An Update on Health Care

Poll Shows Health Care Is Top Issue in Election

Today Americans for Health Care, a project of SEIU, released a poll conducted by Lake Research Partners which reveals that health care is a top issue for voters across the country and was a powerful issue in deciding the outcome of the mid-term elections. The poll was conducted November 5 - 7, 2006.

Key findings of the poll include:

· "Health care" and "prescription drugs" (27 percent) were tied with "The situation in Iraq

" (27 percent) and second only to "Economy and jobs" (34 percent) as the top concerns of voters.

· Rising health care costs was the most intense economic concern of voters (29 percent).

· Health care has increased in salience since 2004, with 47 percent saying it was the most or one for the most important issues in making their vote for Congress, compared to 32 percent in 2004.

· Sixty-six (66) percent thought health care was discussed too little by the candidates.

· Seventy-four (74) percent of voters think health care should be a high priority for the new Congress.

For more poll results, go to www.ImAHealthCareVoter.org.

Health Care Candidates Win Across the Country!

Election Day has come and gone and Health Care Voters across the country can claim victory! We all know that a band-aid is good for a cut finger or a scraped knee. But it won't fix a leaky pipe and it won't fix the health care crisis. Pro-health care candidates across the country also recognized this and won thanks, in part, to the issue of health care!

Thanks to all your hard work, health care was a priority issue for many candidates in state and federal races. By our count, 11 Governors, 22 Senators, and 20 Representatives won with health care as a major cornerstone of their campaign.

We're already starting to gear up for the 2008 presidential election and will continue to count on Health Care Voters to continue making a real difference! Keep up the great work on health care!

TELL PRESIDENT BUSH TO HELP THE PEOPLE OF DARFUR IN SUDAN

While our politicians are returning home from the campaign trail, over 2 million displaced people in Darfur are struggling to survive in cramped refugee camps, where food is scarce and medical help is almost non-existent. It breaks my heart to know that families in Darfur are victims of not only a civil war, but also of the broken promises of their own government.

It’s been over two months since the government of Sudan agreed to send help to those suffering in Darfur. They have yet to follow through on this promise, but you can help by taking action.

Tell President Bush and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to put diplomatic pressure on Sudan, and bring humanitarian aid to Darfur!

A UN peacekeeping force remains the only hope to bring peace to this war-torn region. The UN Security Council has already authorized the force but they are not able to reach Darfur while the Sudanese government doesn't agree to let them in. That's why it's so important that our leaders demand that the peacekeepers are admitted!

Darfurians are caught between an increasingly violent civil war and face genocide on a daily basis. This is America’s big chance to take a new path as global citizens, but we need your voice to make it happen.

Take action at: http://go.care2.com/e/qE6m/AFwJ/Erx6

In the three years since the rebel fighting started, at least 400,000 women, children, and men have been killed; more than 2 million have been forced from their homes; and over 3.5 million rely completely on international aid for survival. And just the other week, the UN Secretary General’s special representative was ordered to leave the country!

All the while, the number of civilian deaths in this brutal civil war continues to climb. The situation in Darfur is shocking, but if we don’t send aid now the worse may be yet to come. The UN's top humanitarian official Jan Egeland recently said that Darfur is "going from real bad to catastrophic."

Please sign the petition at: http://go.care2.com/e/qE6m/AFwJ/Erx6 Together, we can bring hope and relief to people trapped in the most unthinkable circumstances.

Join me in telling President Bush and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to increase humanitarian aid, strengthen the African Union force, declare a no-fly zone, and pressure the Sudanese government to keep their promises! Thank you for protecting the basic human rights of those who need our help in Darfur by signing today

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE EXTENDED WARRANTY OF RETAILERS - SAY NO TODAY!

As you start your holiday shopping, you can save hundreds of dollars by saying "no, thank you" to extended warranty offers. Take our quick, free extended warranty pledge!

Consumer Reports estimates that Americans could save $1.6 billion dollars this year--money you can spend on holiday gifts or just save for a rainy day. Pledge to say "no" to extended warranties today, and then come back later and tell us how much money you saved.
We feel so strongly that extended warranties are a bad deal for consumers, that we took out a full page ad in today's USA Today asking you to just say no.

Extended warranties are great for retailers, but a notoriously bad deal for you. Our data shows that products seldom break within the extended-warranty window (typically around three years), and when electronics and appliances do break, the repair often costs about the same as the cost of the warranty.

Retailers give you the hard sell because they often make more money on the sale of an extended warranty than they make on the products themselves. That doesn't mean it's right for you.

Take our pledge to say "no" and save!

And please tell us about your own extended warranty experiences! We've left a place on the pledge form to tell us anything you have to say.

Your friends and family are probably starting their holiday shopping soon too! Tell them about the Consumer Reports pledge and our latest shopping tips. And ask them to take our pledge and help us figure out how much money shoppers save this year by saying no to extended warranty offers.

HELP PROTECT WORKERS RIGHTS!

For the first time in more than a decade, we will have a Congress that can work for us. Feels good, doesn’t it?

Between now and the start of the next session of Congress, the Democratic Majority will chart its legislative course. Make your voice heard: ask the new Congressional leadership to make workers’ rights a top priority on its agenda.

Sign our petition to incoming Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to advance the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Employee Free Choice Act will strengthen workers’ rights and hold anti-union employers accountable. When Congress passes this important legislation, tougher penalties will be in place to protect workers whose rights are violated. Workers would have a fair, simple, direct method for organizing unions. And employers would be forced to stop dragging out contract negotiations for years and years.

Ask Speaker Pelosi to stand up for workers’ rights:
http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/campaign/efca_pledge06

Between now and the start of the next Congress, thousands of workers will be harassed, coerced, intimidated, or even fired when they try to exercise their legal rights to form unions.


These workers cannot wait any longer for Congress to act. Their jobs are on the line. They need stronger laws to protect them against discrimination and intimidation. They need a simpler, straightforward method to indicate their desire for a union. And they need a system that ends the ability for employers to delay negotiations for years and years.
We must act now to get on the radar screen of our leaders in Washington.

Tell Congress’ new leader to pledge to pass the Employee Free Choice Act next year.
http://action.americanrightsatwork.org/campaign/efca_pledge06

Thank you again for your dedication to protecting workers' rights!