Video Challenge Winner - "I Deserve Health Care'

Video Challenge Winner

"I Deserve Health Care"

For those of you who have been following the president's video challenge, we have a winner! Watch the winning video below or click here to see the video on the Organize For American website.

The Ballad of Joseph Cao

The Ballad of Joseph (Joe) Cao

Vote For Your Favorite Health Care Video

Vote For Your Favorite Health Care Video

In keeping with it's dedication to grassroots and viral advocacy, the Obama Administration issued a challenge to the YouTube generation: Send us your best video supporting health care reform, and we'll put you on the air. The winning video will become a national commercial.

The results have been impressive: scores of home made videos that run from funny to touching, and express - perhaps better than we could - the depth of our nation's need for health insurance reform.

Take a look at some of the top contenders below, and view all videos and vote for your favorite on the Challenge website!

(FYI - a friend of ours made this "Boogeyman on Health Reform" video, so if you like it, don't forget to vote for it!)



Here's one that highlights something we were amazed to learn in our research - that not only is medical debt the #1 cause of bankruptcy in the U.S., but also the majority of those bankruptcies occur even though the person HAD health insurance!



This one reflects our own view that, as Americans, we have the RIGHT TO LIFE!



This video does a great job of appealing to the innate capacity for compassion that makes us human, and reminds us that just because we don't always see all of the tragic effects of lack of health insurance, doesn't mean that we can ignore the issue. If it were right in front of us to do something to save another human being's life, would we not do everything we could? I believe that most people would - and reform is something we CAN do.



Other top contenders:

Why the Pro-Life Movement Should Support Health Care Reform

Why the Pro-Life Movement Should Support Health Care Reform

Much has been made of Congressman Cao's recent cross-party vote to support the health care reform bill that was passed by the House of Representatives this week, but Cao has been on the side of our health ever since his election. In fact, as a recipient of his e-mail newsletter (you can sign up on his website), I have personally received no less than 5 messages in the last 2 months from his office directly related to health care issues in our community, including information about local health fairs, instructions on where LA residents can get H1N1 flu vaccines, his work to re-open Charity Hospital, and more. Critics can say what they will, but no one can deny that health issues have been a priority for Cao's office ever since his election.

So why is Congressman Cao so willing to take on an issue that has most Republican (and not a few Democrat) officials quaking in their political boots? There could be many reasons, but for my money, I'll say it's because he is unusually far-sighted for a congressman, especially one from our neck of the woods. Cao's priorities are far from hidden. He wants Charity Hospital re-opened. He wants Louisiana residents to have access to affordable health care. And he wants the Right To Life platform to put its money where its mouth is and take charge of the issue. And ultimately, that may prove to be his most notable battle.

Our Declaration of Independence states that we are endowed by our Creator with certain "unalienable" rights, including the right to life. Lawyers may argue that the Declaration, being a separate document from the Constitution, does not itself endow any rights upon U.S. citizens, and that therefore the failure to save a life when we have the ability to do so does not necessarily violate the legal principles of our nation. I disagree. In a nation where we have both the money and the technology to save hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who would otherwise die simply due to lack of health insurance, I believe that we have a moral and ethical, if not historical, obligation to provide that life-saving insurance - whatever the cost.

Indeed, if any political movement of our generation should be backing the call to reform health care, it is the "Right To Life" movement. It doesn't take a genius to see the connection between fighting to maintain the life of a fetus and fighting to maintain the life of a fellow citizen. Or have we reached some sad social benchmark where we care more for the life of a potential person than an actual one?

