The Long, Hot Summer of 2009

By Cindy Pearson, Executive Director

We’re expecting a long, hot summer in D.C. this year. No, not because of global warming (in fact, it’s been unusually rainy and cool the last few weeks), but because health care reform is heating up at long last.

Legislation to guarantee affordable quality health care for all is being introduced in the Congress as we go to print. That means that opponents of change are going to step up their opposition. High-priced lobbyists will go to work, attempting to water down health care reform bills until they’re too weak to do any real good. And, expect to start seeing misleading ads again about the dangers of reform, just like we did back in 1993, when the “Harry and Louise” ads turned the public against President Clinton’s heath care reform plan.

I know we can overcome opposition to health care reform if we and our allies -- including the ones we elected -- are willing to take the heat and stay in the fight. We need to be on Capitol Hill every day from now until the day when the final legislation passes. We need to walk the same halls as those high-priced lobbyists, visit the same offices they do, attend the same hearings they attend, and make sure that members of Congress hear from us about how badly women need real change for ourselves and our families.

We need to continue mobilizing, through Raising Women’s Voices Speakouts, rallies, e-alerts, phone calls, and old-fashioned in-person meetings. We have to make sure our voices are not drowned out in this discussion and mount some of our own advertising campaigns in favor of health care reform legislation; thank goodness some of our allies have raised money to do just that.

In the NWHN office, we’re concentrating on getting the word out to women’s health advocates and activists across the country, and taking our message to the health reform leaders in the Obama Administration and in Congress. We’re telling these leaders what women and families need, and how much we’re counting on them to put up with the “heat” and get the job done. In early June, I was privileged to meet with Nancy Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform, and other women leaders in the Administration. I told them that women are desperate for health care that is affordable; meets our needs throughout our entire lifespan; and can’t be lost due to ill health, job loss, or divorce. I told them that women are ready to help them get the job done. And, as a sign that we know that it’s going to be a long, hot summer, I gave them Raising Women’s Voices fans so that even when it gets hottest, they’ll still be thinking about how much women have at stake in this fight.