The Health Care Debate is On!

By Ann Lewis on 03/09/2009 @ 01:30 PM

Thank you so much for your comments, your suggestions and questions. If you haven't gotten a response to your question yet, please hang in with us; we are working on getting a new and improved website up and running. Meanwhile, there's a lot to talk about, with health care, equal pay and another significant HRC trip:

THE HEALTH CARE DEBATE IS ON

The good news is that there's so much news about health care these days, starting with today's welcome stem cell announcement -- a big step forward in the prevention and cure of life threatening diseases, and one we've been eagerly anticipating! Plus the choice of Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Nancy Ann Min DeParle as White House Office of Health Reform; a White House summit and regional forums to be held in California, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Vermont.

All this action doesn't mean we've won the fight for health care; but it does mean the debate has begun. Get ready. We're already hearing from the opposition: "we can't afford to tackle health care reform ..." and "Sure it might be nice, but we've got to deal with the economic crisis first..."

But: "Health problems are behind half the bankruptcies in this country, and three-quarters of those bankrupt people had health insurance when they got sick." says Karen Tumulty of Time Magazine who has just written a powerful story about her own family's experience with the broken health care system.

So if you hear from people who are worried about whether we can "afford" health care reform, remind them: We can't strengthen household income and restore consumer confidence, so long as health care costs soar and people are being be wiped out by medical bills. Health care reform will be a big step forward to get our economy going in the right direction.

MAKING HISTORY ON THE ROAD

Hillary has just returned from a trip that included Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Belgium, Switzerland, and Turkey; meeting with foreign ministers and civic leaders; women entrepreneurs in Israel and a women's history class in Ramallah; parliamentary interns in Brussels and a popular television talk show in Turkey. She talked of America's commitment to working with our allies, and called for stronger international cooperation, including enhanced dialogue with Russia (amid shared laughter about that misspelled button!)

"We don't expect because we're consulting, we're listening, we're putting forth a new approach on engaging with difficult problems like Iran, that everybody is going to agree with us," Hillary said. "But we think we maximize the chance of reaching positions that are mutually in our interests.

"Foreign policy is not about being nice and expecting people to agree with you. It is about making common cause, making the arguments, enlisting the positions of friend and foe alike, and then trying to find that common ground."

Here's a report from one experienced diplomatic correspondent:

"...(Clinton) ended with such a stirring pledge to work on peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians that Arab journalists erupted in applause at the end of the news conference. I have never seen that before in seven years of covering the diplomacy beat. I checked with a State Department official who has witnessed dozens of news conferences in the Middle East over some 30 years, and he said he had never seen such a reaction before either."
-Glenn Kessler, Washington Post

CELEBRATING WOMENS HISTORY MONTH AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT

The State Department has announced the winners of third annual Secretary of State's Award for International Women of Courage, recognizing women leaders for their work on behalf of social justice and human rights. This year's honorees are from Afghanistan, Guatemala, Iraq, Malaysia, Niger, Russia, Uzbekistan, and Yemen. We'll post more information about these women and their inspiring stories on NoLimits.org soon -stay tuned.

AND CHEERS FOR A HISTORY MAKER

Supreme Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on why she attended the President's State of the Union address so soon after cancer surgery:

"First, I wanted people to see that the Supreme Court isn't all male. I also wanted them to see I was alive and well, contrary to that senator who said I'd be dead within nine months."

Finally, remember to visit NoLimits.org for more posts and information -- today the site also has a Choice alert and information on Equal Pay: Click here!

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