Just yesterday the White House released a list of visitors this year and SEIU President Andy Stern topped the list with more than twenty trips since January.

Coming off an eight-year period when the voice of workers fell on deaf ears, the list demonstrates the White House desire to hear from working people.

The Washington Post notes several visits came during the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act debate.

Talking Points Memo sums it up nicely:

It makes sense that Stern would be a popular guest -- beyond leading a group key to the Democratic base, Stern's SEIU has been a leading voice on behalf of health care reform.

Andy Stern has tweeted about some of his White House visits, and you can follow him here.

Over the past few weeks, SEIU activists have been fighting against insurance company practices that unfairly discriminate against women. Our campaign culminated this week with the release of a "deli counter ticket" tool promoting gender equity in health care. Today, the White House joined the chorus of voices on this issue by releasing of a video from the First Lady explaining how, as Secretary Sebelius says, "Women would be a lot better off with health insurance reform."

Take a moment to hear from Michelle first hand, and be sure to share this video with the women in your life:

Editors and fact checkers at several major news outlets were having a seriously bad case of "the Mondays" yesterday, as The Washington Post, CNBC, NY Times, Fox News and other major newspapers were duped by a Chamber of Commerce hoax perpetrated by the Yes Men at the National Press Club. An email with a fake press release was picked up by several outlets who wanted to be first on the scene to report the Chamber's position reversal on climate change.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce suffered the latest in a string of PR embarrassments yesterday. The AM news cycle kicked off with Senior White House advisor Valerie Jarrett calling the Chamber's positions "old school" and their $100 million campaign for free enterprise "wasteful" in a harsh interview to Huffington Post. The Chamber claims that this campaign is a way to create jobs, but their underlying motives for the initiative (mainly to defeat regulatory reform) are being questioned by the White House and other powerful corporations more and more.

Hours later,  the Chamber got "punked" by the Yes Men, whose fake news conference in which the "Chamber" supposedly changed their position in favor of climate change legislation, also got covered by major news outlets. The events that unfolded at the faux press conference were hilarious. High profile corporate prankster Andy Bichlbaum (half of The Yes Men duo), who was posing as a 'special assistant' to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce president Thomas J. Donohue. Reporters were engaged in a serious Q&A with U.S. Chamber "representative" when Chamber rep Eric Wohlschlegel stormed into the Press Club, yelling that the press conference is a hoax and demanding to see everyone's business cards. Because how else can you legitimize anyone as a credible source in Washington, DC without the exchange of business cards, right?

The real Chamber rep and the fake Chamber rep then proceed to have a ridiculous stand-off, with escalating demands from Wohlschlegel to see Bichlbaum's business card and accusations of fraud coming from both sides. The confrontation ended with Wohlschlegel dispensing his business card to various reporters in the room, and doing his best to evade pointed questions about the Chamber's real stance on climate legislation currently in Congress, which the (real) Chamber opposes. As the finale, the Chamber rep grabbed the woman managing the sign-in sheet and demanded she turn it over.

This description doesn't do this event justice though, so please watch the video--as my coworker says, it truly is "comedy gold." And here's Rachel Maddow's interview with Mother Jones reporter Kate Sheppard, who was present at the yesterday's press conference stunt:

The Chamber's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days seem to be increasing in recent weeks. First there's the fallout from groups like Nike and Apple over their climate change policies and opposition to curbing greenhouse gases. Then they announce their sham of a plan to create 20 million jobs by relying on the same failed economic practices of the past that put big corporate interests ahead of ordinary Americans. MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan grills Tom Donohue shortly after, calling him out on his "nonsense."

Until the Chamber of Commerce changes their extreme views on issues like climate change, health care reform, financial regulations, and labor law reform, we foresee many more terrible, horrible, no good very bad days in their future.

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?

