The Healthcare Report

By NYCeve (Eve Gittelson)

Despite being in the national spotlight as healthcare reform makes its cumbersome trek through committees of Congress, insurers continue their wantonly deceptive and consumer unfriendly business practices. It boggles the mind, but insurance executives appear oblivious to the reality that it is the most despised industry in the country.

It’s inconceivable that health reform could involve mandating that recession battered Americans be required to pay private insurers for dubious coverage, with no public option, and little or no guarantee that these denial machines will be responsible corporate citizens.

These fears are justified. Under the proposal circulating in the Max Baucus controlled Senate Finance Committee, crucial rule-making authority could reside in the hands of The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a private association of state insurance commissioners that consumer advocates fear is too closely tied to the industry.

“The NAIC is clearly an organization that is dominated by the insurance industry,” said California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, a former state insurance commissioner.

“I think the NAIC has an important role to play. They have a lot of knowledge, but I would be concerned about giving them authority to set the r ules.”

The group’s 56 members are public officials — the elected or appointed chief insurance regulators of the states, the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories — responsible for enforcing laws that vary widely in rigor depending on jurisdiction.

But the association itself is a private organization not subject to open meetings and public records law, noted J. Robert Hunter, insurance director of the Consumer Federation of America and a former Texas insurance commissioner.

“They have no transparency,” he said.

At every bend in the road, and by any means necessary, insurers refuse to live up to even the most minimal standards of corporate decency.

Here’s just the latest example of egregious abuse. This time courtesy of Anthem Blue Cross of California.

According to a Times analysis published Feb. 18, Anthem sold thousands of policies that were intended to be safety nets for the sick, jobless and uninsurable at premiums that exceeded state-issued rates.

At the time, Anthem said it had erred and pledged to make amends. And Anthem did mail out refund checks.

But Greenberg, an investment lawyer, said the $12 check he got fell far short of what he believed he was owed.

It all began in February when Greenberg’s wife, Paulette, a paralegal, noticed the Times story. She said, " ‘Hey, this is applicable to us,’ " Greenberg said. " ‘Get on it.’ So I did."

Greenberg began by filing a public records request to obtain the rate caps for the safety-net coverage that are calculated each year by the state Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board. Then he compared those rates with the premiums Anthem had been charging him and concluded he had overpaid by $5,750.24 over several years.

Greenberg complained to Anthem as well as the state Department of Managed Health Care. But that didn’t seem to go anywhere, he said.

So, he went to Small Claims Court. At a brief hearing Thursday, Greenberg showed Judge Rex Minter the law, the state-issued rate sheets and his calculations. Minter awarded him everything he said he was owed, plus $1,475.73 in interest and $85 in court costs.

And the human tragedies inflicted on middle class Americans because all they can afford is bare bones junk insurance, continues to blight our national landscape.

Meet Jim and Martha Martin.

All they can afford is Swiss-cheese insurance, and they are part of the army of dangerously underinsured Americans. And despite being “insured”, people like Jim and Martha are one illness or injury away from financial ruin.

As hard as they both work to make their modest income — about $45,000 a year — the medical bills pile up. Jim and Martha struggle all the time to figure out how to keep up.

Between medical bills and premiums, a whopping 45 percent of their income goes to healthcare!

But Martha doesn’t have much choice. More medical bills are coming. She needs to have a hysterectomy next month, and she says her insurance will pay only $1,000 of the hospital bill.

For the Martins, 2009 is starting to look a lot like 2008. Last year they paid $6,210 in health insurance premiums for themselves and daughter Sara, plus another $13,955 in uncovered hospital bills after Rebekah’s surgery.

It added up to almost 45 percent of their total income of $44,815.

“Forty-five percent! That’s just crazy! I don’t pay that much in taxes,” Martin exclaims. “So you know, I just think there should be a health insurance plan out there that everyone can sign up for.”

She’d be happy to pay the premiums, she says, if only she could get decent coverage.

So you truly don’t know whether to laugh or cry when you read that Kent Conrad plans to vote against the Rockefeller and Schumer public option amendment currently being debated in the Senate Finance Committee.

Salvation from the damnation of the U.S. healthcare system for millions and millions of Americans runs right through the public option. Period.