What Congressman Cao has done with his vote is not only support the right of our citizens to have access to effective, affordable medical care; he has also united the good intentions of the Right to Life movement with the stark realities of a nation which has failed to provide the most basic necessities to maintain the lives of  the citizens it already has. What the Health Care Reform movement may not have taken into account when it began is what the liberal voting base may have to give up in order to see successful reform enacted. Congressman Cao has very likely struck the first blow in a battle that could ultimately determine the way we as a nation proceed with both issues. Ultimately, it is possible that neither the Right to Life movement nor the Health Care Reform movement can come to fruition without the other. The question now is, what is the liberal voting base prepared to give up in order to see real health care reform enacted? And what is the conservative voting base willing to lay on the line in order to to advance the pro-life agenda? If we follow both arguments to their logical conclusion, it seems to me that they unfailingly end up in a place where we must either place the ultimate value on all lives, or none of them.

For those of you who are wondering, yes, my inner feminist is actively screaming bloody murder at the very thought of losing ground on the battle for women's rights, especially in a nation that has not even been able to pass an Equal Rights Amendment. Yet I cannot deny that my perspective on the matter of health care changed when I lost my own health insurance due to a chronic illness - just as my perspective on the matter of right to choice might change if our nation could ensure that any unwanted child born would, at the very least, have access to the basic health and medical care needed to ensure her or his healthiest possible life - no matter what. So if the Right to Life movement wants to gain votes, here is its best chance. Let the Right to Life advocates fight as hard for the lives of our fellow citizens now as they have for the lives of the unborn in the past, and - for the first time in my life - they might in return see my vote and my check headed in their own direction.

Louisiana Congressman Crosses Party Lines to Support Health Insurance Reform

Louisiana Congressman Anh "Joseph" Cao Crosses Party Lines to Support Health Insurance Reform

Congressman Anh "Joseph" Cao has a history of listening to the concerns of his constituents.

History is being made in our very midst, Louisiana.

Yesterday at 11:15 p.m. the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass their version of the health insurance reform bill. For those of you who are counting, this is the first time in the history of our nation that either chamber of Congress has passed a comprehensive health insurance reform bill. Among the 220 votes supporting the bill (215 voted against it) we find our very own Louisiana Representative, Congressman Cao (pronounced Gow). As if the House vote weren't historic enough, Congressman Cao crossed party lines to throw his political weight behind the reform bill - the only Republican to do so.

As ever, the price for making history is steep. Obviously Congressman Cao runs the risk of alienating his largely conservative constituency by crossing traditional Republican party lines to support health insurance reform. And the news for his liberal constituents isn't perfect either - Cao was instrumental in removing any portion of the bill that would provide government subsidized funds for abortions. Critics of the Congressman will likely opine that he hopes to have his cake and eat it too (does that expression make sense to anyone?). But we here at HFL take a different view, and we'll tell you why:

Over the past several months, we have lobbied each of our representatives in Congress heavily regarding health insurance reform, and that means lots of e-mails, letters, phone conversations, and direct meetings when possible. Any member of Congress will send a return form letter if you write to them, but Congressman Cao has been by far the most responsive politician that I, personally, have ever dealt with. Not only was his response letter immediate, but it was also clear, well-written (you wouldn't believe the kind of crap that some representatives put their name on), and thoughtful. Regardless of one's own position on the matter, it would be difficult to read that letter and not feel that Cao has put tremendous energy and thought into the issue of health care in America.

Congressman Cao's aides are also intelligent, polite, and well-versed in political issues AND on his stance on those issues. This is in extraordinary contrast to, say, Senator David Vitter's aides, who in my personal interactions have managed to be mostly hostile, uninformed, and in all other ways pretty much totally unprepared to communicate with the general public. (We'll get to Landrieu's aides later). A politician's aides tell a lot about how seriously that politician takes his or her position as a leader, and Cao's aides have been unfailingly well informed and eager to involve his constituents. The Congressman also goes out of his way to determine his constituents' opinions on political matters. Rather than wait for opinions to find their way to his desk, the Congressman holds regular town hall meetings in his district, and his website posts surveys on major issues, allowing his constituents an ease of access that is relatively uncommon amongst the more high-brow political types.

But all of this is secondary to the strength of Congressman Cao's convictions, and the lengths to which he will go to be a positive, effective influence on the democratic process. His history of seeking out input from his constituents and his willingness to stand behind his values, putting his votes where his mouth is, make him stand out as a remarkably dignified figure amongst a crowd of glorified snake charmers.