President Obama is hosting an online discussion this Wednesday, at 1:15 p.m. EDT, on health care reform. He's soliciting questions from people via Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

Below is the President's video introduction to this week's online discussion:

If you're on Twitter, ask a question with this hashtag #WHHCQ. Facebook users can ask questions here. Two hundred and thirty-six (236) YouTube video questions have already been submitted--many of which deal directly with the public health insurance option. Below are a few of our favorites:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1TNyspiNaU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dH0zcK8T39Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfl7mDMpruw

Submit your own question via YouTube here.

There's a simple standard that SEIU uses to measure the success of the health care system: how does it work for our members--like for Pat DeJong and her family? By that standard, without a doubt, our current system is failing. Fortunately, we have a president who agrees that healthcare reform is critical for this country and says he is confident of passing healthcare reform.

Tonight, Obama will continue his health care push with a primetime nationally televised event in the White House called "Questions for the President: Prescription for America," which will be moderated with ABC's Charlie Gibson and Diane Sawyer. Home care aide and SEIU Healthcare 775NWmember Pat DeJong has been invited to participate in the ABC News special event, to discuss health care reform with President Obama. The president will answer questions offered by audience members from all walks of life "selected by ABC News who have divergent opinions in this historic debate," and Pat will most likely be the only home care worker present.

Here is just a small excerpt of Pat's story. This is why ABC News asked her to participate in the event:

Pat and her husband Dan were ranchers in Montana, but had a hard time finding affordable coverage, and were uninsured when he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2000. The medical bills piled up for Pat and Dan, eventually forcing them to sell the land they loved and that had been in Dan's family for generations. Dan succumbed to cancer, and two years later, Pat still does not have health insurance.

Reflecting on what it has been like to live without health insurance - and keeping in mind what she and her husband went through - she said, "I have been without [health insurance] for so long, I have just put it out of my head."

One thing is clear: families like Pat's pay the ultimate price for our broken healthcare system. Her story--like so many other Americans without adequate coverage--stands as one more reason we cannot accept the obstructionist politics of those who wish to file hundreds of amendments to "just say no" to healthcare reform, and purposely distort the reality of what fixing healthcare means to millions of American families.

Watch the ABC News special "Questions for the President: Prescription for America" tonight, June 24, at 10:00 p.m. (EST). The healthcare conversation will be continued at 11:35 p.m. on Nightline.

Read Pat's story--told in her own words--after the break.

President Obama's speech to the American Medical Association earlier this week was filled with clarity, reason and vision, as he made his case for a health care system overhaul and proposed ways to fund reform. Here's a particularly great messaging point from the President's speech that's worth repeating (often).

"So let me begin by saying this: I know that there are millions of Americans who are content with their health care coverage - they like their plan and they value their relationship with their doctor. And that means that no matter how we reform health care, we will keep this promise: If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. Period. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan. Period. No one will take it away. No matter what. My view is that health care reform should be guided by a simple principle: fix what's broken and build on what works."

     -- President Obama's AMA speech, 6/15/2009

At a Cabinet meeting on Monday, President Barack Obama promised to speed federal money into hundreds of public works projects this summer, vowing that 600,000 jobs would be created or saved in the second hundred days--four times the number created or saved in the first 100 days. From the President:

"Our ultimate goal is making sure that the average family out there, mom working, dad working -- that they are able to pay their bills, feel some job security, make their mortgage payments."

At the meeting, Vice President Biden presented a new summer initiative, "Roadmap to Recovery," which aims to speed up the progress of the Administration's recovery efforts. The report released today by the White House details ten of the major projects the Administration is committed to seeing through by the summer's end--projects which range from increasing health care access to airport/highway rehabilitation to natural park restoration.

From the looks of this list on the new Roadmap to Recovery website at WhiteHouse.gov, the commitments Obama and Biden intend to see to fruition encompass relatively specific numbers. (For example, the first project on the list reads "Enable 1,129 Health Centers in 50 States and Eight Territories to Provide Expanded Service to Approximately 300,000 Patients"). Locations around the country where economic stimulus package dollars are at work is visually mapped out for you as well on the new site, which is also serve as a place visitors can share their stories through comments, photos and videos.

