Re-posted from healthcare4every1.org.

SustiNet, Connecticut’s 2009 law and the new federal health care reform add up to peace of mind for families and businesses by providing health care that:

• Offers quality health care choices for us all
• Gives us more for our money
• Keeps us healthy and takes care of us when we’re sick

SustiNet (CT Public Act 09-148) positions our state to be a national leader in health care reform by taking a bold, comprehensive approach to controlling health care costs, improving quality and increasing access.

Combined with the new federal health care reform laws, Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (HR 3590) and Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HR 4872), SustiNet puts Connecticut in the front of the line to leverage more federal resources to boost the state’s economy and help us achieve quality, affordable health care we can count on.

Our top priority bills to reduce toxic chemicals are still alive and making their way through the legislative process. Each bill needs to pass one more committee and be approved by the House and Senate before the session ends on May 5th. Some state legislators are supporting these bills, but others still are not. Take action now: Send a message to your legislators either thanking them for their support or asking them to co-sponsor these important bills.

Just plug in your address and we'll set you up with a tailored e-mail that you can send off in just a couple of minutes. Your legislators will appreciate being thanked for their work if they are one of our strong supporters, and if we don't yet know where your legislators stand, your e-mail can help us find out.

The chemical industry and their allies are holding dozens of meetings with legislators this week. In order to win we need to generate hundreds of e-mails from concerned citizens around the state. People like you will make the difference!

Following the historic passage of national health care reform, Senator Chris Dodd came back to the state last week to thank supporters and to highlight the many good benefits included in the bill. Sen. Dodd was joined by Congressman John Larson and CCAG Executive Director Tom Swan. Christine Stuart from CT News Junkie reported on the event:

Tom Swan, executive director of the Connecticut Citizen Action Group, said it’s with mixed emotions that he says the past 15 to 18 months have been the most productive for Dodd, who after 36 years is not running for re-election. He challenged the audience at Capitol Community College to find a senator who has done more in their six years than Dodd has done in less than two.

Swan said he looked forward to working with Dodd in the future on a “public option,” which was not included in the final bill.

Click here to view video of Tom Swan's remarks on the CCAG YouTube channel. (Videos by Fletcher Fisher)

We beat the insurance companies, and now the Affordable Health Care for America Act is the law of the land:

With the stroke of President Obama’s pen, his health care overhaul — the most sweeping social legislation enacted in decades — became law on Tuesday.

[...]

The landmark bill, passed by the House on Sunday night by a vote of 219-212, will provide coverage to an estimated 30 million people who currently lack it.

While some of the benefits of the reform legislation will be phased in over the next few years, there are some benefits of the bill that will take effect immediately:

• Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted.
• Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
• Young adults will be able to stay on their parents' health plans until the age of 26. Many health plans currently drop dependents from coverage when they turn 19 or finish college.
• Uninsured adults with a pre-existing conditions will be able to obtain health coverage through a new program that will expire once new insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014.
• A temporary reinsurance program is created to help companies maintain health coverage for early retirees between the ages of 55 and 64. This also expires in 2014.
• Medicare drug beneficiaries who fall into the "doughnut hole" coverage gap will get a $250 rebate. The bill eventually closes that gap which currently begins after $2,700 is spent on drugs. Coverage starts again after $6,154 is spent.
• A tax credit becomes available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for workers.

Read the rest of the benefits of the bill at this link.

Other news about the new national health care legislation:

• Congressman Jim Himes has issued a statement about the benefits to residents of Connecticut's 4th Congressional District
• Congressman Chris Murphy issued a statement about the benefits to residents of Connecticut's 5th Congressional District

On March 9, activists from Connecticut and all over the country converged on Washington D.C. to call out the insurance company executives gathering at the AHIP conference as the criminals they are. This Citizens' Posse rallied in our nation's capital to remind Congress and the President to listen to us, not corporate executives who stand in the way of a better America. The video at right was filmed at the citizens' arrest of the insurance companies.

Sharon Bass reported on the Citizens' Posse for CT News Junkie:

Many carried signs fashioned like wanted posters, each with the picture and name of an HMO CEO, and the reasons for the arrest, such as denial of care, increasing premium costs, and so on. According to recent media reports, the five biggest health insurers made a $12-billion profit in 2009, up from $8 billion the year before. AHIP is reportedly spending $5 million a week to defeat the Democrats’ health-reform effort.

