Tell a Democratic “Blue Dog” to vote for health care reform: Larry Kissell (D-NC)

Pass Health Reform Now!

Dear Congressman Kissell:

I urge you to vote in favor of the upcoming health care reform bill. North Carolina, the country, and the 8th district of North Carolina in particular, need change in this broken system, and we need it now.

I’m sure you agree with the main tenets of the bill: more Americans should be covered, insurance companies should not be able to cherry-pick who they cover and drop whoever they want to drop, and low-income families should be covered by public insurance or receive some help in paying for coverage on the private market or in health insurance exchanges.

Your public concern with the bill has centered around cuts to Medicare. From a policy angle, however, these concerns don’t seem valid. The two main cuts to Medicare – in hospitals payments and to the home health care system – don’t reduce benefits for seniors.
* The savings from the home health care system are to eliminate overpayments and fraud that have been documented in the system in state after state, including North Carolina. While some providers may suffer as a bloated system gets trimmed down, the same services will still be available to seniors.

* The change in the way hospital payments are updated was negotiated with the hospitals, and they’re not objecting to it. No loss of benefits for seniors there, either.
Finally, almost everyone agrees that Medicare Advantage must stop overpaying private insurance companies. Private insurance companies participating in Medicare Advantage claimed they could provide more services than traditional Medicare at the same price. We agree that private companies should be allowed to offer Medicare plans, but we cannot afford to pay them higher rates and risk sinking the entire Medicare program.

You were elected with a groundswell of grassroots support from your district – the high school teacher who would go to DC to fight for the everyman. And instead you’re impeding the passage of a bill that is desperately needed in your own district and across the country.

More than 11% of children in the 8th district of N.C. have no insurance. More than 20% of non-elderly residents here have no insurance. Both of these stats are higher than the national averages.

I was disappointed with your vote against the House bill last fall, but you still have time to do the right thing for your constituents and for the country. This health care bill isn’t perfect, but neither was the first piece of civil rights legislation. It took numerous bills to make the needed changes then, and it will probably be the same with health reform. But this is the moment to get started. Don’t be on the wrong side of history.

[Your name]