The video above is an example of good work by the White House to rebut smears that the right-wing has used to create a sense of fear in their base supporters. Linda Douglass, who leads White House communications on healthcare, responds to the false accusations that President Obama is seeking to abolish private health insurance and is pushing for legislation that would prevent individuals from choosing their own doctors. Obviously both are false--and Douglass does a great job of going point-by-point to defend Obama.

What's even more effective is that the video features cuts of President Obama himself stating clearly what he thinks reform should and should not do. For example, the President has consistently said that if you like your insurance plan, your doctor (or both), you will be able to keep them--and he's even proposed eight consumer protections relating specifically to the health insurance industry.

Not surprisingly, the right-wing doesn't have a leg to stand on when they are left dealing with facts and not fear tactics.

Video crops out truth of Obama's comments on healthcare

As chronicled by Media Matters, some of the fabrications on Obama's health care reform plan are so blatant they make you want to jump up and yell "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" at the talking heads, politicians and corporate lobbyists. For example: On August 2rd, a YouTube video surfaced of from an SEIU/CAP event in 2007 featuring Obama discussing health care--specifically, the then-Senator was discussing how health insurance could transition away from a system of primarily "employer coverage."

Cut to Drudge Report and Fox News declaring, "Uncovered Video: Obama Explains How His Health Care Plan Will 'Eliminate' Private Insurance" and "2007 Video! Did Obama Say He Wants to Kill Private Insurance?," respectively. Funny, we were at that event in 2007, and that's not quite how we remember it.

Here's Media Matters for the fact check:

Contrary to cropped video, Obama did not suggest "employer coverage" would be "eliminate[d]" in 10 to 20 years. Nor did he suggest it would be eliminated by his plan. What Obama actually said [YouTube video cropped the comments in italics]: "But I don't think we're going to be able to eliminate employer coverage immediately. There's going to be potentially some transition process. I can envision a decade out or 15 years out or 20 years out where we've got a much more portable system.

Obama stated during forum that under his plan, employers "still have the option of providing coverage." Following the remarks included in the YouTube video, Obama stated that under that "much more portable system": Employers still have the option of providing coverage, but many people may find that they get better coverage, or at least coverage that gives them more for health care dollars than they spend outside of their employer. And I think we've got to facilitate that and let individuals make that choice to transition out of employer coverage."

Later in forum, Obama stated that under his plan, pooling options would exist "in addition to the employer based system." Obama stated: "[O]ne thing that I think is important is to recognize that there are a lot of small employers who would like to get health care for their workers but they themselves can't afford it because they don't have access to large enough pools to allow them to save money. That's why I think it's going to be important for us in whatever system that we set up to make sure that in addition to the employer based system that we've got an alternative system that individuals who aren't getting it through the job can access."

This is the most important time in the movement to fix health care; we need to continue shining a light on the distortions and biased stats. When all else fails (i.e. the facts), the right-wing always resorts to what it knows best. Could it be because they're hoping you'll be so scared, you won't ask for any?

In the past few days, our allies in Congress have made serious gains in health care reform. But one thing is still uncertain - whether we'll see a strong, immediate public health insurance option.

President Obama last week indicated that, in order to keep insurance companies "honest" and reduce costs, we must provide Americans with the option of a public health insurance plan.

Now it's time to convince Congress; and the strongest proof that our current health care system is broken is probably sitting on your kitchen table - your medical bills.

What are you spending on health care? Generate your own medical bill online, and send it to Congress: http://medbill.seiu.org

Today, the Senate is working on a plan for health care reform. The public health insurance option needs to be a part of it because it does three things:

• Lowers costs for individuals and families by competing side-by-side with private insurance plans
  
• Sets high standards for quality and accessibility that other plans will strive to meet
  
• Gives Americans more choice in their coverage by offering an affordable alternative to over-priced plans

Congress needs to understand what we're paying for health care. Use our tool to generate a medical bill and send it to your Senators: http://medbill.seiu.org/

After 80 years, we finally have the solution to this health care crisis in our sights. Thanks for joining us in our summer-long sprint to the finish line.

This weekend, politicos across the internets were all atwitter (ahem) over Senator Charles Grassley's tweets at President Obama. You can view them directly on his page here.

While telling the President he "has some nerve" as well as asserting "I'm no NAIL" might raise some eyebrows, we're not here to school Senator Grassley on the finer points of inter-netiquette. Rather, SEIU's Change that Works campaign is taking advantage of the Senator's connectivity to reach out directly and influence him where it counts: to reform our country's health care.

So for the next 24 hours, Change that Works Iowa is implementing a twitter campaign aimed directly at Senator Grassley to convince him to support a public health plan option as a part of the health care reform plan. Each hour, a new story of health-care related hardship will be posted to the Iowa's Change that Works blog, and linked to a post directed at Senator Grassley on Twitter. Says the WCF Courier:

"The stories will be about Iowans who have faced the barrier of private insurance and high health care costs," Mertens said. Adding, "In some cases, the stories will be told by people who have struggled with the limitations of private health insurance. Others will be told by health care professionals who have seen patients encounter those problems."

We hope that the Senator uses his Twitter to listen to what his constituents need. Thanks to the magic of internet-technology, the stories of those who struggle with our current broken system can finally be heard, for those who want to listen.