By NYCeve (Eve Gittelson)

Max Baucus, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, asked his fellow heavily insured Senate colleagues, to summon courage from deep within, as they slow walk the mark up of the healthcare bill. Providing healthcare to the American people is a scary undertaking for these folks, and they need “courage”.

But I’ll wager that it takes a lot more much courage to be an uninsured or underinsured American citizen. And if Max Baucus needs a courage pep talk, he has fifty million Americans who would be glad to explain survival strategies with him.

Baucus at one point had called for members to do what Harry Truman admonished others to do in the past, which is to show some courageous, skillful leadership, and seize the opportunity to change things for the better. So far though we’ve seen little of that great statesmanship, and instead a lot of old-fashioned partisan politics.

It seems clear that righting the deep moral wrong strong healthcare legislation with a public option, would remedy is sadly lacking from the debate.

But truly, for Mr. Baucus to invoke the concept of courage (just to do his job), is one of those moments when you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The cloistered bubble of Washington DC, has rendered those we send there to do our business, fully incapable of understanding the day-in and day-out realities Americans at every socioeconomic level contend with. Survival on many different levels, for so many of us, has become a full time job in the United States of America.

Today, in a searing report in the New York Times, we learn of the likely closing of the dialysis unit at Grady Memorial Hospital. It’s out of funds. Imagine this, Mr. Baucus, in the richest country on the planet. Imagine the fear of the dialysis patients, about where they will go for the treatment they require three or more days a week, just to stay alive. If you don’t get it, you die. This is courage, Mr. Baucus.

Uninsured and dangerously underinsured Americans have more courage in their little fingers, than members of the United States Senate could ever imagine or withstand. And their pathetic and lame stalling, and refusal to do the business of the people is a fitting tribute to small-minded little men and women—I’m speaking to you, Kent Conrad, Blanche Lincoln, Max Baucus and others.

It gets even better, or worse, depending on your point of view.

At one point in the proceedings yesterday, Jim Bunning, offered a nonsensical amendment demanding final CBO estimates befo re the committee could vote, an amendment that might put off a final vote for two more weeks. and then promptly fell asleep.

Yesterday during the Senate Finance Committee’s mark-up of chairman Max Baucus’ (D-MT) health care bill, Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) chastised the whole operation. “I do not support a government takeover of the health-care system,” Bunning complained, saying the bill “confiscates more money from the taxpayers” and “tramples on American freedom and liberties.” Soon after, Bunning decided to take a little nap:

During opening remarks at the Senate Finance Committee session, the Kentucky Republican appeared fast asleep for several minutes, with his head cocked to the side and his eyes closed, before a staffer roused him. Bunning’s head was propped in his hand and his mouth was slightly open while he slept, several witnesses told HOH.

How pathetic. How tragic. But thanks to CSPAN, at least it’s on view for the world to witness.

By NYCeve (Eve Gittelson)

Several months ago there was an important (and tragic) article in the Boston Globe about American with insurance being priced out of medical care. This reality takes on new meaning as we’re learning from another new report that perhaps up to 45,000 Americans die prematurely every year simply because they don’t have health insurance coverage at all!

People without health insurance are 40 percent more likely to die than those with private insurance, according to a new study whose authors say the finding underscores the need to expand coverage to the 46 million who lack it.

According to the report, published today in the Journal of Public Health, lack of health insurance was a factor in the death of as many as 45,000 people in 2 005.

These ghastly new numbers are indisputable. Even those Americans like some of us, with very expensive junk insurance are unable to seek medical care in a timely fashion due to spiraling out of pocket costs. Escalating co-pays, deductibles and declining reimbursement make a routine trip to the doctor, a luxury purchase even many with insurance can no longer consider.

This is the phenomenon known as “think you’re insured, think again”. Let’s take a look at the financial plight insured families faces, this might shed some additional light on the realities faced by the even worse off uninsured.

Costs are keeping patients from care: Copayments rise as families struggle

People with robust health insurance are putting off doctors’ appointments and skimping on prescriptions because they can’t afford the increasing costs of copayments and deductibles, according to managers of patient-assistance hot lines in Massachusetts.

