An army of pinstriped corporate lobbyists is descending on Washington, D.C. to block new reforms that would give you the option to choose a public healthcare plan.

What's stopping them? Our secret weapon - the power of over one million (yes, one million!) sometimes slightly disheveled and sleep deprived MomsRising members!

Tell Congress: The time is now. Get real healthcare reform done immediately, and get it right for kids and families!

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1546/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27255

Your voice, rising in chorus with a million other moms and dads, can stop an army of pinstriped corporate lobbyists. And your voice is needed now. Congress is deciding whether or not to give the public access to a "public health" insurance plan option as part of healthcare reform. A public health insurance plan option is just that - an option. Families who like their current private health insurance plan can keep things exactly how they are now. But families who don't have access to another health insurance plan would have the option to be covered under a public health insurance plan.

Women, in particular, need a public insurance option because they are less likely to get health insurance through their jobs and more than twice as likely as men to get employer-sponsored coverage through their spouses. And as the economy worsens, many employers are reducing healthcare coverage for dependents, leaving millions of women and children at risk.1

Why are insurance companies so nervous about a public plan option? Well, for one, they'll finally have some real competition. Currently, of the 3,500 individual insurance market policies examined by the National Women's Law Center, just 12 percent offered comprehensive maternity coverage, and nearly two-thirds did not cover maternity at all.2 A public plan would give women and families a real choice in a market where nine out of ten "competitors" aren't offering the coverage they need, and will be a guaranteed backup for all Americans.

Congress needs to hear from the public now because insurance companies have begun aggressively lobbying against the public plan option. They need to hear from real people like you and me. Contact your members of Congress today:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1768/t/1546/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27255

As mothers, fathers, and advocates for families, we must all stand up and say we can't afford to miss this opportunity to reform our broken healthcare system. Please forward this message on to all your family and friends.

Thank you for your work on behalf of America's families!

[1] 24% of women get their insurance through their spouse's job, compared to only 11% of men. Dependent coverage is not a stable source of insurance; in fact, between 2001 and 2005, employers dropping such coverage accounted for 11% of the decline in employer-sponsored insurance overall.
Women and Health Coverage: The Affordability Gap, (Elizabeth M. Patchias and Judy Waxman, April 2007- Issue Brief) http://www.nwlc.org/pdf/NWLCCommonwealthHealthInsuranceIssueBrief2007.pdf

[2] Nowhere to Turn: How the Individual Health Insurance Market Fails Women, (National Women's Law Center, September 2008)
http://action.nwlc.org/site/PageServer?pagename=nowheretoturn

P.S. A big thank you to our partners at Families USA, First Focus, National Women's Law Center, and National Immigration Law Center for their help on this issue.