DC - With pressure building to address the nation's ailing health care system, SEIU International President Andy Stern will offer testimony on the combined impact of the health care and economic crisis on working families and call for comprehensive health care reform at a hearing before the Senate Committee on Finance at 10AM Wednesday, November 19. With two million members, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is the largest labor union for health care workers in the country and has been a leading voice in the effort to win quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

WHAT: SEIU Testimony at "Health Care Reform: An Economic Perspective"

WHO: Andy Stern, SEIU International President

WHEN: 10AM Wednesday, November 19, 2008

WHERE: 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Capitol Hill

Wednesday's hearing is the latest in a series of hearings on health care reform held by the Senate Committee on Finance. The hearing comes on the heels of a revealing analysis by the New America Foundation entitled "The Cost of Doing Nothing: Why the Cost of Failing to Fix Our Health System is Greater than the Cost of Reform," showing average rising health care premiums outpacing wage increases and a trend that will result in "Americans continu[ing] to pay more for less-generous health coverage; and fewer employers offer[ing] health insurance to their workers."

"One week since the historic election that brought a sea change of hope and energy to our country, we're already getting a clear picture of what to expect from new leadership in Washington in 2009," writes SEIU Healthcare Chairman Dennis Rivera today on The Hill's Congress blog.

[...]

"And, thanks to Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, we now have a blueprint--and a powerful call to action--to fundamentally change the nation's ailing health care system."

Read the rest of Rivera's piece on The Hill.

SEIU's statement in support of Sen. Baucus's new blueprint to solve our nation's health care crisis here.

SEIU issued a statement in support of the diagnosis of and prescription for mending our broken health care system released today by Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), the chairman of the Finance Committee:

On the heels of a historic election where voters ranked health care among their top overall issues--and health care costs as their number one economic concern--Senator Max Baucus's thoughtful and comprehensive approach to address the nation's broken health care system is a significant contribution to the growing discussion around solutions to the crisis.

The progressive 35,000-word "Call to Action" proposed by Senator Baucus would guarantee health insurance for all Americans by encouraging sales of private insurance, expand Medicaid and Medicare, and requiring most employers to provide healthcare benefits for their employees.

Read SEIU's complete statement in support of Sen. Baucus's new blueprint to solve our nation's health care crisis.

Full PDF text of blueprint here.