Not that long ago, such dilemmas were typically faced by lower-income families, often on publicly subsidized insurance. But with many consumers struggling to pay rising healthcare costs amid today’s shrinking family budgets, these tough choices are becoming commonplace – even among families with employer-provided health insurance, consumer advocates say.

So here we are, good, tax-paying, heavily insured middle class Americans. We pay so much for this worth less insurance, that we make all manner of sacrifice just to pony up that exorbitant premium every damn month.

But despite doing this—working hard and playing by the rules, (and in Massachusetts facing a fine, if you refuse to play along), we still cannot afford routine medical care. And keep in mind, Max Baucus is also proposing to fine people who don’t purchase private, for-profit insurance.

Fines or no fines, the larger issue remains, will the Senate Finance proposal, make purchasing real health insurance coverage affordable? Well not if the stock prices of health insurer stocks is any indication.

Mandates. Fines. No public option, little or no cost control. The dream of Wall Street and the insurance industry. Fifty million new victims customers.

Baucus also dropped a plan to set up a government insurance program — the so-called public option — to compete with private insurers. Instead, he proposed giving $6 billion in seed money to nonprofit cooperatives that would compete with companies such as Hartford, Connecticut-based Aetna Inc.

Insurer stocks rose on the news, with the Standard & Poor’s 13-member index of managed-care companies up 3.9 percent.</blockquote&g t;
But Even the insurance industry is wondering about affordability.

Scott P. Serota, president and CEO of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, said while the group’s 39 affiliated companies nationwide support the goal of making coverage affordable, they are not in favor of taxes on the industry.

“We are greatly concerned that burdensome new taxes and fees aimed at insurers and other healthcare industry stakeholders would severely undermine the reforms that the chairman’s mark aims to achieve,” Serota said in a statement. “These unprecedented new taxes would make coverage much less affordable for individuals, their families, and employers.”

The proposed taxes also met with opposition from America’s Health Insurance Plans, which represents nearly 1,3000 insurers nationwide.

“New taxes on health care coverage will have the opposite effect by making coverage less affordable for families and employers across the country,” AHIP president and CEO Karen Ignagni said.

Consumer Watchdog is far from sold on the Baucus insurance industry bail out.

The new health reform plan released today by U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) will charge middle-class families nearly 20% of their an nual income for health coverage, while letting insurance companies charge what they please for policies, said Consumer Watchdog. The consumer group, which pioneered the most successful insurance premium regulation law in the nation, today said only the extension of such regulation to health insurance can even begin to make insurance affordable—which it must be, if Americans will be forced to buy it.

The final word on the urgency of the Public Option belongs to the CIGNA whistle blower Wendell Potter:

Speaking before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee Tuesday, former health insurance industry executive-turned-whistle blower Wendell Potter warned that if Congress “fails to create a public insurance option to compete with private insurers, the bill it sends to the president might as well be called the Insurance Industry Profit Protection and Enhancement Act.”

Potter also struck back against one of the key arguments made against the public option: that it would have an unfair competitive advantage over private insurers.

’Contrary to the misinformation being disseminated by the health insurance industry and its allies, the public insurance option would not have a competitive advantage over private plans," Potter told the committee. "It would have to meet the same benefit requirements and comply with the same insurance market reforms as private plans. "

This simple chart, which is beginning to spread across the internet, goes further than anything to date, in explaining in simple terms what healthcare reform will mean for most Americans. The bottom line: If you like what you have, you keep it. Period.

Healthcare Reform for Dummies:

• No one is going to mess with Medicare.


• No one is going to take you away from your doctor.


• You can keep your health plan if you like it.


• If you’re uninsured, and your income is below a set amount, you will get a subsidy from the government.


• The plan makes it illegal to underwrite based on pre-existing conditions, and sets a federal ‘minimum’ standard for all health plans.


• There will be consumer protections.


• Medicaid will be expanded to cover more Americans.


• Oh, one more thing, there will be a public option, available for those who choose to avail themselves of it.

The chart should be distributed at every town hall event in America. If the dumb as dining room table, paid fake protesters took the time to look at it, they’d have their dining room chairs pulled out from under them.