From the beginning, the Obama administration has emphasized transparency and accountability in spending the stimulus money; promises which reflect a federal process that is designed to spend money 'carefully,' rather than just 'quickly.' However, as these spending and recovery initiatives are rolled out, one can't help but notice their resemblance to the economic recovery plan that has already been underway for several months--except in this case, it's not entirely clear what steps the White House will be to speed up the pace of stimulus spending in the coming months. Take a look at the plan yourself and let us know what you think in the comments below.

On Friday, SEIU Florida Healthcare nurse Patricia Diaz joined U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis and a team of Spanish-speaking Administration officials from DHS and the CDC for a White House Town Hall to listen to the Hispanic community's concerns and discuss the government's safety and prevention plans to control the impact of the H1N1 virus.

"Today was a transformative day for me. I got to attend the White House's first townhall meeting entirely in Spanish. It shows how much our President wants to reach out to everyone and make sure information reaches all communities about the H1N1 virus," said Diaz. Hosted by Univision Anchor Edna Schmidt, parts of the town hall aired to more than 13 million viewers on Univision's national news show.

» Read more about the town hall and SEIU nurse Patricia Diaz's participation here.
» Watch the full video, read the full transcript in Spanish or the President's remarks in English.

Working to Stop Pandemic Threat: Get Resources for Rront-line Workers and Families at Risk

To answer key questions about H1N1 and the swine flu, the SEIU Nurse Alliance Health & Safety Committee prepared facts sheets and an "employer check list" to allow healthcare workers a quick way to assess their worksite's readiness. Read about the differences and similarities between swine flu and seasonal flu, using infection control to prevent spreading the flu in healthcare settings, and get the response plan checklist at SEIU.org.

By executive order, President Obama established the White House Office of Health Reform today. According to the order:

[the office] will provide leadership to the executive branch in establishing policies, priorities, and objectives for the Federal Government's comprehensive effort to improve access to health care, the quality of such care, and the sustainability of the health care system.

The order also calls on the Secretary of Health and Human Services to take immediate action to establish a similar office within HHS and begin coordinating efforts to pass health care reform.

There's just one problem. Because Senator Jim Bunning has placed a hold on her confirmation vote, the soon-to-be Secretary of HHS, Kathleen Sebelius, can't even get in the HHS building right now.

Click here to tell Congress to take immediate action on the confirmation of Kathleen Sebelius.

The White House issued a report on health care this morning that serves as a sobering reminder of the urgent need for reform.

Released online at HealthReform.gov, the report documents the widespread effects of the health care crisis across the United States. It addresses three main areas of concern:

1. The rising cost of care.
The data show that, without significant changes to the health care system, Americans won't stand a chance at keeping up with rising costs. In the last 9 years alone, insurance premiums have doubled, while wages have only increased at a fraction of that rate.

High costs aren't just hitting patients, though. American businesses - large and small - are losing their competitive edge as they try to maintain decent health benefits for their employees. GM, for example, now spends more money on health care costs than they do on steel to make cars.

Health care spending is straining the balance sheets for federal and state governments as well. If we keep doing things the way we are now, health care costs are projected to be 25% of the GDP by 2025. Already, the United States spends approximately $2.2 trillion on health care - about 16.2% of the GDP.

You can see individual drill downs on key states in the Cost of Doing Nothing reports we released on SEIU.org last month.

2. Lack of access to care.
These numbers are particularly scary. It's clear that no matter who you are, where you live, or what your job is, you're at risk of being hit by the health care crisis. In the last two years alone, more than 86 million Americans went uninsured at some point; and even those with insurance couldn't always get the care they needed.

Just having a job isn't a guarantee that you have health care anymore - not by a long shot. In fact, more than 80% of uninsured Americans are members of working families. The cost that's had on workplace productivity alone is estimated to be as high as $135 billion every year.

And, in the eyes of the health care system, not all people are created equal. Lack of access to care is especially problematic for women and communities of color. That's why SEIU was proud to join in the launch of the Health Equality Project last week.

