One last push, two more weeks, thirteen more calls to make to protect that ACA and our vision of a just society.
Right now Cassidy-Graham is chugging along with the hope that the need to do SOMETHING means that the last bill standing is SOMETHING.
We can do something about it.
Call your Senators today. If you are from North Carolina, Florida or the Upper Midwest, tell your Senators that you don’t want your state to get whacked to reward Texas’ intransigence. If you are not from those states, ask your Senators to vote for Alexander-Murray as the only health care bill.
Call your Governors as they would be handed an incredible mess.
Call…
ThresherK
OT: Anyone know the work of editorial cartoonist Jeff Stahler, previously in the Columbus Dispatch?
This recent one is awful, having been obsoleted to any sentient being almost a quarter century ago:
Ohio Mom
Murray-Alexander? Haven’t heard of this one. Off to google…
Another Scott
TheHill this morning:
Keep fighting…
Cheers,
Scott.
Starfish
Alaska, Arizona, Maine, Ohio, Tennessee, and West Virginia, trumpcareten.org has special scripts for you.
rikyrah
CALL CALL CALL!!!
MomSense
Going to call at lunch today. I’m just about to send another fax, too.
Text “resist” to 504-09 and in about a minute you will be able to fax your Rep, Senators, and Governor. There is an option to send a letter and I read on twitter that @resistbot is amassing a huge team of volunteers to deliver the letters.
Ohio Mom
The usual: full mailboxes at Portman’s Cincinnati and Columbus offices, voice mail in DC, hapless intern answered the phone in Toledo.
I wrote Portman an email over the weekend, and will continue to call after I get back from this morning’s eye doc appointment.
@Another Scott: I often hear your voice in my mind’s ear, “We have to fight them everyday.” Thanks for the encouragement.
rikyrah
@Starfish:
thank you for this…have spread the word
MomSense
@Ohio Mom:
Try resist bot. It’s a bit slow today because of the high volume but it is a great way to get through to them when they won’t answer their phones.
rikyrah
@Another Scott:
I love your signature. It is a positive boost.
daveNYC
Points two and three sound bad. I know that coppers have some valid role, but copper plans (especially for ‘all ages’) combined with additional regulatory flexibility for the states seems like a match made in hell.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
I guess it’s time to call my senators, Warner and Kaine. They’d never vote for this thing, but I guess it’s good to let them know that their constituents are behind them on this.
Major Major Major Major
Yep, a classic case of the politician’s syllogism, although this time they’re doing it intentionally.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
And, done. I know politicians get calls all the time telling them about things people are unhappy with. It’s good to buck them up when we’re happy with what they’re doing, too.
The Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
Done.
Betsy
I’m sorry. I don’t understand the post or the comments. What is happening, which is the bad bill, what does the bad bill contain that makes it bad? Is there a different bill that should be supported? I don’t read between the lines and have been working on other things, so if someone would be very kind and spell it out as if to a fifth-grader wanting to help, I’d really appreciate it. Also I would like to pass the basics along to other people who will call, so a very basic explanation would help me reach out to others as well. THANKS
Major Major Major Major
@Betsy: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/8/1/16074746/cassidy-graham-obamacare-repeal is a decent explainer.
ETA and it goes without saying that any Obamacare repeal bill is bad
Nelle
Done. Thanks for the reminder.
MomSense
I call every day and also send a fax every day. I try to keep them conversational and fairly jingo free. Because I fax so often I limit each one to one or two things. Here is the one I sent today via text using resist bot. It took 2 minutes to fax it to Collins and King. Collins may run for Governor. If so, this will be a yuuge problem for her.
I am so upset that Graham Cassidy is even under consideration again. This bill is as bad as all the others because it will destroy Medicaid. Maine has an aging population. Our seniors rely on Medicaid for their nursing home care. Block grants will mean a shrinking pool of funds to pay for an increasing Medicaid eligible population. This will be dire for rural hospitals and nursing homes. Graham Cassidy also ends funding for Medicaid in 2026 and I don’t trust Congress to reauthorize given the worsening dysfunction in D.C.
I am also upset about the loss of patient protections. I have a pre-existing condition. I have a son with a pre-existing condition. This bill does not protect us. It even allows insurance companies to raise rates after enrollment if the insured is diagnosed with an illness or condition. This is completely unworkable given so many of us in Maine are counting every penny and cannot absorb unexpected expenses.
There are things we can do to make the ACA stronger. This isn’t it. Please engage in a transparent process. Senators Alexander and Murray are doing this patient, correct work and I hope you will join their efforts and scrap Graham Cassidy.
Miss Bianca
I’m sorry, but would it be gauche and divisive of me to suggest that maybe Wilmer could have fucking waited till after September 30th to have started brandishing his “Medicare for All” bill? Or would we still be facing zombie ACA repeal attempts regardless?
MomSense
@Miss Bianca:
No especially since Graham mentioned that if they didn’t do something now they might end up with single payer as one of the reasons to do this terrible thing now.
Also too I think Wilmer is having a single payer rally. Do we think he will ask all the attendees to call their Senators? I have little to no confidence he will because I honestly think he may want to kill the ACA.