>> View 24 Hours of Health Care stories here: http://www.seiu.org/changethatworks/iowa/

>> Follow Our Campaign on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CTWIowaSEIU

>> Contact Senator Grassley today to support the public health plan option: http://action.seiu.org/page/speakout/24hrs

New media and online social networks are making it easier than ever to make a difference in the fight for quality, affordable health care coverage.

In April, Senator Chuck Grassley held a tweet-up in Des Moines, a town hall-style event with his local constituents and followers on Twitter. In early May, Sen. Grassley also used Twitter to reach out to the people of Iowa to solicit their thoughts on the Senate Finance Committee's proposals to improve our health care system.

This weekend, Sen. Grassley made news on Twitter yet again with a controversial pair of "tweets" he sent early Sunday morning, criticizing President Obama's call for lawmakers to begin delivering on health care reform while overseas honoring D-Day in France. From @ChuckGrassley:

Today, SEIU's Change That Works Iowa campaign will feature compelling health care stories of everyday Iowans who have struggled because of a lack of quality, affordable health care--one new health care story per hour, for 24 hours (until 9 a.m. on Tuesday). The stories will be blasted from Twitter, as well as posted on the Change that Works Iowa blog. Every hour, on the hour, a new story will be featured to show the real face of the health care struggle to persuade Sen. Grassley that quality, affordable health care needs to be available to every Iowan and every American.

"[...] Senator Grassley and the Finance Committee is just days away from drafting a new health care reform bill and the Senator has yet to reach a compromise on an absolutely essential aspect of reform--creating a public health insurance option available to all Americans. Our hope is that reading these health care stories throughout the day will be a reminder to Senator Grassley that the private health insurance industry has failed Iowans time and time again. It's time to give private insurers some real competition, for the sake of all Iowans," said Cathy Glasson, president of SEIU Local 199.

Sen. Grassley says using new forms of communication like Twitter allows him to hear from an even wider range of constituents on issues. Today, we encourage you to join us and participate in one of the most important conversations of our times: how to resolve our health care crisis. Let Sen. Grassley know via Twitter that we need a bipartisan consensus to reform our system and make quality, affordable health care available to everyone--not just the wealthy.

Tweet Senator Grassley your views on health care: http://twitter.com/ChuckGrassley

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>> 24 Hours of Healthcare: Each new hourly story will be updated on the Change That Works Iowa blog here, so check back often.

>> Follow Change That Works Iowa on Twitter (Senator Grassley does!) at http://twitter.com/CTWIowaSEIU

Republicans in Congress dusted off John McCain's health care proposal from the 2008 campaign and reintroduced it at a press conference in Washington today. The proposal, which serves as their counter to President Obama's plan for health care reform, replaces the coverage people have with an insufficient tax subsidy that doesn't even cover half of the average family's health care premiums.
From Think Progress:

The plan privatizes the health care system without controlling health care spending. Employers will react to the elimination of the tax exclusion by dropping some Americans from their employer-sponsored health plans and the Republicans build an inadequate safety net to catch the newly uninsured. Americans will have the option of purchasing coverage in the new State Health Insurance Exchanges, should the state choose to establish it. But here, the same problems that plagued McCain's health care plan are also evident in this proposal. The Republicans protect private health insurer's monopoly over coverage, but provide no safety net or affordability measures

Not only does the GOP plan dismantle the employer-based system that millions of Americans rely on, it also fails to address the problem of insurance companies charging higher prices based on sex, age, occupation, or medical condition - the same discriminatory practices that are pricing millions of Americans out of insurance currently.

The bottom line: this "new" GOP proposal is a blueprint for more of the same failed tactics that spiraled us into a health care crisis in the first place. It focuses on protecting profits when we should be focused on helping sick people get better.

Americans voted down this flawed approach to health care last year. Giving it a new name and reintroducing it again in 2009 is an insult to the millions of Americans who desperately need a change in the way we provide health care.

The numbers are in. A recent poll conducted by Lake Research indicates that 73% of voters want to see a public health insurance option as part of health care reform in 2009. And guess what? It's smart fiscal policy, too. From the Huffington Post :

"A public health insurance plan will have the same effect on health insurance premiums that Southwest Airlines has on airfares when it moves into a new market: all competitors lower prices. The rest of the market players have to scramble to figure out how to lower costs and increase efficiency -- that's what a competitive market is supposed to be about."

The point is to provide a choice of plans. The public health insurance plan would compete, side-by-side, with private plans. And if Medicare -- which is leaner and has lower administrative costs than private insurance -- is any indication, a public plan will promote increased competition and lower costs throughout the health care system. (And if you're looking for hard estimates, check out the Commonwealth Study, which estimated that a public option would reduce health care costs by 20%.)

What's more, the preference for a choice of a public or private plan appeals to everyone -- Republicans (63%), Democrats (77%) and Independents (79%). This week, former DNC chair Howard Dean told the Washington Times that members of Congress who oppose a public option should listen to their constituents on the issue, or else risk suffering at the polls in 2010. Judging by this latest poll, we'd say Dr. Dean is right on the mark.

Read more about the Lake Poll at the Huffington Post here.