Hoosier Update
Dear Commonsense Hoosiers,
The May 20 Rally for Affordable Health Care in Indianapolis was a smashing success, and those of us who attended the WellPoint annual shareholders meeting were quite satisfied with how that went as well. There was good media presence, including the IndyStar http://www.indystar.com/article/20090521/BUSINESS03/905210406/Reform+talk+dominates+WellPoint+meeting and the Indianapolis Business Journal http://news.ibj.com/ibjemg/ibjemails/2009_05_20_IBJDaily_Standard/Articles/38098.htm?1=1&EGEmailID=1308&PublicationID=1&PublicationDesc=IBJ%20DAILY&EmailType=Standard.
The Rally drew 150 people from around the state, with sizable contingents from Fort Wayne, Terre Haute, Columbus, Bloomington, New Albany, and Evansville. About 75 of us then marched over to Senator Evan Bayh’s office and 30 of us were able to speak at length with his chief of staff Tom Sugar. We shared our concerns that Sen Bayh appears to have a conflict of interest as long as his wife Susan sits on the WellPoint board of directors (with a salary over $300 thousand per year!).
Please contact Sen Bayh online http://bayh.senate.gov/LegForm.htm, or call him in DC (202) 224-5623 or Indy (317) 554-0750 and ask him to recuse himself from the healthcare debate as long as his wife sits on the WellPoint board OR to prove himself independent of her influence, to vigorously support a position that includes single payer being given a seat at the table, single payer compared side by side with all the options at the table, and a robust “public option” like the President has called for. And if he REALLY wants to make us happy, to co-sponsor Sen Bernie Sanders American Health Security Act of 2009!
We still need to contact our state legislators to sign onto State Legislators for Single-Payer http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/state-legislators/.
And don’t forget that on May 28th there will be a public demonstration at Humana in Louisville, and on May 30th, Michigan Congressman John Conyers will be the featured speaker at “Make Health Care Happen” at Indiana University Southeast in New Albany, IN.
There is a lot going on, and a lot to do. Tomorrow night just sit back and relax and watch David Himmelstein talk with Bill Moyers. (In the original was the PNHP notice of Bill Moyers)