Fighting for Our Health: the Epic Battle to Make Health Care a Right in the United States

419 Pages·2011·2.607 MB·English

by  Richard Kirsch

“Richard Kirsch’s book is the rarest of

combinations: an insider look at American
Richard
politics that instructs as well as entertains...
FIGHTING
Kirsch
As head of the remarkable advocacy organization Health
Care for America Now, Kirsch was on the frontlines of the
fight for affordable, quality coverage for all Americans
in 2008-10. Now he recalls those searing yet inspiring
F For Our Health
experiences with wit, wisdom, and a wry sense of
T
humor. The result is a compelling story of the power of I
h
citizens’ groups that says much about how health care eG

reform happened — and what its passage and uncertain E
implementation mean for our democratic future.” RICHARD KIRSCH is an pH
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Institute Fellow at the c
Jacob S. Hacker, Professor of Political Science, Yale University,
and co-author, Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made Nelson A. Rockefeller BT
a
the Rich Richer — And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class Institute of Government t
t
and a Senior Fellow at leI
the Roosevelt Institute. TN
“Finally, a book about intrigue and politics o
He has 36 years of
in Washington that has relevance for M
experience leading G
Americans outside the beltway, written by citizen campaigns on a
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someone who is actually in a position to health care, campaign e
know what really happened.” finance reform, and HF
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other issues.
Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont aO
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As national campaign
“This is the book to read for the inside manager for Health CR
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story about the grass-roots campaign Care for America Now r
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for health care reform... he appeared on PBS’s O
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The News Hour with
Richard Kirsch tells that story with passion and insight — R
Jim Lehrer, CNN, ABC’s U
and with important lessons for organizers of all kinds.” ig
World News Tonight
Paul Starr, Pulitzer Prize winner, Princeton University professor hR
and Good Morning t
and author of Remedy and Reaction: The Peculiar American I
America, Fox, C-SPAN, n
Struggle Over Health Care Reform and The Colbert Report. T H
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He was frequently
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“Fighting for Our Health is a thoroughly
quoted in The New E
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enjoyable, enlightening read... York Times, The n
that should be on the shelves of every activist in the country Washington Post, and iteA
and will be a staple of college courses for many years.” The Wall Street Journal. dL

Peter Dreier, E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics S
at Occidental College and author of The 100 Greatest taT
t
Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame e
sH The Epic Battle To Make Health Care
Fightingforourhealth.com
A Right In The United States
contains pictures, video, and documents
to accompany Fighting For Our Health. ISBN 978-1-930912-245-31995
Richard Kirsch
The Rockefeller Institute Press
University at Albany
State University of New York The Rockefeller
9 781930 912243
Institute Press
Single.indd 1 11/7/11 3:34:39 PM

Fighting for
Our Health
The Epic Battle to Make Health
Care a Right in the United States
TheauthorataHealthCareforAmericaNowrallyonCapitolHill,June25,
2009
PhotobyJocelynAugustino
Fighting for
Our Health
The Epic Battle to Make Health
Care a Right in the United States
Richard Kirsch
The Rockefeller Institute Press
Albany, New York
Coverphoto:ActivistHeatherBaldwinattheHCANrallyon
CapitolHill,June25,2009.PhotocourtesyofREUTERS/JoseLuis
Magaua.
TheRockefellerInstitutePress,Albany,NewYork12203-1003
©2011bytheRockefellerInstitutePress
Allrightsreserved.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
TheRockefellerInstitutePress
TheNelsonRockefellerofInstituteofGovernment
TheUniversityatAlbany
411StateStreet
Albany,NewYork12203-1003
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Kirsch,Richard.
Fightingforourhealth:theepicbattletomakehealthcarearight
intheUnitedStates/RichardKirsch.
p.;cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-930912-24-3(alk.paper)
I.Title.
[DNLM:1. UnitedStates.PatientProtectionandAffordableCare
Act.2. Insurance,Health—legislation&jurisprudence—United
States.3. LegislationasTopic—history—UnitedStates.4. Health
CareReform—history—UnitedStates.5. HealthCare
Reform—legislation&jurisprudence—UnitedStates.6. History,
21stCentury—UnitedStates.7. Politics—UnitedStates. W32.5
AA1]
362.10973—dc23
2011036496
ISBN: 978-1-930912-24-3
For
Claudia, Jocelyn, Evan, Lindsay,
Noah, Abby, and Bob
and
Lisa and all our sisters and brothers
in our fight for economic justice.

Table of Contents
Foreword—ThomasL.Gais. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Acronyms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xviii
Introduction:TheGreatQuest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 ThumbOutinBothDirections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2 TheSolutionIstheProblem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3 BuildingHealthCareforAmericaNow . . . . . . . . . 47
4 Ready,Set,Go!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
5 HealthCareinthe2008Election. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
6 TheEconomyorHealthCare? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
7 FromtheGroundUp—Champions. . . . . . . . . . . 121
8 FromtheGroundUp—Swings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
9 TheHappyWarrior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
10 NoHELPfortheGangofSix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
11 TheGunsofAugust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
12 TheWhiteHouseWaffles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
13 IftheInsuranceCompaniesWin—YouLose . . . . . 225
14 TheBaucusBillIsaFailure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

vii
Fighting for Our Health
15 DidtheWhiteHouseTrytoGetMeFired?. . . . . . . 259
16 TheHouseMakesHistory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
17 Harry’sDilemma. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
18 Lieberman’sRevenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
19 ChristmasEve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
20 NotAgain! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
21 StopBigInsurance—CongressListenstoUs . . . . . 329
22 FightingforOurHealth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Epilogue:TheFightGoesOn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383
Website:www.FightingforOurHealth.com isdesignedasan
accompanimenttoFightingforOurHealth.Readerswillfind
picturesofthepeoplediscussedinthebook,picturesand
videoofmanyoftheevents,videoofHCANadvertisements
andadsrunbyothergroups,copiesofkeydocuments,and
linkstootherdocuments.Thewebsiteisorganizedto
correspondwiththechaptersof FightingforOurHealth.

viii