Members of Congress and Health Care Professionals Lois Capps (D-CA), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Judy Chu (D-CA) Speak from Personal Experience on the Need for Health Insurance Reform 

To listen to audio of the call, please click on the link below:

http://www.democrats.org/page/-/audio/calls/ConfCall1pm100109.mp3 

WASHINGTON, DC -- The Democratic National Committee (DNC) held a press conference call today with Congresswomen Lois Capps (D-CA), Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), and Judy Chu (D-CA) to discuss why, as medical professionals and Members of Congress, they support the President’s agenda for health insurance reform.  On the call, each Member gave their own personal reason why as medical professionals they feel the current health care industry in this country is broken and why health insurance reform is needed now.

This week's call comes as the DNC announced a new campaign featuring direct appeals from doctors and nurses speaking from personal experience about the urgent need for health insurance reform. The campaign includes a national television advertisement featuring doctors and nurses discussing the urgent need for health insurance reform, the placement of Op-Eds and letters to the editor from medical professionals in support of reform, the use of social networking sites by doctors and nurses and a series of press events across the country with health care providers, Members of Congress and other health insurance reform advocates. 

Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA)

"Its a real pleasure to be a Member of Congress with the life experiences I've had... People who work in a professional way with our health care system every day - we're the ones who know how broken it is, and how much need for repair and reform there is. We know that we cannot afford to go the way that we are - people with health insurance may like their doctor and health insurance plan, but they live in fear of the next envelope that is going to tell them how much their premium has gone up... We are so much further now along this path to health insurance reform than we have ever been before, and it is an exciting time and we will get this done."

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX)

"I have had first hand observation of insurance companies getting more restrictive... One size does not fit all, and that is exactly what the health insurance industry want to do.  They sit down and do a plan that is supposed to be applied to everyone, but they don't cover certain medications for example - and so actually right now the insurance companies are doing the dictating, paying less and less for services and not thinking about the person as an individual. Its just what they are going to pay for and what they are not going to pay for."

Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA)

"While I may be relatively new to Congress, I am not a stranger to the fight for quality of health care... The bottom line is that the status quo on health care in the country is unacceptable. As a former health care provider, I saw people struggling with substance abuse, mental illness, and trauma of rape, only to be abandoned by the health care system at the most crucial moment in their lives because they lost a job and their medical coverage along with it.  It's unconscionable that our nation treats its citizens this way when they are most vulnerable - but the bill being debated in the House would change all this - it would provide quality affordable health ins