The future of health care in America may well come down to one question: Who will shape the next president's healthcare policy – nurses and healthcare workers, or drug and insurance companies?

Now, you can be part of the answer.  Healthcare United is helping front line caregivers like us drive the healthcare debate based on what we know best: what our patients and our families need to live healthy lives.  As a first step, we’ve created a short online survey to be able to share our perspective on that state of our national healthcare system. Once 50,000 health care providers have filled out the survey, the results will be directly delivered to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.

As this election season heats up, drug and insurance corporations will be pushing the candidates to support policies that put their interests before our patients. These companies have plenty of cash and hordes of lobbyists to speak for them.

So who speaks for the nurses, the CNAs, the homecare workers and all the rest of us on the front lines of health care? We do. And when we speak with one, united voice, we can be powerful enough to push back the tide of corporate lobbyists and win the best care possible for our patients and our families.

Please take the first step right now by filling out this quick online survey on what you think about our health care system and what we need to change. Just a couple minutes of your time your time now could make a world of difference. 

Add your voice and lend a minute of your time to compete our healthcare worker survey!

Recently, the New York Times ran a story about the crippling cost of prescription drugs, confirming what caregivers like you and I see every day.  Patients are faced with paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for live-saving drugs because drug companies keep demanding more and more profits.

The article talked about Robert Banning, an 81-year-old man in Virginia, who after years of paying his premiums and playing by all the rules, is suddenly with faced with a $4,000 bill for the drug he needs to treat his chronic leukemia. He just can't afford it, so he goes without. As nurses and healthcare workers, we know that out-of-control drug prices are a public health emergency.  It's time for us to act.

Reigning in the skyrocketing costs of drugs starts with making drug companies disclose the ways they push doctors to prescribe high-cost drugs. Drug companies spend at least $25 billion per year marketing to doctors. Not only are these costs passed on to consumers – that $25 billion is built in to the cost of every drug we buy – but published evidence clearly shows that marketing spending shifts doctors toward higher cost and sometimes less-safe drugs.

Drug companies spent over $18 million on lobbying in the last election cycle. Robert Banning and patients just like him don't have thousands of lobbyists and millions of dollars on their side. That's why they need us.

How many more patients can you stand to watch give up the medication they need because prescription drug companies have free reign to charge patients what they want? This isn't about politics; it's about standing by our patients with every tool we have.

Join with your fellow nurses and healthcare workers by signing our petition.

We’ll then send this petition directly to your member of Congress so that our voices are heard!

Healthcare United is dedicated towards fighting an epidemic that's endangering care for patients across the country – called "rescission." That's the fancy term for insurance companies canceling coverage for our patients, often just when they need it most.  In many cases, patients contend that insurance companies have done this to them for improper reasons or because of some bureaucratic loophole.  In some cases “rescission” may be illegal. In all cases it's tragic – and it's wrong. As individuals, we may feel like we have no power to fight these big companies. But if we act together, we do.

Professional care givers, folks like you and me, are pushing Congress to defend our patients from the big insurance companies. We've launched an emergency national petition, demanding that Congress hold immediate hearings to expose these "rescission" practices and pass tougher laws to protect our patients in their hour of need.

Maybe you've had to tell a patient the heart-breaking news that their care can't be continued because their insurance company just cut off their coverage. Yes, they've been paying premiums for years. Yes, this may be the first time they've actually needed care. But the insurance company found a mistake on their application form years ago, and so now they're cut off.

If you've had that conversation, we're sure you understand why we're working so hard to stop this awful practice that seems only to be getting worse.

According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, Health Net was paying its senior analyst in charge of cancellations bonuses based at least in part on how many patients’ policies were cancelled (1).

Blue Cross of California recently sent a letter asking doctors to turn in their own patients for any application discrepancies that could allow Blue Cross to deny coverage. Thank goodness the doctors' association opposed Blue Cross's effort and asked the state to intervene (2). It shows how important it is for us healthcare workers to stand up for our patients. And it shows that when we do, we can win.

We can't beat the insurance companies if we fight alone. But if we come together, we can get Congress to hold hearings, expose these practices to the light of day, and then pass the tough new laws we need to make sure patients who do their best to follow the rules get the care they need when they need it. 

Add You Voice, Sign Our Petition To Stop Unfair Insurance Termination

President Bush's latest budget proposal cuts Medicare and Medicaid by over $196.2 billion dollars. These cuts would be disaster. Most days we're already swamped, and if staffing shortages get even worse it will be impossible to provide the care our patients deserve. Not to mention the thousands of seniors, children and working families who would be denied care altogether if these cuts go through!
 
So we're launching an emergency petition drive asking Congress to stop these healthcare cuts once and for all. We'll deliver our petition directly to Congress.
 
You should also know that there’s bipartisan effort already underway, led by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) to reverse these proposed cuts to care for children, seniors, and those living with disabilities.

President Bush's attempts to slide through massive cuts to our systems of care are a perfect example of why caregivers like us need to be involved. Bush's cuts would:

• Cut seniors off from access to medical care - by reducing Medicare payments by more than 178.2 billion over the next five years. This is far beyond the level that experts believe is safe for seniors, because caregivers may have to reduce their services to seniors or stop providing care to Medicare patients altogether (1).
• Dramatically worsen the nursing shortage by slashing funds for training by nearly 30%, at a time when our national nursing shortage makes us spend less and less time with each patient (2).
• Force low-income children out of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), leaving families facing a crisis with the awful choice between financial ruin and their children's health (3).

But this doesn't have to happen. If you sign this urgent petition to Congress and ask every other person you work with to do the same, we can show Congress that the people who know health care in America know these cuts are a terrible idea.

Add You Voice, Sign Our Petition to Stop These Cuts!