By NYCEve (Eve Gittelson)

The most urgent only news today is that the Congressional Progressive Caucus is fighting back on several fronts.

1. There will be a news conference today as follows. A good turnout and a show of support for our Progressives is a high priority.

If you’re in Washington as a tourist, please go to the southeast side of the Capitol at 2:30PM. If you’re in Washington on business, please go. If you’re in Washington to support the 40th anniversary of Medicare, please go.

From: Shaunna Thomas
Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 11:15 PM
Subject: Moment of truth: CPC and the Blue Dog compromise

I need your help – and the Congressional Progressive Caucus needs your help. Urgently.

Today, the Energy and Commerce committee accepted a compromise with the Blue Dogs which would have the effect of crippling the public option. (As reported, it specifically makes it so that the public option no longer pays Medicare+5%, but instead has to individually negotiate rates with providers. In addition to dramatically increasing the overall cost of reform, this has a big negative impact on the public option’s ability to jumpstart operations.)

This compromise is in direct conflict with one of the core tenets of the Congressional Progressive Caucus’s criteria for a robust public option. The belief appears to be that the progressives will once again just roll over.

Not this time. Not this fight.

Tomorrow afternoon, the CPC will be holding a press conference in conjunction with their allied caucuses the CBC, CHC, and CAPAC. They are going to draw a very clear line in the sand – unambiguously and so brightly it’ll be seen all the way at the White House. We need the largest crowd we can get at the press conference:

Thursday July 30, 2009
2:30 pm
At the triangle on the southeast side of the Capitol

This is the first real moment in which the progressives inside of Congress are being tested for their resolve on healthcare. And this is the most significant ask they’ve made of progressives outside of Congress in the day-to-day fight.

Please help.

Can you reach out to your networks and help us get as many people as possible to come to tomorrow’s press conference?

Many, many thanks,
Shaunna

Shaunna Thomas
ProgressiveCongress.org
917-664-2497 (cell)- call any time

2. DEAL OR NO DEAL?

The news circulating is that the Congressional Progressive Caucus is not going to get out of the way for the Blue Dogs on the House Energy and Commerce Health Care bill. The Progressives are not going to accept a watered down bill. The 2:30 press conference will begin to explain where they plan to go with this. They’re circulating a letter for signatures. What the letter will contain is unclear at this time, but they are saying they have the votes to defeat the Waxman-Blue Dog compromise on the floor.

This version of events is what’s being reported in The Hill.

The Blue Dogs’ deal, which cut $100 billion from the healthcare reform price tag, was instantly denounced by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.), co-chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who said, “It’s unacceptable. We’re not going to vote for anything that doesn’t have a robust public plan.”

Liberals aimed to win 50 signatures on a letter to their leaders opposing the deal to make it clear they could defeat the healthcare bill on the floor.

“Fifty is our threshold,” said Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), a co-chairman of the caucus. “That’ll kill anything.”

Henry Waxman, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on the other hand says he has the votes to pass the Blue Dog Compromise.

As President Obama has repeatedly warned, “if doing this were easy, we would have done it many years ago”. More than ever, as activists, we must stay strong, resolved, focused and determined.

Deal or No Deal?

From a letter dated July 9 to constituents from Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA):

Thank you for taking the time to personally voice your concerns about health care reform. Your willingness to dedicate time to this critical issue is commendable and I wish I could be there to talk with you personally. I am currently fighting on Capitol Hill for a health care reform package that guarantees high quality, affordable health care to every American.

Let me be clear: a public option needs to be part of health care reform. I am pushing for a public option that will keep insurance companies honest by competing to drive down costs and improve quality nation-wide. THis plan needs to be accountable to the people and must work to provide the best coverage for the best price.

A public option will compete with insurance plans in a health insurance exchange. The health insurance exchange will be a new, tightly regulated marketplace where everyone can go to find affordable coverage. New consumer protections will prevent any plan, public or private, from excluding anyone based on a preexisting condition and strictly control premium increases for individual health risks. Additionally, federal financial assistance will be provided for low- and middle-income Americans, making health insurance affordable for all Americans.

