Odds are that it will only pop out of committee if enough arms and legs are broken to ensure its defeat. It’s possible, but our supporters have been very courageous over the past three years taking tough votes and a lot of heat. Never was it clearer than last July when it took almost two hours of arm breaking to get the majority needed to send the Amendment to committee. The 76 members who opposed that motion stood very, very tall that day and we owe them our thanks.
In response to an earlier suggestion about refiling as a Legislative Amendment for the next Session, we have considered and still are considering that option. But the political reality is that the Amendment was sent to its “study coffin” because, it had too much support both among the members and the public. Powerful forces don’t want it voted on because they know there are enough votes and because if it gets on the ballot it will likely win. (A poll taken just before the July ConCon showed 76% popular support for the Amendment.) They don’t want to embarrass themselves by running campaigns against a right to health care coverage – particularly since many of the Amendment’s oponents profess to be strong supporters of this year’s legislative reforms which promise affordable, near universal coverage. Their only option is to keep it off the ballot.
This political dynamic won’t change if we refile it as a legislative amendment. It’s hard to predict exactly what might happen but it would not likely come up for a vote before Spring 2008. By then this year’s reforms will, according to the projections of the conference committee that reported the bill, be running huge deficits. Further reforms will be needed to cut – not shift – costs to make coverage affordable and sustainable. The Amendment requires this because you can’t have affordable and equitable coverage without it. That’s the sticking point. Everyone’s for more access as long as we keep pouring more money into the already bloated health care system. None of the big interests is much intersted in serious discussions about diets. That is the real lesson of this year’s reforms and that’s what’s killing the Health Care Amendment.
If you want to help, call your legislators, 617-722-2000, and tell them you want a vote on the Health Care Amendment and you want them to vote YES because you want this year’s reforms to be fully implemented and the job finished by getting the waste out of the health care system so universal coverage can truly be affordable and sustainable.
I’ve mentioned before that we commissioned a study (click and see upper Rt Corner) that showed how to save over $2 billion every year from state health care programs. That is almost ten times the expected Chapter 58 deficit in 2009. It is enough to pay for the fanciest health care expansion in the world, with plenty left over to increase local aid and education funding and more besides. If those same savings strategies are applied system wide there are billions more in savings.
If you want your share of the savings call your legislators 617-722-2000 and tell them. If you’re not sure who your legislators are check it out at www.wheredoivotema.com
Thank you.
Barbara Waters Roop, PhD, JD, Co-Chair
Health Care Consitutitonal Amendment Campaign
P.S. from AnnEM on Monday Dec. 4th, : please consider showing solidarity with other health and social service advocates when you call 617-722-2000 by also asking your leges to “restore the Romney 9C cuts to health and social service programs”, as well as to “VOTE YES on the HC Amendment and get it out of the study committee” .
Folks, we only have one month to make sure that the Health Care Amendment is pulled out of committee and voted on. MassEquality has a great tool already set up on their website that identifies your representatives for you when you type in your name and address. It sets up the email so that it is all addressed and ready to go. All you have to do is put in your message and hit send. The link is below, and while you’re at it take a look around at the site which supports equality for all is a tastefull respectfull manner.
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http://massequality….
in support of the HC amendment and gay marriage, john.
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I just used the link and it sent email letters from me to both my rep and sen, and to speaker dimasi; i wonder why not to sen prez travaglini?
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In case anyone would like to see what another health care and marriage equality advocate wrote, this was my letter:
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Please feel free to use any part of this letter to email your own letter using the link john provides in his comment above.
I figured why try to invent a new way to accomplish the same thing when this one is so easy to use. I don’t know why it doesn’t send to the Senate President, but it is easy enough to sned him a seperate one.
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I am glad you are mentioning to people to restore the 9C cuts to health service, that is very important. Without proper funding this is just another example of our government promising one thing then delivering another.