PUBLIC OPTION PLEASE!
Given the massive premium price hikes most Americans are facing, many of us will face a difficult decision. Do we "go naked", that is, give up our for-profit junk insurance or pay these extortionary rate hikes?
So, like many Americans, I have a terrible decision. Do I pay $742.98 a month, do I see how much more I can water down my coverage and go ever deeper into the land of the dangerously underinsured, or do I go naked, and give up the jig entirely?
We're fighting back. Today, FDL Action PAC is launching a massive targeted phone banking effort, to let Harry Reid know, the American people and the people of Nevada demand a public option. Time for Harry Reid to do his job.
Please start calling Nevada voters about Harry Reid and the public option. We need you to help us reach 40,000 Nevada Democratic voters.
SIGN UP TO PHONE BANK HERE
Mr. Reid, if we don't get a robust, no-strings-attached public option, millions of us will have to go naked.. No amount of subsidies in the world, will be sufficient to make for-profit health insurance affordable.
Every year, all of us are paying much more int he way of these premium hikes and getting much less. I am really worried what will happen to Democrats at the polls if you and I don't see some real relief between now and 2012. If the rate hikes continue, in 2012, I'll probably be paying $1200-1300.00 a month. What will President Obama say to me and millions just like me, please be a little more patient, I've just been in office four years. This won't work.
I need a public option and so do millions of Americans. Will you be able to pay these insane price hikes, or will you give up, pray and go naked?
Jane Hamsher writes, as Senate Majority leader, it is Harry Reid’s choice and his alone to include the public option in a final Senate bill. He’s the only one who gets to make that decision. And if he decides to kowtow to powerful DC lobbying interests and hike up health care costs for individuals by $2000 a year by jettisoning the public option, then he’s the one who will have to shoulder the blame.
PLEASE HELP US REACH 40,000 NEVADA DEMOCRATIC VOTERS, PLEASE SIGN UP HERE TO PHONE BANK
TIPS FOR MAKING SUCCESSFUL PHONE CALLS
I ran hundreds of phone banks during the general election last year. Here
are a few tips I hope you will find useful.
- Read the script a couple of times before you start, so that you feel you understand the concept. If you don’t feel comfortable reading off of it verbatim, don’t. Make it your own. Make it conversational. But be sure to ask all the questions on the script.
- You’ll only reach 15-20% of the people you attempt to call at any one
time. Most will not be home. Some numbers will be wrong. Some people will
not be supporters. This is normal for every phone bank, and it’s why we ask so many people to make calls, because it usually takes several attempts to reach a voter.
- If someone is unsure, feel free to tell them why you personally support a public option. You don’t have to site a bunch of facts and figures. For instance, I tell people that I want a public option because my brother in law joined the army 15 years ago because his wife was pregnant and they couldn’t afford insurance. 15 years and 3 kids later he still can’t. He’s about to be sent to Iraq for the third time. No one should have to make that choice.
- If someone says they don’t know if if they’ll call and you can’t get a
definitive answer from them, I would recommend marking them as "not home". That means someone else will call them later and try and persuade them again.
- Don’t take rejection personally. Even a "no" is valuable information and will help refine the list down to real supporters.
AND HERE'S YOUR SCRIPT:
Hello, is Mr./Ms.____________ there? Hi, _____. My name is [YOUR NAME], and I’m a volunteer working to make healthcare reform a reality this year. How are you today? (Wait for response and make sure to engage in a conversational manner).
I'm calling you today because Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is under tremendous pressure from special interests to block a strong public option from even coming to the Senate floor for a vote. We have the votes in the Senate to pass a strong public option, but the Republican minority and special interest groups haven spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to block that vote from even happening.
Do you believe a strong public option should be part of the health care bill that is voted on in Congress?
Y = Yes
N = No
(If "yes", ask the next question. If "no" thank the person and go on to the next call)
As Senate Majority Leader, Reid has the power to make sure a public option is brought up for a vote in the Senate. He needs to know his constituents support the creation of a strong public insurance program that's available to all Americans on day one, without triggers, delays or opt-outs, accountable to Congress, and will be able to bargain for better rates from providers and drug companies.
Will you call Senator Reid and tell him you support a strong national public option without triggers or delays and that you will support him when he brings the public option to the Senate floor for a vote?
Y = Yes
N = No
(If "yes", give them the phone number below for Harry Reid's office and then ask the next question. If "no" thank the person and go on to the next call)
Here is the contact information for Senator Harry Reid: Las Vegas, Nevada - 702-388-5020
And let me leave you with this to fire up your anger juices. Listen to what this truly awful person Mary Landrieu is saying this morning against the public option. This woman has. to. go. She is the worst of the worst, and she's very dangerous because she's Not. Smart. Mary is what we New Yorkers call a moron. And take a listen, her best buddy, you guessed it, Joe Lieberman!
MAKE HARRY REID DO HIS JOB
PLEASE HELP US WIN THIS FIGHT FOR REAL HEALTHCARE FOR ALL AMERICANS.
PLEASE HELP US GIVE HARRY REID A MESSAGE, IF WE DON'T HAVE A REAL PUBLIC OPTION, HE'LL BE FINDING A NEW JOB.
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