Kudos to Senator Maria Cantwell, AIS pledge signer, whose leadership pushed the inclusion of an amendment in the health care bill that would push for a public option similar to Washington state's Basic Health Plan. Please contact her office and tell her thank you. Here is the release from her staff:WASHINGTON, DC - Today the Senate Finance Committee passed an amendment to theAmerica's Healthy Futures Act of 2009 sponsored by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell(D-WA) that will for the first time provide states with the ability to negotiatewith health insurers in order to provide high quality health care coverage at alower cost. Rather than handing tax subsidies to insurance companies, Cantwell'samendment directs this money to the states, and lets them use their purchasing powerto negotiate with private insurance carriers. Modeled after Washington state'sBasic Health Plan, which has a 20-year track record of reducing costs and providingquality care, Cantwell's plan could provide coverage to 75 percent of the uninsuredpopulation."We know that the individual insurance market doesn't work for people making lessthan $50,000 a year," said Cantwell. "This proposal is about giving federal dollarsto the states and putting them in the driver's seat. It is a public plan, butnegotiated with the private sector. We are going to everything we can to drive downthe costs of insurance for the citizens of this country and at least this amendmentis a start."Under the original Chairman's mark, people with income between 133 and 200 percentof the poverty level would have been eligible for tax subsidies to help them affordindividual insurance coverage. Cantwell's plan, redirects these revenues to thestates so they can negotiate and cover this group in a more cost effective way, allwithout sacrificing the level of benefits.Right now, these people are the most disadvantaged in the individual insurancemarket and would be left to fend for themselves against the insurance companies. According to data released in July 2009 by the Commonwealth Fund, a privatefoundation: adults with low incomes who sought coverage on the individual marketwere the least likely to enroll in a health plan; 85 percent of adults with incomesunder 200 percent of poverty who tried to buy coverage on the individual market,never purchased it; and, more than one-third of adults who had ever sought coveragein the individual market were turned down by an insurance carrier, charged a higherprice, or had a specific health problem excluded from their coverage.The states' negotiators know the number of people they need to cover and the benefitpackages they need to get, and therefore are able to bargain on behalf of this groupwith insurers to get premiums as low as possible. Insurance providers are apt tonegotiate with states because it provides them with a new pool of customers.An independent trust would be established in each state to handle the funds. Stateswould be encouraged to negotiate with multiple providers, including any publicoption choice that becomes law, so individuals would have a choice of multiplestate-negotiated coverage plans. Any money left over after negotiations would notbe transferrable into the state's general fund; and this proposal is not anexpansion of the Medicaid program."Hard-working Americans deserve choices for better coverage in the private insurancesystem," said Cantwell. "My proposal in no way substitutes a robust federal publicoption, which I will continue fighting for, but clearly demonstrates how powerful"the government can be in negotiating on behalf of consumers." 

For years, activists and organizations have been calling for reform in health care. For too long people have been dying, going bankrupt or seen their quality of life negatively altered because of lack of insurance, access and spiraling costs have kept Americans ill. AIS has hosted town halls, met with our elected leaders and been a voice for working families on this issue.Finally, things are starting to move. Five active bills are working their way through the Congress to change the way America does health care. But there is noticable resistence from the insurance, pharmaceutical and big business lobbies who could see their outrageous profits cut to right-wing Republicans who see this as a poltical opportunity to stall Obama. Recent town halls have beem mobbed by "tea-baggers" intent on disrupting democracy and discourse.