LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT, SPEAKER AND SENATE MAJORITY LEADER

Dear President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid,

We applaud the House, Senate and the President for all of your hard work to bring us so close to meaningful health care reform. It has been a monumental undertaking in the face of an unproductive and many times disingenuous opposition. However, we are deeply concerned about several aspects of the current Senate bill and therefore, the final outcome of health reform policy, including the taxing of health benefits, a lack of shared responsibility to ensure employers are contributing to their workers’ health insurance, and the absence of a public option to keep insurance companies honest and keep insurance costs down. We are a coalition of organizations that represent communities of color and low-income communities and our recommendations below give voice to the specific concerns of those communities.
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MOBILIZING THE NEW MAJORITY:
HEALTH CARE REFORM AND PEOPLE OF COLOR

Major National Groups Join Forces to Mobilize Communities of Color for Final Push on Reform

DEMAND HEALTHCARE REFORM!
CALL CONGRESS NOW!
 1-800-577-1635

SEIU's Healthcare Equality Project is making available a toll-free number that will patch you through directly to your Senator. Please call today!

The country's largest African-American and Latino organizations are joining forces with other major national civil rights and grassroots organizations to mobilize the nation's 100 million people of color for a final push in support of universal health care reform. Leaders of the organizations are coming together to make certain that the voices of people of color are heard -- and heeded -- as the health care reform debate enters its final, critical days. The groups will release television and print ads in English and Spanish that will run in four states with sizable African-American and Latino populations, part of a grassroots effort to ensure that members of Congress appreciate the importance of reform to the people of color they represent.

The latest U.S. Census results confirm that there are more than 100 million people of color in the country, 33 percent of the population. In several key states, the percentage of people of color is even greater, approaching 40 percent in states such as Florida and Louisiana. These constituencies comprise the building blocks for a new majority that can reshape the policies and priorities of the country.

Recent studies have shown that the impact of inequality in the health care system falls most heavily on communities of color. Leaders of the organizations are calling for reform that addresses that inequity and creates a comprehensive, affordable system covering all U.S. residents.

The initial ad buy will address by name the following Senators:

  • *Senator Blanche Lincoln, Arkansas
  • *Senator George LeMieux, Florida
  • *Senator Kay Hagan, North Carolina
  • *Senator Mary Landrieu, Louisiana