“Medical Security Is The Name Of The Game”

September 17, 2009, Washington, DC

On Thursday, September 17, Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-chair Rep. Raul Grijalva, sent the following message to the members of Progressive Democrats of America:  

As co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), I want to thank the PDA community for its ongoing support of Medicare for All. Who knows where we would be in this debate without your moral and compassionate voices railing against the status quo.

These have been trying times, in Congress, as the CPC has worked to muster support for a real and robust public option against a well-funded corporate opposition. The CPC is confident that we will influence this debate and we remain committed to a robust public option that:

• Enacts concurrently with other significant expansions of coverage and must not be conditioned on private industry actions.
• Consists of one entity, operated by the federal government, which sets policies and bears the risk for paying medical claims to keep administrative costs low and provide a higher standard of care.
• Be made available to all individuals and employers across the nation without limitation.
• Allows patients to have access to their choice of doctors and other providers that meet defined participation standards, similar to the traditional Medicare model, promotes the medical home model and eliminates lifetime caps on benefits.
• Has the ability to structure the provider rates to promote quality care, primary care, prevention, chronic care management and good public health.
• Utilizes the existing infrastructure of successful public programs, such as Medicare, in order to maintain transparency and consumer protections for administering processes, including payment systems, claims and appeals.
• Establishes or negotiates rates with pharmaceutical companies, durable medical
  equipment providers and other providers to achieve the lowest prices for consumers.
• Receives a level of subsidy and support that is no less than that received by private plans.
• Ensures premiums are priced at the lowest levels possible, not tied to the rates of private insurance plans.

I urge you to continue to rally citizens and your representatives to support the Kucinich and Weiner amendments. Although Congress does not appear to have the stomach to pass HR 676, there’s every reason to believe that we can secure Medicare for All, once states begin to pass their own single-payer bills.

The CPC will do its best to ensure that the public option is as close to Medicare as we can get it. I hope you will do your best to continue to build support for the Kucinich and Weiner amendments.

Girjalva serves on the PDA Advisory board.