Fired Up!! Ready to Go!!

500,000 Doctors Support Reform! This week, the NPA joined with 13 other organizations to make sure that the public knows doctors support reform. This ad runs in Roll Call, a Washington, D.C. newspaper, this week. Download this ad from NPA's homepage to post in your office! Remember, we have factual information that you can give your patients here: http://npalliance.org/content/pages/toolkit_for_physician_engagement

View Crisp Image and Download the Ad Here

Congressman Dr. Steve Kagen is asking physicians to contact your Senators and Representatives. Please do this today:

Dr. Mel Stern testified in front of the House of Representatives Domestic Policy Subcommittee (chaired by Representative Dennis Kucinich) on September 16th. He testified that one problem with the current health care system is that insurance companies, not physicians, make decisions about what care to provide. See coverage here:

Dr. Alex Blum wrote an op-ed in The Los Angeles Times about the critical need for health care reform:

Several NPA members were seated front and center at President Obama's speech last week at the University of Maryland. The President voiced strong support for the public option in the speech. See coverage of the rally here, with mentions of NPA member Sanjeev Sriram and Executive Director Jean Silver-Isenstadt:

Several NPA members participated in anti-insurance rallies held across the country yesterday including Steve Smith in Hartford, Valerie Arkoosh in Philadelphia, and Michael Core in Los Angeles. See NPA President-elect Valerie Arkoosh's remarks to 400+ Philadelphians here:

Last Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) released the Senate Finance Committee's much-anticipated health reform bill. The $774 billion proposal would extend coverage to approximately 30 million presently-uninsured Americans and meets President Obama's commitment not to add "one dime" to the budget deficit. It is estimated that, unlike other health reform proposals, the Finance Committee's bill would reduce budget deficits by approximately $50 billion over the next decade and by even greater amounts after 2019. Nevertheless, the plan falls far short regarding consumer protection and affordability. As expected, the plan does not include a public option. Rather, it proposes member-owned health insurance cooperatives. States would be required to create insurance exchange programs and expand Medicaid to provide coverage for the uninsured. The plan includes an individual mandate to have health insurance but no employer mandate to provide insurance.

An article by Ezra Klein in The Washington Post highlights the rising costs of health care, even among those who have health insurance. He examines the results of the Kaiser Family Foundation study on health care insurance that was released last week. See the article here:

See the Kaiser Family Foundation Study here:

Michelle Obama joined in the health care reform discussion last week with a focus on how health care reform is impacting women in this country. You can watch her speech here:

In response to Senator John Kerry's call that "lies" about the health care system in the United Kingdom circulating in the U.S. be refuted, The British Medical Journal published an open letter setting the record straight:

The results of the physician survey, published last week in the NEJM, showing that the majority of physicians support a public option received a lot of press this week. Here is one editorial worth a read:

Last week, NPA signed onto and amicus brief filed in the Second Circuit data mining cases. NPA, along with other physicians' groups, including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Vermont Medical Society, the Massachusetts Medical Society, the New Hampshire Medical Society and American Medical Students Association, argued that data mining of prescriber-identifiable medical records offends the privacy of the physician, but also permits companies to identify particular patients against their wishes. Data mining assists drug companies in illegal off-label promotion by identifying both high and low prescribers for promotional attention. Data mining has also supported the promotion of dangerous drugs. See a link to the complete brief here:

This lament for health insurance company executives is a MUST WATCH:

Watch Bill O'Reilly state his support for the public option!

A Harvard study shows that 45,000 Americans die each year from lack of health insurance:

American adults younger than age 64 who lack health insurance have a 40 % higher risk of death than those who have coverage. The study was published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Watch Robert Reich explain why we need a public option in 70 seconds:

Download and post the 500,000 Doctors Support Reform ad in your office: http://npalliance.org/

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