[...]

Tom Swan, executive director of Connecticut Citizens Action Group, called the protest a success. “We know we disrupted their conference,” he said, standing just outside the Ritz. “We clearly redefined sides (of the health-care debate). We saw a willingness to take more drastic action.”

The Washington Post also covered the Citizens' Posse:

"We're declaring this a crime scene!" bellowed Richard Trumka, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, to the roar of the crowd. AFL-CIO is a federation of about 60 labor unions.

Organizers of the protest said they brought about 5,000 people from across the United States to downtown Washington. They began their march in Dupont Circle, where they heard speeches from politicians and activists.

Los Angeles Times - February 15, 2010

Many studies have documented the fact that patients of color are less likely to receive the same quality of medical care as whites, and that those differences often translate to worse health outcomes. The pattern holds up even after taking into account demographic factors such as income, education and health insurance status.

To figure out why this is, a group of researchers from Yale University’s School of Public Health and the Urban Institute focused on 133,821 patients who were treated for one of 10 surgical procedures at hospitals in New York City or the adjacent counties of Westchester (to the north) and Nassau (to the east) between 2001 and 2004.

The researchers picked New York City because of its diversity of ethnic groups and abundance of hospitals. They picked the 10 procedures – for breast cancer, colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, coronary artery bypass graft, angioplasty, abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, carotid endarterectomy and total hip replacement – because prior studies have shown that surgeons and hospitals who perform them more often produce better outcomes.

On Feb. 16, we took to the streets of Hartford to tell insurance companies and corporate interests to stop opposing the reforms we need. Christine Stuart of CT News Junkie reported on our action:

Carrying pitchforks and torches a group of labor unions and health care groups marched down Church Street in Hartford Tuesday night to let the state’s largest business lobby know that they want health care reform.

John Murphy of the Connecticut Citizens Action Group said the Connecticut Business and Industry Association symbolizes what the group is up against in its fight for quality, affordable health care.

CBIA makes most of its revenue from selling insurance to small businesses, Murphy said. He said it is blocking reform efforts because under a government run system health care system it would lose money.

Visit CTNewsJunkie.com to read the full report.

Other news reports on the action:

If you've watched any local television lately, you have probably seen an advertisement from the "Committee for Truth in Politics" that is anything but true. Americans for Financial Reform responded to the advertisement in a recent e-mail to its members:

You may have seen this ad from the "Committee for Truth in Politics" on TV that claims that financial reform is really a $4 trillion bank bailout - a claim that doesn't resemble any truth, as Factcheck.org explains. And where did this group get the idea to say black is white and up is down? From a man named Frank Luntz.

Frank Luntz is a pollster for many of the corporations that created our financial meltdown, including Merrill Lynch and bear Sterns. This is the same Luntz whose health insurance reform talking points - on how to best stir up fear and confusion in the American people to derail reform and protect insurance industry profits - showed up across the web and in the mouths of lawmakers. So it shouldn't be surprising that he's at it again, this time writing a 17-page memo on how to kill financial reform.

Learn more by reading Americans for Financial Reform Director Heather Booth's response on the Huffington Post.

CCAG is committed to our financial security, and is partnered with Americans for Financial Reform to push for the change we need in light of the global economic crisis.

The financial industry is spending millions to block the creation of an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Please join CCAG and help us stand up to these big special interests.

In his first State of the Union address, President Obama reinforced his ambitious agenda to fix the economy and enact financial reform, including measures to hold Big Banks accountable for their reckless actions that led to our financial crisis and the loss of millions of jobs:

"The House has passed financial reform...And the lobbyists are already trying to kill it. Well, we cannot let them win this fight. And if the bill that ends up on my desk does not meet the test of real reform, I will send it back."

Take Action Now! Click here to write to your Senators and tell them to stand with you. Tell them to hold the Big Banks accountable for bringing down the economy!

After you've written, be sure to call Senator Dodd at (202) 224-3121. Thank him for supporting the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) without weakening states' ability to protect consumers and to please continue to fight for an independent CFPA.

Click on the read more link below to learn about Americans for Financial Reform.

Learn more about moving your money from a "too big to fail" bank to a local community bank at the Move Your Money Project website: http://moveyourmoney.info.