Providers, please stand up
August 27, 2009 by Molly Cate
First there was the coffee and donut town hall meeting at my church.
Next came the handful of slick direct mailings to my house urging me to contact my elected officials.
And finally, the phone rang. It was a lovely older woman named Bettie who called me during dinner to invite my family - and even offered us a free ride - to healthcare reform rallies throughout the Middle Tennessee
area this weekend.
Short of door-to-door visits in my urban liberal neighborhood, the SEIU's Change that Works campaign has reached out to my left-leaning community on just about every front possible in the last few months.
Their message platform? Stand up for healthcare reform! Americans deserve better! Healthcare is a right for every American!
On the other end of town and at the opposite end of the political spectrum in Williamson County, fliers have appeared in suburban mailboxes inviting citizens to the upcoming Taxpayer March on D.C. designed to "save our freedoms."
Recipients are invited to sign an online petition against the government healthcare bill and are reminded that "trying to take our country back LATER will take a LIFETIME!"
From groups like organized labor to conservative grassroots groups, it seems like everybody has a healthcare reform campaign in full swing.
Their campaigns are doing all the right things: town hall meetings, reaching people in their homes, being repetitious, etc.
My only question is: Where are the healthcare providers - the hospitals that care for hundreds of patients each day and have the distinct pleasure of negotiating with payers - in all of this?
Hospitals, what's your message?
