Phone 25 friends and neighbors for health care reform

Here are some awesome tips from a fellow health care activist – let’s bring health care reform to America during our own lifetime.

Also, a big thank you to everyone who donated blood this week in honor of National Health Care Service Day!

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Sign up with Organizing For America this weekend. Once you’ve signed up with OFA, please visit the Health Care Action Center and take a look around.

The most important tool we’ll be using in the Health Care Action Center. will be the “Contact People Near You” phonebanking tool.

This is the action item agenda with the “Contact People Near You” phonebanking tool below:

1. Sign up with Organizing For America.
2. Go to the Health Care Action Center and click on the “Contact People Near You” phonebanking  icon located in the far right column of the page.
3. Select your state from the drop-down menu. This is where the fun action comes in!
4. Let’s say, you select California from the drop-down menu. It takes you to a new webpage where it has a red icon that says “Make Calls Now” with a list of 25 supporters to call.  It asks you to make a report after the call, and gives you talking points. In my opinion, these are weak talking points since it doesn’t mention the public option, so I’ll be fixing that a bit.
5. So what we’ll be doing is calling 25 people, asking them if they support President Obama’s health care plan, which includes a public option to help keep private insurers honest. Then we’ll tell them to call their Senator Feinstein to ask for her support of the public option in President Obama’s health care plan.

That’s what we’ll be doing—bringing down the grassroots smack-down at a local level by calling our Senator.  Here are the talking points  that you can use when calling supporters from your call list.

California talking points

Hi, is [person's name] home? My name is [blank], and I’m a volunteer with Organizing for America, the grassroots organization formed to continue bringing the change we worked for during President Obama’s campaign. How are you today? (Wait for response and make sure to engage in a conversational manner). As you might know, Organizing for America was formed after the campaign to support the President’s agenda for change.

Recently, President Obama laid out the three core principles for real health care reform in America which has to reduce costs — such as rising health care costs which are crushing the budgets of governments, businesses, individuals, and families, and they must be brought under control. Secondly, real health care reform must guarantee choice in that every American must have the freedom to choose their plan and doctor – including the choice of a public insurance option which helps keep private insurers honest and lowers the cost of the monthly premiums that we pay. The public option will be available nationwide, available on day one, and is accountable to Congress and the voters.

Third, it must ensure quality care for all in that Americans must have quality and affordable health care. The need for action in reforming our health care could not be greater; the costs for premiums are rising 4 times the rate of wages and families and small businesses can no longer afford their existing health care plan. If health care reform is going to be passed it cannot wait another year. For American families, the status quo is unacceptable.

Do you support these principles for health reform? I also would like to ask you to call your Senator, Diane Feinstein, at (202) 224-3841 on Monday to ask her to support President Obama’s health reform by helping pass a strong public option which keeps private insurers honest.

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Lastly, please ASK PRESIDENT OBAMA to help hold the line for us on the public option! He’s having an online townhall on Wednesday, and I’d like you to ask him why Senators are so opposed to the public option when a majority of Americans are in favor of the public option to keep insurers honest and make health care affordable.

1. You can ask President Obama this on Youtube here.
2. You can even ask President Obama on Twitter with this hashtag #WHHCQ.
3. You can go to Facebook and ask him questions there.