Senator Fischer's position (we are waiting for her response)

I just sent this letter to Senator Fischer, asking her again to oppose Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare and Medicaid. Will keep everybody posted as we learn what she plans to do. Dear Senator Fischer, Dear Senator Fischer I spoke to your assistant Tiffany Settles last week requesting that she find out your position on offering vouchers for, or privatizing in any way, Medicaid or Medicare. First, Tiffany was very gracious and knowledgeable and represents you well. I am not concerned that she has not gotten back to me yet – it has been a busy week, and, I imagine that you may have not yet made a decision whether to privatize Medicare and Medicaid in the mix of current health reform options. Nonetheless, I thought I'd offer you and her some more thoughts. Tiffany may have told you that I am circulating a petition, started among members of my church, to support one of our members who has Medicare and Medicaid. Her story is here https://www.change.org/p/senators-deb-fischer-and-ben-sasse-stop-the-privatization-of-medicare We call the project "We Stand With Terri Lynn Brewer." I have been carrying the paper version of the petition around with me for just over a week, in addition to the online version above. I have, with very little help, easily gotten over 100 signatures online, and almost 200 on paper. I am writing to you this morning to tell you that I have been amazed at how easy it is to get people to sign this petition, and not just people in our church who know Terri Lynn. It is unlike anything I have seen before in Nebraska, and I have gathered signatures for a lot of causes. Almost nobody I have asked to sign has turned me down. I truly believe that Nebraskans oppose privatization of Medicare and Medicaid. I understand that you want to cut health care costs, as thoughtful people should. The problem for most of us is this: privatization of health care does not cut costs, it merely shifts them, often to people who can least afford to pay. If you know of studies that show otherwise, I am very interested in learning about them. So, in the interest of cutting health care costs, I will offer some ideas that I believe will work: Pay for preventive care at 100% Encourage quality of outcomes over quantity of services Negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies as President Trump has promised Simplify the preparation of advanced medical directives so that people who want to die peacefully at home can hope to do it. There are other good ideas out there from economists and smarter people than me, and, I am confident that Ms. Settles is doing a good job of doing the research. In a few weeks I expect that my small effort to get signatures for this petition will get to a point where I am ready to just come to your office with some friends and hand them all to you. I don't have the time to really take this project statewide, or the network to raise money, so we won't pretend this is a scientific survey of the state. In the meantime, I hope you will take a public position promising to oppose the privatization of Medicare and Medicaid. It is the right thing to do, and it is what people in Nebraska want you to do. Respectfully, Frances Mendenhall