Lace up Your Racing Shoes

Don't think President Obama's big speech on health care gets you off the hook yet. He's put us back in position to win, but there's still lots of work ahead. We have to keep pounding on Congress to make sure they don't let a strong public option slide.

Robert Reich explains:

The real political race for healthcare has just begun. The significance of the president's speech to Washington insiders was its signal about where the White House is placing its bets and its support. More on this in a moment. First, let's be clear about who's racing and why. Think of the speech as the starting gate of a two-month sprint between two competitors -- and they're not Democrats and Republicans.

On one side are America's biggest private insurers and Big Pharma. They're drooling over the prospect of tens of millions more Americans buying insurance and drugs because the pending legislation will require them to, or require employers to cover them. The pending expansion of Medicaid will also be a bonanza. ... But the big insurers hate the idea of a public option because it will squeeze their profits.

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On the other side lies the Democratic base (organized labor, grass-roots progressives, leading activists) whose main goal is to make healthcare more affordable for a hundred million American families who are now paying through the nose (higher and higher co-payments, deductibles and premiums, not to mention wages that are depressed because of employer-provided health insurance), and affordable to the tens of millions who can't get it now.

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Obama's Wednesday night speech reassured the Democratic base that the president is deeply committed to getting universal coverage. But the speech also made clear that the White House has decided to side with the Senate Finance Committee and against the Democratic base on the details.

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The Dem leadership got the message. Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that while he favored a strong public option, he could be satisfied with establishment of nonprofit cooperatives. And Nancy Pelosi, who as recently as two weeks ago said the House would not support a bill that didn't include a public option, passed up a chance to say it was a non-negotiable demand. When pressed, she said that as long as legislation makes quality healthcare more accessible and affordable, "we will go forward with that bill."

But, again, the race has just begun. Your input is still important -- in fact, more important now than before. The Senate Finance's bill will be reported out next week and voted on by the entire committee in the following week, then go to the floor of the Senate for a vote in mid-October. The House bill will go to the floor at about the same time. Each side is now counting noses. Pelosi knows she won't have any Republicans with her, so will need to keep 40 Dems from bolting. If Reed can't get 60 votes by Oct. 15, he'll add healthcare to a reconciliation bill, which will need only 51.

The more you can make your voices heard, the more likely it is that the race will be won by the public rather than the private interests.

Keep up the pressure:

Here's a quick way to get to the contact information for your elected officials. (Scroll down to box on the right labelled "My Elected Officials" and enter your zip code.)

Alternatively, Max at Firedoglake explains how to put recalcitrant congress critters up against the wall - the Facebook wall.

You can reach your members of congress by calling (202) 224-3121.