As we drive forward with historic health care reform, I am listening to your voice and the voices of other dedicated Washington State residents. Our goals are the same. We need to fix the broken system we have today and provide all Americans with quality, affordable health care. It is critical that you help shape the solutions and set the tons in Washington, DC. I assure you that my staff is sharing your comments with me, and that I am committed to providing everyone in Washington State and across the nation with high quality care.

Thank you again,
Maria Cantwell

From Sen. Jeff Merkley’s (D-OR) Press Office

By Senator Jeff Merkley

At the beginning of July, I held town hall meetings in Umatilla, Polk, Clackamas, Linn, Marion, and Multnomah Counties. At each meeting, the most prominent issue of concern was health care.

People of all walks of life are paying dramatically more for health care than they used to. These high costs are hurting our families and our small businesses. Last year, we spent 17 percent of our gross domestic product on health care; in the last nine years, costs have doubled for the average family. In May, Oregon’s largest insurer announced that the average small business premium was going up 14.7 percent — on top of a 26 percent increase last year. Health care costs are an increasing drag on our economy and the pocketbooks of working families.

In my role on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, I’ve been working with my colleagues on a plan for health care reform that will lower costs, provide consumers with more choices, and increase competition.

The change would work like this: Americans who are happy with their current health plan can keep it. But if you don’t like your plan and you want to look at other options, we’re going to make sure you have a choice of quality, affordable health plans. This will lower costs and it will also force insurance companies to provide better services to their customers.

One of those options will be a community health insurance plan offered by the federal government. This public option will be an additional choice to increase competition, lower prices, and keep insurance companies honest, so families won’t be entirely at the mercy of the insurance companies. Most Oregonians I’ve talked to – and about three-quarters of Americans according to the polls – like the idea of having a choice of what type of plan they want rather than having the federal government make that decision for them.

Over the next few months, we’ll be engaging in a nationwide discussion about the direction of health care in our country. We’ll have before us a choice between a system that gets more and more expensive every year, leaves middle class families one pink slip from losing their health coverage, and makes our businesses less competitive, or an improved model that increases health care options, expands care, and lowers costs. I don’t think we can afford to do nothing.

We have a once in a generation opportunity to remake our health care system for the better. I invite you to contact my office and talk to your friends and family about your opinion because we can only enact real change if you make your voices heard.

By Joe Frandino

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI) is urging American citizens to keep pressuring their elected officials to keep the public option alive in Congressional debates. The recent calls to action made by progressive groups, most notable Democracy for America and Open Left, have asked citizens to contact their respective Congressional leaders and demand that they respect the majority of Americans’ support for the public option. Americans all over the country have made phone calls, delivered petitions, mailed letters, sponsored rallies, and have even personally gone to their leaders’ offices in DC and in their home state to show that they are serious about health care reform.

Every letter or email you write, every phone call you make, every person you get to do the same makes all the difference. You may not hear everything you want to hear every day on this issue from Washington, even from Democrats, but know that it is working.

Given the staggering numbers of Americans without health insurance (recently reported at 47 million), the ever-increasing costs of healthcare in the United States, and the recent polls by the New York Times and CBS that show “72% of Americans favor the introduction of a public option," the Senator’s comments have come at a crucial time.

Sen. Feingold has also published his answers to the questionnaire sent out by DFA and Open Left, asking specific questions about political leaders’ views on the public option, and encourages other political leaders to do the same.

Click here to read the entire article on FireDogLake.com.

By Joe Frandino

In a recent interview with Esquire Magazine, Howard Dean discussed aspects of the American economy, health-care reform, American businesses, global warming, and contemporary American politics.In the interview, Dean mainly addressed problems with the current American health-care system.

He also devoted a large section of the interview to outlining the benefits of a public health insurance option, which is currently being drawn up in potential Congressional legislation. Dean stated that “like national defense, health care is performed more effectively and efficiently by the government as opposed to the private sector.”

Click here to read the full interview…

Statement from the President on Health Care Reform

“I am pleased by the progress we’re making on health care reform and still believe, as I’ve said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest. I look forward to a final product that achieves these very important goals.”

