Labor & Employment Law

Delivering Letters?and a Message to Congress on Health Care

By Seth Michaels

Gloria Kortum and Mark Whetstone of AFGE delivered hundreds of letters in support of health care reform to their senator, Ben Nelson.

This week, union leaders and activists visited more than 100 members of Congress to deliver thousands of letters from union members with a simple message: Pass real health care reform now-without a new tax on workers’ benefits. 

Mark Whetstone and Gloria Kortum, two AFGE members, flew in from Nebraska on Wednesday to ask Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) to support real health care reform. Kortum and Whetstone say they’re concerned about the effects of the health care crisis on families and small businesses in Nebraska?and they hope that reform will be fairly financed, not by taxing benefits. Whetstone said:

One of the prime concerns for federal employees is the tax in the bill. It will have ramifications well into the future. We want to make sure Sen. Nelson knows we’re concerned about legislation that contains an excise tax. We know he’s a pivotal vote and he needs to hear from his constituents.

Kortum and Whetstone were excited union members and Working America members sent their handwritten letters to Congress. They delivered these letters to Sen. Nelson during their meeting. Gaeylnn Dooley, the Nebraska state director for Working America, says these letters show deep concerns about the health care system:

We talk to people every single night about the health care crisis. What we experience is that we’re fighting for health care reform in one of the states that needs the help the most. People here are really struggling, and they’re coming out to ask Nebraska senators to listen to them, not big insurance companies.

Ken Mass, president of the Nebraska State AFL-CIO, calls on Nelson to support real health care reform in the Omaha World-Herald.

Here’s more news from the fight for health care reform:

• Check out this great video from the Center for American Progress on why we need health care reform.
• A new study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research suggests that the broken health care system is the key factor behind our nation’s public debt.
• The Alliance for Retired Americans is delivering members of Congress holiday cards for health care reform.
• In case you were wondering: Yes, a public health insurance option is still very popular?more popular than the reform bill in general. This isn’t rocket science, senators!
• And, finally, your absurdity of the day: Fox News loudmouth Glenn Beck has a “plan” for health care: abolishing Medicare.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on December 11, 2009 (boomark / email).