Letter to Congressman Cuellar urging support for strong public option in health care reform legislation

August 30, 2009

The Honorable Henry Cuellar
336 Cannon H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
phone: 202-225-1640
fax: 202-225-1641

Dear Congressman Cuellar,

Thank you for speaking out in support of HR 3200, I urge you to take the position that you’ll only vote for a reform bill that includes a strong public option right away. It should include the following concepts:
Everyone is eligible.
Pre-existing conditions won’t disqualify anyone.
It must also be transparent and accountable to Congress and taxpayers.
It has to be nationwide to pool risk most efficiently.
It has to be nationwide so it has the clout to negotiate with all forms of health care providers.
It has to be nationwide so that it is portable when a citizen moves.

Your constituents have far more to gain than they stand to lose by such reform. HR 3200 would:
Prevent 620 health care-related bankruptcies in the district
Properly compensate health care providers in the district who currently provide $47 million worth of uncompensated care
Cover 244,000 of the 267,000 people in the district who are currently uninsured
Be deficit neutral through increased efficiencies in Medicare and Medicaid and a surtax on one half of one percent of the population in the district.

Sincerely,

Gurwitz divorced from reality

In Jonathan Gurwitz’s story, “Dissent OK, unless it's against Obama's plans”, he claims that the Democrats are the ones using thuggish tactics to shut down debate on health care reform. Apparently he isn’t aware of Congressman Henry Cuellar’s town hall meeting in McQueeney a few weeks ago where he could hardly open his mouth without being shouted down by anti-reform protestors. Supporters of health care reform at the event found many of the comments crude and the thuggish behavior frightening. Mr. Gurwitz also failed to see the stories in the Express News and elsewhere of anti-reform protestors threatening behavior toward Congressman Lloyd Doggett in Austin. How Mr. Gurwitz sees these folks as peaceful protestors when some of them have started bringing guns to town hall meetings, at the suggestion of some in the media, is beyond my comprehension.

Mr. Gurwitz’s claim that an Internet tip line the White House setup for citizens to report “fishy” criticism of health reform legislation is really for nefarious purposes shows he is as divorced from reality as the birthers he previously decried and Sarah Palin is regarding her “death panel” claims. The White House website is simply a takeoff on the Obama campaign’s “fight the smears” page that sought to debunk the same kind of falsehoods that were so common prior to last year’s election.

Perhaps if real health care reform legislation is passed this year Mr. Gurwitz will be able to receive the psychological counseling and medication he so obviously needs.

Signs for Teabaggers

We support the Sarah Palin Freedom from Information Act

End Medicare and Social Security Now

If you have a pre-existing condition here’s a cup for donations

Health care is only for the wealthy, the poor don’t deserve it

Shut up, we don’t want to discuss health care reform at all

Facts don’t matter, only how loud we scream matters

Freedom means we never have to give you what you paid for

Don’t get between me and my insurance company until after they screw me

Republicans were for killing grandma before they were against it – see John Kerry