President Barack Obama
July 7, 2009
Office of the White House Press Secretary

By Joe Frandino

According to reports by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the newest health-care legislation has been trimmed down to just over $611 billion—a number that still includes a public option. Democratic leaders in Congress have been working hard to reduce the cost of the bill, which originally stood at more than $1 trillion, and are now confident that the progress being made will further reduce cost and still expand benefits.

“We are on the cusp, on the brink of doing something here that is critical,” said Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who is leading health care reform efforts in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

“This is a strong number that will allow us to achieve the president’s goals,” Dodd said. “We believe these numbers are going to be very encouraging to people concerned about cost.”

President Obama has said that he wants to sign a health-care reform bill, complete with the public option, by this October. Over the past few months, Democracy for America, Howard Dean, and President Obama have been promoting the merits of the public option across the country.

A public option would offer cut-rate medical premiums, according to an article on The Daily Me:

…the public option would not only help the tens of millions of Americans that uninsured, but would also help the middle classes by reducing the cost of medical coverage.

“A public plan is able to basically not worry about profit or overhead," said economist Karen Davis, president of the New York-based Commonwealth Fund. “They don’t advertise or pay commissions to brokers. The are able to pay providers rates that are adequate for the effective provision of care.”

A Medicare-like plan would be able to offer premiums as much as 25 percent lower than private coverage. If the plan is eventually opened to all employers, it would sign up 123 million people. Meanwhile, the number of people with private coverage would plummet by about 114 million.

Democracy for America Founder Gov. Howard Dean presents over 400,000 signatures from Americans demanding a public health insurance option

WASHINGTON, DC—Gov. Howard Dean presented 400,000 signatures in support of a public health insurance option at a massive health care rally on Capitol Hill today, a demonstration of recent polling saying a public option is overwhelmingly supported by a majority of Americans. The signatures were gathered as part of Democracy for America’s Stand with Dr. Dean campaign, a massive grassroots effort to ensure that health care reform includes a public health insurance option available to everyone in America.

Throughout the week leading up to today’s rally at the Upper Senate Park, DFA members delivered petition signatures locally to the district offices of their Senators and Congressional Representatives.

In numerous polls, a public health insurance option has bi-partisan support among voters. The NBC/New York Times poll indicates over 76% of Americans favor having the choice of a government health insurance plan. With some polls showing over 80% support and others reporting even over 50% of Republicans in support, it is clear that America wants health care reform that provides choice, not more of the same broken system.

Gov. Dean, a doctor and former Vermont governor, is lead advocate for a public health insurance option, saying, “Over 75% of Americans, including 50% of Republicans, support a public health insurance option. They understand that to have real health care reform, we must have a public option that gives every American a choice in their health care. Failure to pass a plan with a public option is not real reform. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are making their voices heard on this issue. If Congress fails to listen, the American people will hold them accountable."

Since its launch in March, the Stand with Dr. Dean campaign has mobilized DFA’s one million members in a multi-faceted campaign that includes online organizing and on-the-ground mobilization. In addition to the petition, members wrote 34,000 Letters to the Editors of local papers nationwide, attended health care town halls across the country, and made tens of thousands of calls and sent tens of thousands of emails to Congress in support of a public option.

“We’ve waited too long and come too far for Congress to take a half-step when a big step is needed,” said Jim Dean, Chair of Democracy for America. “That’s why it’s so key for the grassroots to remain involved in the fight for real reform. It’s up to each of us to do our part to make history and win health care for all.”

The health care rally—called Health Care 09. We Can’t Wait—was coordinated by Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and included involvement from hundreds of other progressive organizations, in addition to DFA.

By Joe Frandino

Howard Dean will be spreading the word of his new book “Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform” , and will be taking part in multiple book signings across the country.

