Landrieu Not Interested in a Public Option

On Sunday Senator Mary Landrieu had the "last word" on CNN's State of the Union. Here is a video of what she had to say about health care reform.

D&D Make it to Mary's Town Hall in Reserve, LA

We had another exciting trip to the river parishes of Louisiana yesterday. Below are just a couple of the many concerned citizens we spoke to. I'm not going to waste much of your time with me trying to recount everything from memory- just check out the videos and see what you think!

First, here are a few clips from the town hall meeting:



This young gentleman said it best: Bi-partisan reform is the way to go!



This next one was a great conversation we had. She mentions all sorts of effective ways to reform health care AND NO MENTION OF A PUBLIC OPTION!

Reserve Town Hall RoboCall Vid

I know it's not the most impressive video ever made, but I"m very proud of myself for navigating the confounding landscape of iMovie. Yes, I know, Macs are supposed to be simple, but it was my first time. My reward: you coming to the town hall meeting to meet Dave and I and thank Senator Landrieu for coming out against the public option.

Recess Rallies, Town Hall Meetings, and Mary Landrieu, Oh My!

South East Louisiana has seen its fair share of health care debates this week. Congressmen Ahn Cao from New Orleans and Steve Scalise from Metairie held several town halls discussing the current health care legislation in Washington with their constituents. If one thing was made clear it was this: Louisiana is in no mood for government ran health care.

This was only further proven by the "Recces Rally" held this weekend. Citizens gathered in their communities throughout the country to voice their concerns about a public option and its implications concerning health care reform. Throngs of people gathered at the memorial park at Causeway and Veterans Blvd and were extremely vocal in their criticisms.

Now, citizens have a chance to talk to their senior Senator in Washington, Mary Landrieu. She will be hosting a town hall meeting in Reserve, LA on Thursday to talk about health care reform. Here at the Louisiana Campaign for Responsible Health Reform we have been very vocal in our gratitude towards Senator Landrieu putting her constituents first when fighting for true health care reform. She has publicly opposed a public option and has made sure that small businesses have a voice in the process.

So be sure to be out there Thursday and thank her for fighting the political forces in Washington. If you are a small business owner, or and employee of a small business, this is THE town hall to attend.

See you there!

Is it too early to say "we're winning"?

It may be my imagination, but i think our campaign is working. Numerous sources are saying the White House is backing off the public option. And if what we've seen in Louisiana is any indication of the rest of the nation, the people are grateful. Now that the spotlight seems to be fading from the national schism over the public option, it's time to get down to work.

The tenants of health reform, as stated by the POTUS are simple and straightforward: budget neutrality; bending the overall cost curve downward; and making access more available, affordable, and unbiased. Seeing as the public option fails to meet the first two of these benchmarks, it's understandable that they're moving away from it.

A good place to start would be reforming the existent federal programs so they run effectively. We're already spending more on them than we supposed to, yet practitioners and institutions aren't getting reimbursed for services they provide. This pushes up the cost of everyone's premiums and medical bill. We need to find the waste and eliminate it. Throwing more money at it or adding another bureaucracy obviously isn't the answer.

Day Five: Wrapping up in Shreveport

Friday could only be described as bitter sweet as we wrapped up our first state tour for the Campaign for Responsible Health Reform. Being away from home for a week, living out of hotel rooms was trying and both Devin and I were excited to get home to our own beds, but the excitement of traveling the state and meeting concerned citizens was one of the more interesting and educational experiences of our lifetimes.

So as I’m sitting here thinking about how to summarize the day, I can’t help but look back at some of the more memorable moments of the entire trip. First, I have to say that the testimonials we received were astounding. The stories people gave us about their own experiences with health care and their concerns over the creation of a public option speak for themselves. However I think what probably didn’t translate in the videos we posted was the overall gratification of citizens for Devin and I, a Democrat and Republican, to get out there and talk about health care in a bi-partisan manner.

I’ll be posting more on the blog in the next few days about what’s going on with the campaign- so be sure to keep checking back for updates. Also, we need your help to spread the word about our mission so PLEASE ask your friends and family to visit us here and to register at www.responsiblehealthreform.com.

Day Four: On a Roll On the Road!

