For a long time we've been approaching the healthcare debate with the approach of persuading other Americans that a public healthcare system available to everyone (whether it be a single-payer system or the public option) is the way to get universal healthcare pushed through Congress. And we as progressives have done a great job. As we've noted in several diaries the past few weeks, over 76% of Americans want a public option, with even large numbers of Republicans wanting it. We're winning the battle for public opinion.
So now we've got a unique problem on our hands in which 3/4 of Americans want a public option, and yet Congress is still sitting on our hands. The reason of course, being that the politicians are being bribed by insurance and other healthcare lobbyists.
Which means we need to change the nature of our debate from getting public opinion to shaming Congress.
The odds are about 100% that if a Democrat has spoken out against the public option, it's because they've received large chunks of money from the insurance industry. The odds are strong that if a Republican has done it, he's also received money from the insurance industry (although there are a few Ron Paul types that oppose it out of conservative principal).
So what we need to be doing is digging up the info on our Congressmen and Senators and finding out how much money they've been receiving from the Medical Industrial Complex.
To start, here's the politicians from my home state of Michigan (all data comes from OpenSecrets.org).
Congressional Democrats:
Bart Stupak-$0
Dale Kildee-$2,000
Mark Schauer-$13,550
Gary Peters-$22,175
Sander Levin-$28,000
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick$-0
John Conyers-$0
John Dingell-$9,500
Congressional Repugs:
Peter Hoekstra-$2,000
Vern Ehlers-$2,200
Dave Camp-$77,500
Fred Upton-$24,250
Mike Rogers-$45,750
Candice Miller-$0
Thaddeus McCotter-$8,500
Senate (both Dems):
Carl Levin-$193,183
Debbie Stabenow-$434,065
I included "Medical Professionals" because after looking at some of the groups, there's more than at least one that have come out against the public option. I didn't include hospitals/nursing homes because if I had to guess, I'd say they'd want a public option to make sure that all their hospital bills are getting paid.
Nobody likes hearing that their Representatives are bought and paid for, and Congress knows this. If there's anyway we can scare them into not caring that they've received tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars from insurance lobbyists, it's by exposing them as corrupt bureaucrats.
This isn't to say that we shouldn't keep pushing for public opinion. We have the people on our side and we need to keep it that way. But now our bigger battle needs to be with Congress.