Just in case anyone needs to find the tool that gives you access to every online paper ANYWHERE to submit letters to the editor here it is:
Click on the name of the paper and another window opens. Scroll down to “web sites” and click on the paper’s home page. Another window opens and there you are. Just click around until you find where to submit. Sometimes the op/ed submit is obvious and sometimes you have to go to the site map or contact us link of the paper to find it.
You can set it to sort each state by highest circulation or just for dailies or weeklies, etc. Remember that sometimes smaller papers get fewer submissions (and therefore, possibly, a better chance of being chosen) but they still have readership. Just cut & paste your pre-written letter to as many publications as you wish.
Happy writing! Let’s hit as many of them as we can. Maybe a few of us will get published. At the very least the papers will see a number of letters coming in from our side.
Hi everyone,
I was just reading The Hightower Lowdown Report and ran across some interesting stats. We all know that just a handful of corporate insurance giants control the market (Aetna & United control a third of it) but these numbers are sick (pun intended)!
The American Medical Association’s 2008 study of health-insurance markets in 314 American cities found that 94% are “highly concentrated”.
- In 56% of our cities, one insurer controls more than half of the group healthcare market
- In 19% of our cities, one insurer controls 70% of the market
- In 11 cities, one insurer controls more than 90% of the market
And yet the nit-wits against a public option scream that they want “choice” and they don’t want to have their “healthcare controlled by a bureaucracy”!!! HAAA!!!
On a local level, June 14th’s Miami Herald published, “A study for the Milliman Medical Cost Index found that a Miami area family of four with an employer-based prefered provider organization plan averaged $20,282 in healthcare costs in 2008. That’s 21% higher than the national average. Miami is the first city exceeding the $20,000 mark, the first city to climb so high.”
Then let’s address the uninsured numbers which do not include recipients of Medicaid and the underinsured. Also from the same issue of the Miami Herald, We are #1 in uninsured. Nearly 33% in Dade county and 25% in Broward.
Just thought I pass out that little tid-bit for anyone doing a letter writing campaign or in need of even MORE talking points!
ALSO…..Here’s a list of contact info for some of the national groups fighting for our public healthcare rights:
-
Health Care for America Now—www.healthcareforamericanow.com 202-654-6200
- Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care—http://guaranteedhealthcare4all.org
- Physicians for a National Health Program—www.pnhp.org 312-782-6006
- Progressive Democrats of America—www.pdamerica.org 877-239-2093
- Progressive States Network—www.progressivestates.org 212-680-3116
- Single Payer Action—www.singlepayeraction.org
Tracie
ALSO…..Here’s a list of contact info for some of the national groups fighting for our public healthcare rights:
-
Health Care for America Now—www.healthcareforamericanow.com 202-654-6200
- Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care—http://guaranteedhealthcare4all.org
- Physicians for a National Health Program—www.pnhp.org 312-782-6006
- Progressive Democrats of America—www.pdamerica.org 877-239-2093
- Progressive States Network—www.progressivestates.org 212-680-3116
- Single Payer Action—www.singlepayeraction.org
Tracie
Below is copied an article from the DailyKos. It foreshadows the useless co-op option Nelson is supporting. In April Blue Cross publicly announced that it would be fighting the public option tooth & nail. No wonder!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/6/23/172150/659
Florida Blue Cross “Reform?” Sunshine On Crist’s Plan
Tue Jun 23, 2009 at 02:37:28 PM PDT
Today, the Blue Cross Association stated that a Government Plan Option was not required to meet the objectives of reform;
“A government plan option — in any form — is unnecessary to achieve comprehensive reform and would have devastating consequences on the health insurance coverage that employers and individuals currently have, the federal budget deficit and existing provider systems,” the groups said.
Last year, Blue Cross partnered with Governor Charlie Crist of Florida in order in order to provide “comprehensive reform” for individuals and employers in the Sunshine State.
What kind of comprehensive reform did the Republican Governor work out with Blue Cross?
The Sunshine on that plan is below the fold-
Governor Crist is so proud of his Blue Cross plan and reform measures that he is prominently taking credit for it in his new campaign for the Florida Senate Seat. From www.charliecrist.com;
I signed into law a nationally recognized, market-based health care program to provide low cost health insurance for nearly four million uninsured Floridians.
Remember, those words because here is the Republican Governor’s Prescription;
During the 2008 legislative session, my administration worked with legislators of both parties to secure unanimous approval of the Cover Florida Health Care Access Program. This legislation makes affordable health coverage available to 3.8 million uninsured Floridians through a comprehensive market-based strategy.
Just how is that “comprehensive market based strategy” in statewide partnership with Blue Cross working for the average Floridian?
When Richard Browne checked into the plan, he found it too expensive. For men ages 50 to 59, the monthly catastrophic coverage costs $363 to $463.
“I’m not sure who it’s supposed to be affordable for, but it’s not affordable for me,” he said.
But you may be thinking Richard Browne could end up using a lot of benefits, right? Well the Blue Cross plan has an annual maximum of $25,000 in benefits with a lifetime maximum of $50,000. So the above Floridian will pay $5,556 a year for a possible single year benefit of $25,000.
Please, go to the Cover Florida website and check out the Republican Blue Cross solution, it is an eye opener. (You can use zip code 32803 in Orange County, FL to get quotes)
Charlie Crists prescription was to provide health coverage for “3.8 million uninsured Floridians.”
Someone needs to ask Charlie why only 1,716 uninsured Floridians have signed up for his “nationally recognized, market-based health care program.”
Blue Cross should be ashamed what it did to Floridians in the guise of reform. That is why a Government Option is needed to keep everybody honest.
Florida is called the Sunshine State, it is time for Daily Kos to bring sunshine to Charlie Crist’s Blue Cross option and show it to the rest of America.
Tags: health care blue cross (all tags
BlueBroward.org