Well ladies and gents’ this is our fifth blog post for the tour and all I can say is that our experience gets better by the day! We spent our morning in Monroe getting people involved in our campaign and we received more signatures than any other stop. We had people of every race, color, and creed asking how they can get involved in the Campaign for Responsible Health Reform. There was also a great article written about our stop in Alexandria that you can read here:

http://www.thetowntalk.com/article/20090813/NEWS01/908130317/1002

Furthermore we received a GREAT testimonial from a citizen of Monroe that actually lived in Europe who saw first-hand the result of government ran healthcare. Here’s the video:



KNOE Channel 8 News in Monroe also did an interview with Devin and I today that you can see on their website, www.knoe.com. We also did interviews with the Ruston Daily Leader and Minden Press-Herald on our way to Shreveport, so keep an eye out for those.

FROM DEVIN

As David mentioned, we had a very eventful day today in Monroe and the following press stops. As we go along we seem to gain more and more traction; I can’t begin to describe how enthused this makes us. It’s great to see the increasing responsiveness we’re getting from the constituents. But I can only hope that our message sticks with them and they communicate the same to their friends and relatives. What we’re doing only really matters if the people we see spread the word. We’re relatively fortunate here in Louisiana that our representatives in Washington are on the same page. Many other folks aren’t so lucky. So for all you non-Louisianans out there reading our blog, GET INVOLVED!!! If you’re out there, leave a comment, let us know how we can help you get mobilized.

Day Three: Citizens of Alexandria make their cases known!

I must say, we seem to be gaining momentum as we go along. Our outreach events seem to be drawing more attention from citizens and media the more time we spend on the road. Not only are we touching more people, stressing the necessity of responsible health reform, but the people we do interact with seem to be increasingly enthusiastic and engaged. I have to toss in a grateful shout out here to the Alexandria Town Talk and KALB Channel 5 for promoting our tour; that undoubtedly contributed to the response we received today.

One good tale from the day came from Ferrin Dubose, a 74-year old small business owner in Alexandria who shared with us his concerns of a proposed health care bill’s potential affect on the solvency of his business. Check it out:



Also of note is that our friend Johnny Adriani from New Orleans brought us some goodies from our home base. As you may have noticed from David’s video blog, we have new handouts, including the official campaign pushcards, delightfully witty notepads, and cute little first aid bandage kits. Maybe it was the additional bric-a-brac that made today so successful…

THIS IS DAVE!

It seems that every day tends to have its own theme as we travel the state and the theme we got from the citizens today was very clear: don’t penalize small businesses for not being able to afford health coverage for their employees. Frankly, I would write more but the testimonial given to us by Mr. Dubose sums up the plight of small business owners perfectly. Keep checking for updates and we’ll see you in Monroe!

Day Two: Campaign picks up speed in Lake Charles.

Today couldn’t have gone any better. The residents of Lake Charles met us with excitement, enthusiasm, and overwhelming support of our cause. Sitting outside of the local Wal-Mart we were met with people of varying backgrounds economically, racially, and in age but the response was clear: NO TO GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTHCARE!

One interesting part of the day was when we met a gentleman by the name of Clevance Cormier Jr, an Obama supporter who’s extremely disappointed with the state of health care, and the proposed reform coming from the White House. Currently enrolled in Medicare Part D, Mr. Cormier faces outrageous costs for prescription drugs due to his doctor’s inability to prescribe the correct dosages due to bureaucratic entanglements. He mentioned that he would much rather see a reform of the Medicare D program before we launch a new trillion dollar layer to that bureaucracy.

Here is a brief clip of what Mr. Cormier had to say:



That wasn’t the only interesting conversation of the day. One of the best moments came when a recent inductee to the local Tea Party organization spotted our table from across the parking lot and asked us about our mission. As soon as we could say “No public option” the gentleman was signing a postcard, signing up on our website, and begging for more information on the Campaign for Responsible Health Reform.

To sum it all up: we have yet to meet one person in favor of government-run healthcare. As our tour presses on I have the fact that we have a delegation in Louisiana that is truly in tune with the needs of their constituents.

THIS IS DEVIN!

Today was an eventful day, as David mentioned. Clevance offered us some very keen insight into the state of Medicare Part D and simultaneously presented fair reason for concern over the public option. But on a latter point he’s wrong. I did meet one woman today who was for the public option. Of course, I was a good fifty feet away from our table coming out of the Lake Charles Wal-Mart when the conversation occurred so there’s no way for him to know about it until he reads this… or I tell him.