Miss Bianca
@MomSense: And I hope it’s OK with you that I liked your wording so much, I took it and adapted it as the basis for a fax to Sen. Gardner.
MomSense
@Miss Bianca:
Please take whatever works for your state. Use it for a letter to the editor if you like.
Major Major Major Major
@MomSense: Graham’s statement made no sense though, and he could just as well have said it about an imminent bill. I don’t like Sanders but this seems like the sort of thing that would bug me if somebody said it about Hillary.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
Sanders isn’t trustworthy.
Major Major Major Major
@MomSense: that doesn’t mean the timing of his bill matters one whit.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
Why not wait until after 9/30 to be safe?
Percysowner
@Ohio Mom: Portman’s Cleveland office was answering this morning, so I made my plea. I’ll call again tomorrow, for all the good it will do.
On a less noticed note Daily Kos reports Wave good-bye to your pre-existing condition protections under new Trumpcare bill
They are SUCH bastards.
Major Major Major Major
@MomSense: why didn’t Hillary wait to publish her book until after 9/30? Why is Obama giving another Wall Street speech right now when the left should be united on this front and not fighting over speaking fees?
EveryDayIHaveTheBlues
I’m gonna call Portman. As Ohio Mom says, his DC phone will probably go to VM, but can’t hurt.
One thing that the Trumpcareten website omits is that this vote will not wait for a CBO score (as per TPM and politico: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/health-advocacy-groups-hit-the-panic-button-on-gops-last-ditch-repeal-effort). Another thing to hit them with. I’ll demand that Portman wait for a CBO positive CBO score.
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense: Russian stooge, is always out front undermining the Dems from the left.
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
It’s not the same thing. The stupid Single payer bill he admits has no chance of passing and is so incomplete it doesn’t even contain any funding mechanism is now being used by the Republicans as a reason/excuse to pass a deathcare bill right before the reconciliation deadline runs out. Sanders could have waited two fucking weeks to submit his fantasy plan. C’mon.
Major Major Major Major
@MomSense: and if he’d waited they totally wouldn’t be trying to pass this bill that started making the rounds before he released his, right before the reconciliation deadline that will stop something they’ve been wanting to do for seven years. This is totally about the timing of his BS bill.
ETA they would’ve just found a different thing to lie about as their reasoning. This is the same as second guessing everything Hillary did “because it would give republicans ammunition”
MomSense
@Major Major Major Major:
It’s not the same as second guessing Clinton as much of that is rooted almost entirely in sexism.
Sanders building support for his fantasy plan and gaining co-sponsors (I’m pissed at them, too) gave Graham a huge assist to rally support for their plan. Health care was dead. Slavitt and others have said publicly that this bill joined up really fast. McConnell went from never again to fully on board.
When I approached Olympia Snowe to talk about the ACA, her first response was to defensively ask me if I wanted to talk about single payer. When I said no, her demeanor changed completely. They are terribly averse to single payer. It moves them. That’s just the way it is.
Major Major Major Major
@MomSense: republicans are not trustworthy.
rikyrah
From Krugman’s piece on Cassidy-Graham
rikyrah
We’ve got less than 2 weeks to kill #TrumpCare (again). Everything you need: https://t.co/TOZfcL78Rd
— ☪️ Charles Gaba ✡️ (@charles_gaba) September 18, 2017
Percysowner
I just sent Portman a fax via resist bot. I’ll hammer him every day from now on.
rikyrah
They only need to flip 1 vote by end of September to ruin your healthcare. Light up the phones, please. This really is their last chance.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) September 17, 2017
catclub
Important if true.
catclub
@rikyrah:
Another possibility is that it passes the Senate but is not agreed to by the House – for not cutting enough taxes – and so it ping pongs back and forth between them. But if so, the reconciliation rules no longer apply.
I think if it does pass the Senate, there is a non-zero chance that the House will pass it just to have a win. Not large, but non-zero.
Betsy
Thanks everyone.
TenguPhule
@Betsy:
Republicans want to punish states that adopted the ACA’s Medicaid expansion. And wreck all the rules that the ACA set up.
Ohio Mom
@TenguPhule: And cut Medicaid to shreds.
Have I complained lately how much I dislike talking to those swarmy interns? Makes me feel like I need a shower. It’s a good thing I’ve made my calls for the day because I’m at the point I’d tell the next intern that they are the banality of evil my undergrad philosophy prof warned me about.
Really, what is wrong with people that they are Republicans?
TenguPhule
@Ohio Mom:
Of course not. So tell us how you really feel. ;P
daveNYC
And McCain is indicating support for this. Not shocking, as I thought there had to be something that made McConnell think he had a shot with this.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ohio Mom: if they’re Republican interns, odds are their parents, who pay their rent and probably an allowance and themselves (probably) inherited or stand to inherit significant amounts of money, told them that all this “inequality” stuff is just about people who want a hand-out
AZ gov calls for Senate to pass Graham-Cassidy, MSNBC framing this as giving McCain permission to abandon all his “regular order” rhetoric and hold hands with Lindsay once again
MomSense
@daveNYC:
Collins is waaaay too quiet. Fuck