Unacceptable

September 17, 2009

The Senate Finance Committee is currently considering a deeply flawed health care reform bill that, as former insurance company executive Wendell Potter said, is a “gift to the insurance industry.”

If there’s anyone who doesn’t need a gift right now, it’s the health insurance industry that denies care to millions of Americans while our premiums skyrocket and drag our economy down. Take action right now and tell the Finance Committee to fix this bill.

In a statement released yesterday, AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee said that this bill doesn’t come close to meeting the needs of America’s working families and doesn’t meet the standards set by President Obama last week in his joint address to Congress.

There is no employer mandate, no public option, no help for retirees. The bill weakens state insurance regulations and taxes health plans that provide benefits for many middle class families. This bill fails to provide good, affordable coverage and does not protect families from medical bankruptcy. It is unacceptable.

Weakening state insurance regulations? Taxing health plans that provide coverage for struggling middle class families? That really is unacceptable.

What happens in the coming weeks will affect every single American. If the insurance companies win, the rest of us – hardworking families who struggle to make ends meet – lose.

Please contact the Senate Finance Committee right now and tell them to fix the health care reform bill now. We can’t let anything short of real reform pass.