Dear Governor Easley,
In less than 18 months, you’ll leave the Governor’s mansion behind. Whether you return to private life or move on to higher elected office, your tenure as Governor will be over. Which means you don’t have a lot of time to do the single most important thing that North Carolina needs from you: take the lead on health care for all.
I call on you today to convene a health care working group with the single-minded focus of making North Carolina a model for the best health care in America.
For years I imagined our elected representatives in the General Assembly might be up to the task. They are not. As we’ve seen with the transfer tax issue, our legislators cower in the face of the special interests such as Realtors. With health care, the pressures from businesses, doctors, hospitals and insurers would be even more intense.
Until the conversation gets started, however, we won’t make progress. And there’s only one person in the state with the standing and the clout to make that conversation happen. That person is you. Governor Mike Easley.
The issues are complicated, there is no doubt about it. Much money is on the line, and you’re dealing with a General Assembly that has shown zero interest in honestly addressing the challenges we’re facing. In the face of that leadership void, it is up to you to step in and force things.
Please, Governor Easley. You’ve shown that when you get behind an issue big things can happen. Before you set your sites on what’s next, please get the ball rolling on health care for all in North Carolina.
Thanks for your consideration.
James Protzman
Citizen
You can reach Governor Easley here.
Comments
Excellent.
Very well done. I'm tempted to copy and paste, but that's not my style. But Governor Easley will be hearing from me today.
Thanks!
You can reach Governor Easley here.
The governor.
there was talk that the governor would do just this. He was going to put out a Universal Health Care Plan. Then, when he didn't, it was taken as a sign by some that he might be considering higher office and didn't want tagged with that label - even though several REPUBLICAN governors have done it.
Even if Easley takes the lead, it will be the lead of a private insurance-based system, written by BCBS most likely, that will almost certainly not be a good system. It might be a step in the right direction, but it will still require a lot of fighting down the road.
John Edwards is great!
- Sam Spencer, BlueNC, 7/3/07
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
p.s.
The least the governor could do it push for a good universal health care system for children. But, he hasn't seemed up to that task either. I'm thinking that the legislature is beginning to see him as...
John Edwards is great!
- Sam Spencer, BlueNC, 7/3/07
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
UHC for children
I think a lot of people labor under the mistaken impression that the S-CHIP (Called HealthChoice in NC) will cover all children. It does not. There is a crack that kids fall through so wide that you'd have to call it a canyon. It's tossed out as a band-aid for everything, and it's a start, but it is underfunded, and doesn't reach all of the children it needs to reach. The family income guidelines are too low, and it doesn't take into account the high cost of self-insuring if the child has medical issues and the family is above the guidelines.
I Can Tell You All About that Crack!
We are poor enough to qualify and we are locked out!
It's a disgrace. It's shameful. And it's downright painful. All that before we even start to talk about $$ and sense....
Locked out
because you have another form of insurance. Even though HealthChoice is better, and covers more. For me, it was that I made $40 a month too much. Try buying insurance for $40.
My Car Insurance Isn't Even $40 Anymore....
And my car is older than my son!
According to the Tricare people - it isn't insurance. It's a benefit I earned.
I believe they are correct. You pay for insurance. I don't pay for Tricare. (Thank God)
I could pay for Tricare Prime - but it's still crappy so why bother? Pay more, get less.... hmm... I'm no mathematician but I can add!
Time frame
The Governor can help with conception, but won't be around for the birth. This will take on a life of its own, and as a practical matter, won't get dealt with seriously until the 2009 long session.
Which means that the next governor will have an equally important role in moving this forward.
Which means we need clear and unequivocal statements from Moore, Perdue, Smith, Orr, Graham and Munger. I think we know where the Rs will be - in favor of big bidness. Munger will take the Libertarian view that it's not the government's job.
But where will Moore and Perdue come out on the issue?
He can get it on the agenda of the State, though.
and he can capture public attention with it. He doesn't have to act like a lame duck, even if that's how the GA sees him.
My letter
Off and Away -
Thanks, -A-
A little copy/paste ... a little judicious editing and voila!
New letter.
>''
Have you contacted Mr. Easley yet?
Hmmmm?
An excellent endevour for our Governors future plans.....
Giving of ones self is the very best part of living.
Government provides a fire engine and alll the fire professionals when we need it (no profit)...... the police when we need it -and even when we don't- (no profit), .... an office to manage our old age retirment benifit (no profit), ...and many more services to maintain our civil society (no profit)...Why not health care?..... Society's health is critical to our present and to our future.
Heathcare has been hijacked by the health care and insurance industries who really do have a lot of money to throw around in Washington. That is just plain wrong.
Marshall Adame
2014 U.S. Congress Candidate NC-03
Marshall
I really wish I lived in your district. I sure would vote for you.
I love that there are candidates like you and Larry Kissell who get it.
I despair of someone arising in the 6th who gets it. I truly despair.
Icloud..There is a person in the 6th....
You have to find that person...
Somewhere in the 6th is a person who not only wants to do it , but is qualified and motivated....
That person needs to be found and encouraged by those in the party who believe th 6th can turn...
Our capacity to keep the faith and focus on the goal is exactly what troubles the Republicans about us.
In North Carolina, ....we Democrats and other dreamers are already talking to each other..... We must start dreaming together as well.
Marshall Adame
2014 U.S. Congress Candidate NC-03
Coble on Iraq, read it last week.
Binker.
John Edwards is great!
- Sam Spencer, BlueNC, 7/3/07
Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me
Coble
was for the war. Then he was against it. Now he's against it, but doesn't want timetables. He signed the Contract on America. He was pushed into being against the war during the last campaign cycle because his opponent, Rory Blake, was vehemently outspoken against the war and was gaining traction on that.
Coble gets most of his money from PAC's. We need someone who is willing to be the people's representative. We need leadership in the 6th that is willing to find that person. Coble can be beaten. It's time. Way past time.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. --Gandhi