Lets draft a letter to Washington

Merilee:  I will eagerly be awaiting the draft of the letter you hope to send.  It still sounds to me like you are focused on bc and we seem to have two different goals here.  If I don't feel I can send the "drafted" letter, I will still come up with my own and mail it on the same day you send your letters.

Single payer healthcare - but then, this is Washington. We wouold have to hope that the senate can first agree on debate rules for the folowing:

---What is the procedure by which to, in a bipartisan fashion, open the envelope containing the letter from BCO posters. Will Reid postpone voting until after the 2012 elections?

That is, once the House Appropriations Committee votes to consider the motion to receive the BCO envelope either by snail mail or by e-mail. That agreement might take months. They must first agree on the subcommittee debate rules regarding "what is e-mail" and "what is snail mail."

Athena, the Snide Washingtonian

Great thread, though.

"However, I don't think, unless I am wrong, that we were planning on putting all our letters together in a box and mailing at the same time. Hmmmm.....that could be a plan. As I understand it, the senators etc. don't even read all their mail whether snails or emails. They hire others to 'glance' through them and mark down how many are 'for' a subject and how many 'against' and all the senators get are 'counts' "

That's correct. Many office holders ask that a small number of letters be selected for them to read personally, but there's no way any of them can read them all. I've been involved in many a letter writing campaign. I always advise people that quantity of letters counts more than quality. You do not need to write a Pulitzer Prize winning letter. Your opinion is basically being tallied.

That being said, I've been told that each letter is consider to represent the views of at least 200 other people, because only one in 200 or so will actually bother to write. So writing is worthwhile.

But in addition to writing letters to elected officials, letters to newspapers and other periodicals are also very worthwhile. For example, it's worthwhile to write a letter to the LA Times in support of the person who wrote the editorial I posted.

A newspaper's product is not actually news, but faces in front of advertisements. When you write letters you're showing the paper that their article caused your face to linger over their advertisements, and you're encouraging them to provide more articles on the subject about which you wrote. 

Granny:  Like you said "years ago".  Many of us were lots younger and healthier and able to do such things but unfortunately what you may be "hinting" at is no longer an option for some of us.  I won lots of battles too when I was young and healthy enough to physically take them on. I think if we can put together this plan to flood Washington with thousands of letters, it will have a good impact. What politicians look at is "votes".  Thousands of letters mean that can be more thousands of people too angry to vote them back in office.  So letters do count, imo, especially in an election year.  That is why we have to decide what we want to say and get this show on the road asap!

Granny:  I totally agree with you.  We can't waste time debating what has to be done and end up not doing anything.  This is too important!  I hope tomorrow we can get some input on what we want to put in the letters and get them mailed. 

I have an idea.  Why don't we select the DAY we want the letters to be mailed and let each person just write their own letter.  I already know what I want to ask my senators to do.  I want them to come up with some type of affordable healthcare for ALL people who need it no matter what their illness is.  So many people have lost their healthcare insurance through loss of jobs, or having to work part time jobs which don't give coverage or not being able to work and having to wait two years for Medicare if they are lucky enough to be approved for social security disability. 

We have many, many Americans who put off getting needed medical procedures because they don't have insurance and can't afford to pay for their own medical care or medications. Our young adults with chronic medical problems  are suffering because they lose their jobs and have to be supported and cared for by their parents because they live in a country which gives healthcare to the elderly (Medicare), the poor (Medicaid) but forgets about the people in the middle who don't fit into these categories. Not every one without a job can afford COBRA.   I would urge my senators to come up with a Bill to provide healthcare to ALL Americans who need it no matter what their age is.  We need cures for all diseases but what good is a cure without healthcare insurance to pay for what we and the others who suffer need.

 Now I know what my letter will say. If you want something else just put your heart into words and get that letter written.   I hope we can decide tomorrow what DAY we are going to mail them so they can get to Washington about the same time.  As Granny wrote:  "Lets just get this show on the road!!!!!! ASAP!

I am in. I am one of those people who could use the health insurance. The only reason I had any coverage at all is because I belonged to the Maine breast and cervical program.. We don't make enough to pay for health insurance but make to much for Medicare..... I worked part time before all of this but am now out of work due to getting blood clots during chemo. I ended up in the hospital and got DVD. That in turn affected my foot. I have a numb foot on the bottom with lots of pain on the top. Tendons tightened up and am using a dynasplint to try to stretch those tendons so I can hopefully walk again at some point... Anyway I would be more than willing to help. I am not a good writer so would love a letter template to use..



Cindy

J9W so true, my friend and I were diagnosed in the same month last year.  Within 15 days I had an mri, scans and started chemo - we did have different BC - but her insurance wouldn't pay for the MRI as a diagnostic (not sure if mine would have, but my biopsy was certain, hers wasn't).  She paid $900 for a breast MRI that confirmed cancer.....

She later lost her job at the university she work for, and couldn't afford the $956 a month Cobra.   6 months later she found another job, with insurance, but of course any cancer related treatment etc won't be covered for a year....

I understand the need to get attention for health care reform, I lived in Germany while my ex was military and had many German friends and saw the social medicine in action, it worked, but nothing is free of course.  A very large chunk of each of their paychecks went to funding their healthcare.  I'd be willing to pay up to guarantee insurance....now that I understand how important it is.

Kiley:  I'm with your idea.  I think this needs to be about ALL people with chronic diseases.  I think we need to settle on exactly "what" we are going to be focusing on soon or it will never get out the door.

hill:  Thanks for the link and the additional info.  That's what I needed to read.  Upward and Onward!