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Contact:
SEIU: Lori Lodes, 202-368-6584 & Change That Works: Tyler Prell, 202-701-5796

Issued October 19, 2009

One Hundred Thousand Calls to Congress: It's Time to Deliver Health Care Reform That Works

Washington, DC-- More than a thousand events are taking place across the country on Tuesday, October 20th, to make sure Congress knows it's time to deliver health care reform that makes quality care affordable for America's families. At events, house parties, hospitals, and work places, doctors, nurses, seniors, students, community activists, and union members will be calling their Senators and Representatives in an unprecedented day of action.

Every Senator and Representative must decide where they stand. Right now, the insurance industry is doing whatever it takes to try to kill reform, spending millions on misleading ads, publishing deceptive reports, and paying high-priced lobbyists to try to derail reform. That's why organizations committed to health insurance reform have come together to make sure Congress knows that their constituents are counting on them to say no" to the insurance industry and "yes" to delivering real reform.

WHO:
AFSCME
Change that Works
Community Catalyst
Families USA
Health Care for America Now
Organizing for America
Planned Parenthood Action Fund
Service Employees International Union

WHAT: More than a thousand events across the country, including:

AFSCME will conduct house parties, phone banks and online activities nationwide, including forums where AFSCME retirees will screen a video about health care reform featuring Lynda Johnson Robb, daughter of LBJ. AFSCME produced the video with the Alliance for Retired Americans.

Change That Works is holding events in their twelve states to call on specific members of Congress to deliver on health insurance reform and make sure that all Americans have access to quality affordable health care.

Community Catalyst and its 44 state-based consumer advocacy group partners are making calls to Congress and using email, Facebook, and Twitter to urge friends and partners in their networks to do the same.

Families USA's activist network has pledged to make thousands of calls on October 20th to members of Congress in support of health reform. Families USA will also be releasing a national report, One-Two Punch: Unemployed and Uninsured, which estimates the number of people in each state who have lost health coverage through August 2009 as a result of increases in the number of unemployed workers.

Health Care for America Now partners are holding more than 80 press conferences, phone banks, rallies, town hall meetings, and other gatherings across the country as part of an unprecedented national day of action to remind Congress that it must deliver health care reform that guarantees health care is truly affordable and lowers costs by making private insurers compete against a strong national public health insurance option.

Organizing for America (OFA), a grassroots project of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) committed to supporting President Obama's agenda for change, will be holding a national day of action on health insurance reform with events in neighborhoods across all 50 states. OFA's goal on Tuesday is to generate 100,000 calls and commitments to call Congress in a single day. At the 'Time to Deliver' events, community members will watch a live simulcast of President Obama as he addresses volunteers gathered from coast to coast and encourages them to reach out to their neighbors, friends and family to call Members of Congress and show that local constituents support health insurance reform.

Planned Parenthood is organizing grass-roots events across the country for supporters to contact their members of Congress and tell them it's Time to Deliver on Women's Health.

SEIU's 2.1 million doctors, nurses, and members across the country will be making more than ten thousand calls to their members of Congress demanding health insurance reform that makes healthcare affordable. SEIU is also launching their "Get In Line" online tool for people to send a message to members of congress: Women deserve equal coverage for equal premiums.

WHEN: Tuesday, October 20, 2009

WHERE: Congressional offices, living rooms, hospitals, community centers, universities, and work places across the country.

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Updated Jul 15, 2015