I'm a single 38 year old who lives on 700$ a month from disability benefits due to chronic pain problems caused by a failed spinal fusion surgery that has half my spine fused together by a metal bar. Before disability benefits my pain levels were so high that I went from 180 pounds to 125 in six months and I am 6'3" and was eating over 3000 calories a day. I am not a lazy person but when I did work it was at lower paying jobs, primarily taking care of adults with severely low IQs that could not take care of themselves. I worked hard and played by the rules and today I heard that McCain plans to fund his $2500/5000 health care tax credits by slashing my insurance: Medicare and Medicaid. This is absurd and it needs to be spread far and wide across the media spectrum. We need to go viral on McCain's ass ebola style!
So exactly how do we spread the word that to partially fund health care for the middle class--via the bloated and ludicrously expensive private insurance system that costs twice as much per person than any other country on the planet--by slashing the health care benefits of the incredibly poor, disabled, and elderly? As I said we go viral on McCain's campaign till it is too sick to ever recover, so sick that when books are written about his Presidential campaign the authors will wonder if McCain hated Americans or if he was too senile to realize the horrors his policies would create.
- Post videos on YouTube etc. detailing your personal story and how your life would be affected if your, your spouse's, your children's, or your parent's Medicaid/Medicare benefits were significantly reduced. Be sure to mention that many doctors refuse to take Medicaid/Medicare patients and that it is the most efficiently run medical program in America with it costing only 2-3 cents on the dollar while private insurers rake in 15-18 cents on the dollar so their executives can have corporate jets, golden parachutes, and work retreats at five star resorts.
- Write letters to your local newspapers, radio stations, and television stations. Be concise and make sure to mention that this information comes directly from the Wall Street Journal to defuse cries of liberal media bias against McCain and that Sarah Palin herself said during her "debate" that McCain's health care plan would be revenue neutral, which requires either spending cuts or tax increases. Be sure to add your personal story to the mix like with the YouTube postings so people can relate. A good start would be to something like this, "Everybody has at least a few family members or close friends that rely on Medicaid to meet their health care needs and if you've ever talked to them about their coverage you know how difficult it can be to get doctors to accept it or to get it to cover everything medically necessary without bankrupting their saving accounts. According to the Wall Street Journal article these problems are only going to get much, much worse if Senator McCain is elected as he has declared he intends to cut 1.6 trillion from these essential programs that protect our elderly parents and disabled relatives and friends over the next decade. This means more bankruptcies as families try to pay their medical bills, more foreclosed homes because families had to choose between their mortgages and their lives, and more sick and ailing people who needed treatment but could not afford to pay for it causing them to need far more expensive care later on that could have been stopped by far cheaper preventive care now." Once you outline the problems put your own personal spin on the story: who in your family it will affect and how you feel about it.
- Write to AARP (American Association of Retired People) regarding this issue. Also, go to their website and post journal (they don't call them blogs over there) entries regarding these facts that are extremely important to those who are elderly. Eldery voters are one of the few blocks that still trend for McCain, albeit only by a few points. If we can get the elderly vote to flip for Obama it will be an ocean of blue on the electoral map a month from now. This will especially work if you are a member of AARP and write to the membership director with threats of canceling membership if this issue is not addressed.
- Contact all of your elderly and disabled relatives and friends and inform them that McCain intends to gut the programs that keep them healthy and alive. Let them know that a vote for McCain is like voting to increase their taxes at the same time reducing the benefits they'll get. If your family is one of those that stays away from political discussions frame the issue with a "I'm really worried about what will happen to you once McCain gets elected," which will get your relative or friend to ask what do you mean, "Haven't you heard? McCain plans to slash Medicare and Medicaid spending by 1.6 trillion and Nana this isn't your liberal grandson making things up, this comes directly from the Wall Street Journal, McCain's campaign, and even straight from Sarah Palin during her debate." Don't make it a "How can you vote for somebody who supports ____" type of attack, which will only make your relatives and friends feel like you think you are better than they are. Don't bring up any other issues so the matter won't get watered down although if they bring up other issues let them know where McCain stands on them--supporting the industry insiders' views or the wingnutosphere fictional beliefs.
- Blog baby blog! Or is it blog, blog, blog? Blog till it hurts! Post responses regarding this at mainstream sites like CNN, ABC, etc. so people not addicted to DKos will learn about it. Make sure you leave links so concern trolls cannot ask, "Where's the proof?" Again, make sure you hit the salient points mentioned above along with incorporating your personal story into it.
- Come up with other ideas and post them in the response below. I'll read through them and post them back up here, giving credit to the idea creator, because I'm sure there are some Kossacks out there that can come up with even better ideas than me. Yes, I confess: I am not the smartest person on the internet. Please don't tell my grandmother, she'll be heart broken.
Link to the origial WSJ story...
http://online.wsj.com/...
Big thanks to the other Diarists who alerted me to this budgetary travesty.