So while we can't say that he does everything exactly the way we, as voters, might want him to do it, we can say this:  If Congressman Cao is brave enough to vote against his party lines for something he believes is truly in the best interest of his community, then those of us who traditionally vote Democrat can vote against our party lines to keep him in office. Because when it comes right down to it, party lines are just a convenient illusion, and one that tends to distract voters (and politicians) from the real issues. They are no substitution for careful consideration and ethical action, and we think Congressman Cao embodies an approach to representation that truly brings the "serve" back into public service.

If you live in LA's Second District, click here to share your thoughts with Congressman Cao.

Kids Without Insurance 60% More Likely To Die While Hospitalized

Kids Without Insurance 60% More Likely To Die While Hospitalized

The Johns Hopkins Childrens Center in Baltimore, MD recently released a study comparing the health outcomes of children who were hospitalized due to illness or injury. According to the study, children who lacked health insurance were an almost unbelievable 60%  more likely to die during their hospitalizations than children who had health insurance coverage. Upon further statistical analysis, controlling for variables such as age, gender, and race, the study still noted that uninsured children were more than 37% more likely to die than their insured counterparts.

U.S. News and World Report followed up on the study:

David C. Chang, co-director of the pediatric surgery outcomes research group at Hopkins and a study co-author, said he could not think of a medical treatment that has such a dramatic impact on health outcomes as health insurance seemingly does.
"This is actually something we as a society ... can choose to do something about," he said. "It's literally with the stroke of somebody's pen, this could be changed."
The article was published online Oct. 30 in the Journal of Public Health.
Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus, a bipartisan child and family advocacy group, noted that data from the U.S. Institute of Medicine have shown that people who are uninsured have a higher mortality rate.
"You knew that it existed, you knew that there were cases [of child deaths related to lack of insurance], but I think this data is pretty shocking and really points to the need for national health reform," Lesley said.

 This study's results suggest that more than 17,000 children may have died needlessly over the past two decades, due to their lack of health insurance.

Even critics of health insurance reform have historically balked at the idea of leaving children uninsured, but it is time that we as a society take a deeper look at the needs of our nation's families. Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that as a result of reform, all American children will be covered by some form of health insurance. That would be a laudable result - but it simply does not go far enough. If we really want to protect children in America, then we must protect families and individuals as well. What happens to those same children if their parents become too ill or injured to work, or lose their jobs, or any number of potential tragedies occur? What good does it do to protect children if we will not protect their own parents, or family members, or teachers, or social workers?

The fact is that in order to fully protect our children from the tragedies that recent years have shown are all too possible, we need to protect everyone in their society. We must provide basic coverage to anyone who comes into contact with our children - and that simply means everyone. If every other industrialized nation in the world can accomplish it, there is simply no acceptable reason why the United States should not.

How Louisiana's Position Matters:

As U.S. News and World Report noted, one of the first official acts of President Obama's administration was to renew funding for CHIP - Children's Health Insurance Program. CHIP allows American children to be enrolled in a program providing basic medical coverage and preventive check-ups (AKA socialized medicine).

But Senator Landrieu - who could choose to be a driving force for reform - is essentially dragging her political feet on the health care issue. Rather than support universal health care options for everyone, the senator refers her constituents to a bill which she co-sponsored, called the Healthy Americans Act. The title of her bill sounds great, but the contents show that the bill is actually designed to accomplish something far less impressive. Senator Landrieu's bill would actually end CHIP for Louisiana's children. It would also end health benefits provided by federal programs, including coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits.

Call or write Senator Landrieu today! Tell her to stop pushing the Healthy Americans Act, which would achieve anything but your and my health. If she's really interested in health care reform, well, she has many other more effective bills to choose from right now!

Senator Landrieu:

Washington, DC

328 Hart Senate Building
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510
Voice: (202)224-5824
Fax:(202) 224-9735