Nonetheless, I did in fact meet a woman who was for the public option today in Lake Charles, except, she still appreciated what we were doing. She was glad we harbor a healthy skepticism over Congress’ rushed movements. “That’s part of the process,” she said.

Day One: Lafayette

I must admit, I was a bit surprised by how the day turned out. Watching the news over the weekend gave me the impression that health care reform was paramount in the mind of all Americans. Watching the frightening tales of fights at town hall meetings, a congressman hanged in effigy and getting multiple emails daily from the Democratic listserves I'm signed on to, I drew the conclusion that everyone knew about the substance of the debate and everyone had an opinion about it. I was wrong.

A young woman came up to our booth today to see what we were doing, why we were sitting out in the 95-degree muggy heat. I explain to her that we were concerned about the tone of the national debate on health care and we wanted to impress upon the constituents of Louisiana the importance health reform beyond the public option. That there are many individuals and small businesses that can’t afford health insurance and that the government can help solve this without taking over the health industry.

She didn’t have health insurance and she was vaguely opposed to the public option, but she had never considered the fact that health reform and government-run health care are not synonymous. She got surprisingly excited to sign on to the campaign after I explained that the government could make it easier for small businesses to afford coverage by allowing them to pool their employees, that our own Sen. Mary Landrieu co-sponsored a bill that would incentivize individuals to get coverage with tax deductions, and that these ideas are just the tip of the iceberg.

This was not an isolated incident. Nearly everyone David and I spoke to didn’t really think much of health reform beyond the public option, and even on that subject there was little opinion- and almost everyone we spoke to had no health insurance. I was blown away. These are the very people who should be most vocal in the debate.

But I find this to be as encouraging as it was startling. What we are doing is all the more important precisely because the people most in need of health reform are not engaged. We’ve got a lot of work to do.

On that note, this also means that Obama’s administration and our Congress have a lot of work cut out for them. If what we saw today is a decent cross-section of Louisiana then it’s clear that there is a general lack of knowledge on the issues surrounding health care. That said, how can we expect truly responsible reform without clearly identifying what that reform is to the people that it matters most to: the uninsured.

THIS IS DAVE HERE!

Just to quickly add to Devin's take on the day, I just want to mention that the support for the cause driving the Campaign for Responsible Health Reform was clear-- passers by mentioned their disdain for the current administration's handling of the debate. In fact it seems clear at this point that the arguments going on are less about the substance of the bill but the iron curtain of uncertainty that surrounds it. While there is a lot of criticism of the conservative activists at townhall meetings (most of it deserved), perhaps this could have been avoided if the Obama administration had decided to have an open dialogue with citizens sooner in the process...

Hitting the Road

The air was charged this morning. It felt more like anticipating Christmas than the hot and sultry New Orleans summer Sunday it was. Today wasn't a typical day in the Big Easy-- it was a day filled with packing belongings, saying goodbye to friends and family, and preparing for a historic trip through the great state of Louisiana.

Why you ask? Well the reason is as necessary as it is exciting. I, David Huguenel, and Devin Johnson were to hit the road, working with Louisiana citizens to determine, "What is responsible health reform?"

Devin, a tried and true democrat and I, a Republican, decided to hit the road on behalf of the Campaign for Responsible Health Reform. The debate over health reform has taken many twists and turns during the past few months; between beltway Democrats crying for politically expedient bills passed prematurely and Republican activists trying to drown out opposition in what can only be explained as a crude and crass manner. The conflicting ideologies between right and left had dissolved dialogue to the point of, "Now, Now, Now," vs, "No, No, No."

It was out of this tense and stagnant context we realized the need of bi-partisanship in the health care debate. Thus our campaign for truly responsible health reform.

We have one goal: To offer a moderate voice and allow the citizens of Louisiana to posit ideas and solutions to lower the costs of health care and find inventive ways to provide coverage to the uninsured.

So for the next week we will be traveling through the state -- hitting cites, towns, and villages -- to talk about the issues and listen to the citizens. We're starting in Lafayette, which will be followed by Lake Charles, Alexandria, Monroe, Shreveport, and New Orleans. Throughout the process we'll be posting videos of testimonials of every day Louisianians telling us what responsible reform means to them. We may end up including some travelogues and interviews as well. Who knows what the final product will look like? There's a long road ahead!