We Are Advocates

Congress has been promising us health care reform since before our Presidential election last year. Many Senators and members of the House even campaigned on the issue and made campaign promises.

Now that they've been in office for nearly a year, has it happened? No, it has not. There are health care reform bills currently before both the House and Senate. The House has passed their bill. The Senate hasn't yet.

First, we had the Republican proposals and the Democratic proposals. It doesn't matter who's a Republican and who's a democrat. What matters is that we're all AMERICANS! Some in Congress really do care about us and getting us decent health care. Others don't. It's that simple. Some find partisan politics more important than getting health care reform underway and taking care of U.S. citizens -- the very citizens who pay our taxes and elect them to office, but may not be able to find a doctor or to afford it if they have a doctor.

Even after the Senate passes their bill, it's not done. After both the House and Senate pass their bills, the two have to be reconciled or combined into one before being sent the the President.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea. We are FAR from having health care reform. Yet, every day...

People die because they didn't have access to health care.
People, including tiny children, are ill because they don't have access to health care.
People are denied health insurance coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
People struggle with their insurance companies or pay for care and medication out-of-pocket because the insurance companies are permitted to come between them and their doctors and practice medicine without a license.
Our Senators and members of the House HAVE good health care and insurance coverage.

This must stop, and health care form must be passed and enacted. As citizens, we elect and pay Congress. Please don't forget that.

Please write your Senators and members of the House and demand that health care reform become a reality, not an empty promise. Email is quicker and more effective. You can find email addresses for your Senators and members of the House at www.senate.gov and www.house.gov. At the top of both sites, you'll see search boxes to find your Senators and members of the House.

Also, if you're on Facebook, please join the new group I started, Open Message to Congress on Health Care Reform. If you're not a Facebook user, please consider joining both Facebook and the group. If we can get enough people to join the group, I'm sure I can get my Senators and member of the House to bring the group to the attention of their colleagues.

Remember, it's not the members of Congress who are supposed to govern the United States. "We, the People" are supposed to govern. We're supposed to do that by electing effective representatives to the Senate and House. That gives us not only the right, but the responsibility, to speak to our legislators and tell them what we expect of them.

Thank you!