Once again, politicians are rushing to judgment on a plan that the public will not support.   Senators Ron Wyden, D, Oregon and Senator Bob Bennett, R, Utah, have co-sponsored a bill to move the responsibility of health insurance away from employers and over to individuals.  Does the public want that?  No.  Data from the Kaiser Family Foundation clearly show there is significant resistance to this idea (See Drew Altman’s essay on their research). CodeBlueNow!’s data clearly show this, as well. 

It would not take rocket science to build a health care system – it does take political will.  What we have found is that more public consensus on health care reform exists than either the parties or the candidates will admit. 
That’s why we have to get elected officials out of the center of attention to create a proposal.  They can’t do it.  We the people have to create our own Voters’ Health Care Platform.  I think our Declaration is as good a place to start as any. 

Stay tuned!  Cheers and more later.

Kathleen

Can they find common ground in health care reform?

Seattle, WA.  June 18, 2008.  CodeBlueNow!, a nonpartisan, nonprofit based in Seattle, issues a Health Care Challenge to the McCain and Obama campaigns. CodeBlueNow!'s grassroots polling reveals broad agreement on important issues of health care reform. CodeBlueNow! challenges both candidates to create a bi-partisan platform for reform based upon what a majority of Americans want, by adopting CodeBlueNow!’s Declaration for the Health of America.  http://www.codebluenow.org/Declaration%20with%20statistics%20FINAL.pdf

Kathleen O'Connor, Founder and CEO of CodeBlueNow! states: "The public is tired of negative campaigns and attacks.  They seek a vision for a positive future. With more consensus among the public than we realized, we have asked the candidates not to fight each other on health care but rather to work to find elements they can both support. After the election they will need each other’s support to move toward successful reform.” 

Between now and the November election, CodeBlueNow! will survey the candidates on their proposals, report their responses to the press and the public, and launch a Voters' Health Care Campaign to hold the Administration and Congress accountable to the public on health care issues.

About CodeBlueNow!
CodeBlueNow! is a nonpartisan, national grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to giving the public a voice in shaping a new health care system.  The Seattle based organization conducts research, forges partnerships, builds consensus and creates a positive vision.  CodeBlueNow! formed in October 2003 from ideas that emerged in a national contest to Build an American Health System and is actively working to build consensus on key principles and core elements for a new system.  www.codebluenow.org

The Senate Finance Committee met yesterday for a daylong bipartisan symposium to lay the groundwork for next year’s health care legislation.  Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee, was cited in the New York Times as impatient with the process:

"Health care is 'the No. 1 economic issue in our country,' Mr. Grassley said, but 'Congress does not seem to have the political guts to do anything about it.'”

When a senator of Grassley’s stature thinks that Congress does not have the political guts to do anything about health care, it is time to take health care out of the clutches of Congress and demand change ourselves.  That is why this week we are issuing a challenge to the candidates to adopt the elements of our Declaration for the Health of America in both their health care platforms.  This Declaration not only identifies key values and core elements, but it also take statistically valid research data to validate those points.

The Senate Finance Committee discussed reform, agreed that everyone should be covered and that we should keep a private insurance market and keep the employer involved. 

We could not agree more with Senator Grassley.  Please sign and send our Declaration today to your elected officials. 

Cheers and more later. 

Kathleen