Local Barnstorm Action to Win Improved Medicare for All - National Nurses United Strategy Call
The National Nurses United union is calling on the House to pass HR676 The Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act . The group is looking to capitalize on the surging popular support for the Improved Medicare for All movement. And with 70% national support across all Americans on several polls, and Democrats taking the House in January, the time to organize is now. So on Nov. 13, the NNU held a National Strategy Call To Win Improved Medicare For All to discuss this unique political moment, to lay out the plan for how we win Improved Medicare for All, and to talk about ways we can get involved locally during the National Week of Action: February 9th - 13th.
NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo and guest speakers, President of Our Revolution Nina Turner, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and Senator Bernie Sander opened the call.
NNU Executive Director Bonnie Castillo
Bonnie spoke about why we can't rely on the electoral process without one-on-one organizing, stating, "Our commitment will be the deciding factor for victory." But her most powerful quote addressed what is truly at stake when we talk about healthcare, "The nurses of National Nurses United are driven by the memories of our patience who did not get the healthcare that they needed. For those that suffered and died because they were denied the care that is a fundamental human right." She called on leaders to fight for those who have paid the price, those who are paying the price, and to stop others from paying their lives as well.
Our Revolution President Nina Turner
Nina opened by thanking the NNU for their work and their advocacy. Turner continued, "We all know what the poles say right now - and it is a beautiful thing to know - that Medicare for all, out of all the political strife we are enduring in this country right now, sisters and brothers, rest assured, that Medicare for All is popular across the political spectrum."
With over 70% of people now behind an Improved Medicare for All system, Nina explained there is no room for debate any longer, "We are laser focusing in on that Congress. There should be no excuse - not one excuse - for any Democrat in the House of Representatives not to fully support Medicare for All." She continued by talking about this opportunity for the Democrats to be pushed into action, it's morally right, it's economically right, and it's popular, concluding, "This is an idea whose time has come!"
Representative Pramila Jayapal
Pramila Jayapal said it clearly, "It is not a radical idea to say that everyone should have affordable, quality healthcare. It is not a radical idea to say that the government should be providing that healthcare. It is not a radical idea to say that healthcare should not just be for the rich and wealthy, it should be for every single person." She gave a shout-out to the Medicare for All caucus as well as Bernie. She impressed on the audience, we have to get our Democrats to understand, it's not just the moral thing to do, it's economical and it saves lives. Join our local campaign to support NNU's work.
We must capitalize on this opportunity to actually bring this bill to the floor. It is an inter-sectional bill supported by groups like veterans and seniors who may not traditionally back other aspects of the progressive platform - and who are historically active voter blocks.
We have to fight back against the private healthcare industry and the pharmaceutical industry, because they are spending dollars to infiltrate our side and stop Democrats from unifying on this issue.
Senator Bernie Sanders
Bernie thanked the nurses and previous speakers. Sanders said, "It is beyond obscene that we have 30 million people who have no health insurance at all, who will be at their wits ends if they get sick or they end up in the hospital, financial ruin will follow them." He continued to outline how even those with insurance have such high deductibles or co-payments they avoid seeing a doctor to the detriment of their life. He said that thousands of Americans die every year because they are uninsured or under-insured and that America should do better.
He enumerated the inefficiencies in our healthcare system by comparison to other developed nations. Bernie assured participants that people across America are waking up to the raw deal that is a for-profit healthcare system. He also called Trump a liar for his attacks on the movement and told us we have to fight now.
Sanders closed with a powerful call to action, "We have a big struggle in front of us, we are taking on enormously powerful special interests. But we have the American people behind us, and we are going to win this fight! But clearly, we are going to need an enormous amount of grassroots activity to make that happen... We can win it, let's stand up and fight back!"
Getting HR676 to the floor
Now that we have House control, we have a real opportunity to move HR676 to the floor (and get people on record about it). To do that we need members, and especially chairman, of the House Way and Means, and Energy and Commerce committee to agree to a hearing, and then vote within the committee to send the bill to the floor.
There are 13 Democrats who have served on these two committees who have not signed on to HR676. We have to change that. We must focus on lobbying these offices first to progress. Many of those seats are still being decided for 2019 and we will update our campaign as they are solidified.
Field strategy
We need a large local effort to get constituents to call these targeted leaders offices. It will take thousands of calls, and we need to prioritize the key committee members. This is why NNU is organizing Improved Medicare for All Barnstorms and a National Week of Action: February 9th - 13th. Learn more.
In the second half of the call, organizers from all over shared stories from the field about successful local strategies they use to drum-up support for HR676. I give a brief overview of some of the highlights below, though I strongly suggest checking the full audio out.
Ben Day, Healthcare NOW
Ben shared how his group "adopted" Rep. Joseph Kennedy, who sits on the Energy and Commerce committee, a key target. Ben and his team lobbied Rep. Kennedy directly within the community of his district and took him from no position, to "absolutely" supports the idea of single-payer. He is stalling them a bit over language and has not officially signed on, but they've gotten him on record in support. [Source]
Here is how they did it:
Built a coalition in his district - Created a sign-on letter asking him to support HR676 and reached out to other organizations within the community, as well as national resources like unions that they knew financially had backed Kennedy in the past, and asked them to join. Result? No response. But it did help them build a network for the next step.
Social Media day of action - All the groups that signed the letter had all their members spam his Facebook and Twitter for one day with a unified hashtag and direct, meaningful messaging. Result? Still no response, but they have started the buzz leading into...
In person canvasing at supermarkets - For two weeks they stood outside grocery stores in his district and just asked people to call his office right there on the spot, generating over 250 in those two weeks. Result? That is when he got in contact with them and began negotiation with Rep. Jayapal.
Jennifer Flynn-Walker (The Center for Popular Democracy)
As the Director of Mobilization and Advocacy, Jennifer was very close to the efforts to pass the ACA. Now she and the Center for Popular Democracy are fighting for Improved Medicare for All. They will be bringing 50 affiliates every single week into D.C. to lobby on our behalf. They will be following the plan of targeting those key committee members first. They also help mobilize those with important Healthcare stories to lobby representatives directly.
Maria Svart (Democratic Socialists of America)
Maria encouraged building the movement to promote change, "We have a joke here at DSA that people are always not home or want Medicare for All." DSA is canvasing in over 200 locations in support Improved Medicare for All and will be coordinating with this group to focus on their priority targets.
Riley (Knock Every Door)
During the 2018 CA Healthcare Bill efforts, this team lead 350 volunteer phone banks, knocked on over 24,000 doors and signed up 18,000 CA voters for support. They achieved this success through the Knock Every Door strategy: They knock on everyone's door, because it's not about targeting likely voters, it's about expanding the electorate. We need to take the time to listen to voters who may not agree with us, but could be persuaded to our cause through civil conversations about what matters most in our lives.
Jon "Bowzer" Bauman (Social Security Works)
Jon focused on the way we talk to seniors about Medicare for All and why it's important to say 'Improved' Medicare for All when we speak with seniors or those familiar with the current system. Jon emphasized how important the words we use are and stressed "Please always lead with 'Improved' Medicare for All... We improve Medicare by immediately adding vision, dental, and hearing and getting rid of out-of-pocket costs."
Jon also knows there is a disinformation campaign out there we have to battle, "As you know they are being bombarded by lies from the liar-in-chief in the White House and the liar-in-chief McConnell in the Senate, and their bosses in the insurance industry and pharmaceutical corporations. So we need to fight back, and we need to fight back in a big way."
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