SAN DIEGO, CA
July 2, 2009, 2:00 pm

Howard Dean at NEA Annual Meeting
San Diego Convention Center, 111 W. Harbor Drive, San Diego CA 92101

LA JOLLA, CA
July 2, 2009, 5:00 pm

Howard Dean at Warwick’s Bookstore
7812 Girard Ave., La Jolla CA 92037
Call (858) 454-0347

ATLANTA, GA
July 10, 2009, 3:00 pm

Howard Dean at A Cappella Books event
Manuels, 602 N. Highland Ave., Atlanta GA 30307
Call 404-681-5128

NEW YORK, NY
July 16, 2009, 7:00 pm

Howard Dean at Barnes & Noble Union Square
33 East 17th Street , New York NY 10003
Call (212) 253-0810

BURLINGTON (ESSEX), VT
July 19, 2009, 3:00 pm

Howard Dean at Phoenix Books
21 Essex Way, #407, Burlington (Essex) VT 05452
Call 802.872.7111 to learn more.
WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA
July 22, 2009, 9:30 pm

Howard Dean at Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood CA 90069
Call 310-659-3110

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
July 23, 2009, 7:00 pm

Howard Dean at Book Passage
1 Ferry Building, #42, San Francisco CA 94111
(415) 835-1020

PORTLAND, OR
July 24, 2009, 12:00 pm

Howard Dean at Powell’s Bookstore
1005 W. Burnside, Portland OR 97209
Call 503-228-4651

SEATTLE, WA
July 24, 2009, 7:00 pm

Howard Dean at Town Hall Seattle
1119 8th Ave, Seattle WA 98101
Call 206-624-6600

WASHINGTON, DC
July 30, 2009, 6:30 pm

Howard Dean at Busboys & Poets
2021 14th St NW (14th & V), Washington DC 20009
Call (202) 387-7638.

CHICAGO, IL
August 5, 2009, 5:30 pm

Howard Dean at Barbara’s Bookstore
1218 South Halsted Street, Chicago IL 60607
Call 312.413.2665

CHICAGO, IL
August 5, 2009, 8:30 pm

Howard Dean at Young Democrats of America national convention
McCormick Place Convention Center, Chicago IL
Visit the convention website above to learn more.

EASTHAMPTON, NY
August 7, 2009, 8:00 pm

Howard Dean at Bookhampton
41 Main Street, Easthampton NY
Call 631-324-4939

WASHINGTON, DC
August 13, 2009, 4:00 pm

Howard Dean at Politics & Prose
5015 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington DC 20008
Call 202.364.1919

PITTSBURGH, PA
August 14, 2009, 2:00 pm

Howard Dean at Joseph-Beth Booksellers
South Side Works, 2705 E. Carson Street, Pittsburgh PA 15203
Call 412-381-3600

MANCHESTER CENTER, VT
August 30, 2009, 7:00 pm

Howard Dean at Northshire Bookstore
4869 Main Street, Manchester Center VT 05255
Call 802-362-2200

By Joe Frandino

As health care and health insurance prices continue to grow more and more unaffordable to the average American family, many are nervous that there is literally no end in sight in terms of how high prices may go.

Various reports by
Health Care for America Now show that while health insurance coverage continues to shrink, the actual price of health care continues to rise across the board. American families are paying more and more for health care and health insurance, yet the amount of medical services covered by their insurance companies continues to decrease.

By 2016, the increase in the cost of health insurance as a share of the median income will increase by 115% or higher in some states. Do you think your family income is safe? Check out this interactive map to see how your state will fair.

By Joe Frandino

This Thursday, June 25th, Governor Howard Dean will personally present more than 380,000 signatures at the steps of the Capital building in Washington, DC. The signatures have been complied from his “Stand With Dr. Dean” petition calling for the drastic reform of the American healthcare system and the inclusion of a public health insurance option for all citizens.

More than 20,000 people have already signed up to join Gov. Dean at the rally, but even if you can’t make it to Washington DC this Thursday, you can still help make a difference.

You can personally double the impact by delivering your state’s signatures to the district offices of your Senators and Congressional Representatives. Just go to the Democracy for America Web site and fill in your contact information. You’ll instantly be sent your local district office addresses, a signature file and cover sheet. All you need to do is deliver the packet!

The overwhelming majority of Americans want the inclusion of a public option in future health care legislation; recent polls by New York Times , Wall Street Journal , NBC , Kaiser Family Foundation , and Consumers Union , put approval ratings as high as 76% on the public option, with even Republicans voting 50% in favor of the public option.

Help be a part of the much needed reform in the American healthcare system. Let your elected officials know that the will of the American people must be respected. Sign up now.