3. Lack of quality care.
Despite the fact that we pay so much for it, the quality of health care in America is among the worst in the developed world. Based on 37 performance indicators, the U.S. earned a final grade of "D" for the quality of our health care.

That's having a very real effect on patients. Nearly 98,000 Americans die from medical errors every year. That's more than double the number of Americans who die from car accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS.

We have the best nurses, doctors, and health care professionals in the world, but they're stuck in a broken system that leaves them with too many patients and too few resources. The result is thousands of patients falling through the cracks every year.

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Right now, America's health care system is defined by high costs, poor access, and low quality. We're better than this. But if we don't act quickly, we'll be here again one year from now with new charts and new numbers - all showing the problem has gotten even worse. Tell Congress we can't afford to wait any longer; tell them to take the first steps toward fixing our broken health care system.

When Change That Works activist Sandra Burt spoke, it was from the heart. "I lost my job on my 65th birthday," said Burt. "I had been with the company for 40 years."

Sandy spoke at length that the nation's health care system needs to be overhauled.
Without work she had no health insurance. Burt, who has an autoimmune disorder, needs medication that costs $2,730 a month. Her husband has cancer. She told participants that she can't pay for her treatment and needs help. "My husband sold his truck, he sold everything to get me to live another year... I don't think it's right," she said.

Burt was one of the first people called on to speak at the White House Regional Health Care Forum in Vermont last Tuesday. The second of five health care forums organized by the Obama administration, it was hosted by Vermont Governor Jim Douglas and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick.

Watch the WCAX story featuring Sandy.

Last night, President Obama told Congress that America cannot afford to wait in fixing its health care system. He also reminded us that while fixing our system will not come cheaply, the cost of doing nothing is far greater:

"None of this will come without cost, nor will it be easy, but this is America. We don't do what's easy. We do what's necessary to move this country forward, and for that same reason, we must also address the crushing costs of health care. This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes. In the last eight years, premiums have grown four times faster than wages, and in each of these years, 1 million more Americans have lost their health insurance. It is one of the main reasons why small businesses close their doors and corporations ship jobs overseas, and it is one of the largest and fastest-growing parts of our budget. Given these facts, we can no longer afford to put health care reform on hold. We can't afford to do it. It's time."

Today, news reports suggest that the president intends to make a serious investment in fixing, once and for all, our broken health care system. According to the Associated Press, the White House budget includes $634 billion for health care over the course of 10 years. The report continues:

"A senior administration official says Obama's budget calls for financing the overhaul by trimming Medicare spending and limiting tax deductions for upper-income earners. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the budget won't be released until Thursday."

So far, it's been a great week for the movement to fix health care. But we've got to keep building our movement if we want to make real reform happen this year. If you haven't already, get involved by adding your name to "keep health care on the map" as Obama brings his budget to Congress.

Update, 6:15 pm: President Obama asked Andy Stern to share his thoughts on the importance of fixing health care during the closing session of the summit. Video of their exchange is below.

The first-ever Fiscal Responsibility Summit is wrapping up right now at the White House. Advisors at the highest levels of the Obama administration hosted members of Congress as well as leaders from a wide range of organizations to discuss solutions to long-term fiscal challenges facing the nation.

President Obama and Vice President Biden opened the event with remarks that made one thing clear: solving the economic crisis means fixing our broken health care system.

The vice president said the recent struggles Americans have faced only serve to remind us of the urgency of our long-term goals:

We will not lose sight of the need to tackle unmet needs for health care reform, to deal with the energy policy that we need, and so many other challenges that are going to determine what the 21st century looks like.

The president echoed those sentiments, going so far as to identify "the rising cost of health care [as the] single most pressing fiscal challenge we face by far."

That theme will be repeated again and again during the breakout discussions; the White House has even devoted an entire session to the importance of health care reform for fixing our economy.

SEIU President Andy Stern and Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger are among the attendees at the event, representing the millions of SEIU members and activists leading the grassroots movement for health care across the country.

Andy Stern has posted updates from the summit on Twitter, and his latest tweet sums it all up nicely:

@SEIU_AndyStern: health care is a go!