We're on the verge of something historic -- both the House and the Senate are closer than ever to passing meaningful health insurance reform. Yet, this fight is far from over, and, in Kansas, special interest groups and far-right legislators are already gearing up to derail the process on a state level:
...some of our leaders in the State Legislature are already on top of it. Sen. Mary Pilcher Cook and Reps. Brenda Landwehr and Peggy Mast will hold a series of press conferences Tuesday to announce their sponsorship of bills to exempt Kansas from any federal health reform legislation.
Whoa -- hold your horses. Kansas Republicans are already ready to block "any federal health reform legislation" before we even know what the final legislation will be. So, in response, we've launched KansasDeservesReform.com -- an online petition to pledge your support for real reform in Kansas.
Our goal is to gather the names of the thousands of Kansans who believe we all deserve to benefit from the reform legislation being debated in Congress. We'll spend the next week or so collecting thousands of names and then deliver hard copies personally to Governor Parkinson and legislative leaders -- both Democrat and Republican. Here's some information on how to get involved.
Text of the petition:
"Americans are on the brink of benefiting from substantive and meaningful health insurance reform. Unfortunately, Republican legislators in Kansas are moving quickly to opt out of the reform and deny Kansans the options that will be made available to consumers in other states. Kansans deserve the opportunity to benefit from that legislation -- not failed leadership from extreme right-wing politicians looking to score cheap political points."
Please, take 1-2 minutes to sign the petition and make your voice heard!
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Here is the email we just sent out to our supporters:
Friend --
Never before have we been so close to real health insurance reform.
Soon, the House and the Senate will vote to enact reform legislation that will bring relief to the millions of Americans struggling with our broken health care system. But, as we get close, special interests and extreme right-wing politicians are going to try even harder to squash real health insurance reform.
This was evident today, when Republicans in the state legislature announced plans to opt-out of "any federal reform legislation" - regardless of the final details. We can't let that happen - that's why we've created KansasDeservesReform.com so you can pledge your support for real reform in Kansas.
We've never been closer to real reform - take action at KansasDeservesReform.com today!
You've heard the statistics: 350,000 Kansans don't have health insurance, while thousands struggle in a system that costs more, but provides less. Kansans not only need real health reform, we deserve it - not the failed leadership of extreme right-wing politicians looking to score cheap political points.
That's why we launched KansasDeservesReform.com- so you can guarantee your voice is heard in this debate. We'll spend the next week collecting thousands of names all across the state and deliver hard copies of the petition to Governor Parkinson and legislative leaders on both sides of the aisle.
That's where you come in - can you take 1-2 minutes to sign our petition and help spread it around:
http://KansasDeservesReform.com
Together, we can guarantee we all get the health reform we deserve.
Thanks for all that you do,
Kenny JohnstonExecutive Director - Kansas Democratic Party
P.S. Now is our time to act - logon to KansasDeservesReform.com and take action today!
Thanks for your continued support!