Dear Linda,
It's a cold, snowy Sunday morning here in Washington D.C., and I wanted to write you about this weekend's breakthrough on health care reform.
On Friday, I joined a 7-hour marathon negotiating session to hammer out the final details of the reform bill. By the end of the night, we had finally reached a solid compromise to insure more Americans, lower costs, and hold insurance companies accountable to deliver for the premiums we pay -- all while protecting women's health and right to choose.
We still have several more days of hard work ahead to get it passed through the Senate -- but if we can fix America's broken health care system by working around the clock through the holidays, that's a step that I'm more than willing to take.
With the rest of the year consumed by the health care debate, that's going to leave me very little time for campaigning -- so I'm asking for your support to fill the gap and help us reach our fundraising goals before the December 31 deadline.
Can I count on you?
I'm committed to staying as long as it takes and doing everything I can to get health care reform passed through the Senate this year, because hard-working American families deserve it.
Unfortunately, right-wing senators are doing everything in their power to derail reform and bring the Senate to a grinding halt. Their obstructionist tactics mean that we'll be working day and night right up through Christmas Eve.
There are so many good things in this bill, even though I surely wanted it to be better. But, at the end of the day, this is still a very good bill -- and the most significant reform of America's broken health care system since Medicare was enacted in 1965.
Among other things, the bill would:
- Extend health insurance coverage to 31 million more Americans, including 14 million lower-income, working people through Medicaid
- Prohibit insurance company discrimination based on gender or pre-existing condition -- and make sure you can't lose your insurance when you get sick
- End the upward, unsustainable increases in insurance premiums
- Increase funding for community health centers in 10,000 communities across the country, enhancing primary care for more than 25 million people who have traditionally been uninsured or underinsured
- Close the prescription drug "doughnut hole" for seniors
- Require insurance companies to spend at least 85% of their income on patient care, not executive pay or profits
- Cut the federal deficit by $132 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office
We can't let this opportunity pass us by. That's why I'm going to keep fighting for the very best health care reform bill we can get -- while defending women's reproductive health -- and then work as hard as I can to get it passed and signed into law.
Now, while I'm back in Washington DC, I hope you'll help our campaign keep up the momentum before December 31 -- so we can show the press, pundits, and our right-wing opponents the strength of our grassroots support at this important year-end deadline.
Please contribute today -- and help us reach our ambitious $250,000 grassroots fundraising goal before the year-end December 31 deadline!
We're so close to passing significant health care reform.
As we approach this crucial vote, I think about all of the Congresses and all of the presidents who tried to ensure that no more American families would ever have to know the heartbreak of bankruptcy due to a devastating illness. Now we can finally do the right thing.
Thanks so much for your help and support, every step of the way.
In Friendship,
Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senator
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