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==Affordable Care Act== ==Affordable Care Act==
HCAN did not achieve one of its central goals, the creation of a so-called public option, a government-run health plan that would introduce greater competition into local health insurance markets, nearly all of which are dominated by one or two large companies.<ref>{{cite report|author=Health Care for America Now |title=Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market: Lack of Competition Hurts Rural States, Small Businesses |date=May 2009 |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url=http://hcfan.3cdn.net/1b741c44183247e6ac_20m6i6nzc.pdf}}</ref> ] joined with ]s to block the public option and a proposal to allow Americans over 55 years old to pay unsubsidized premiums to the government to purchase ] benefits, which now are provided to the elderly and disabled through a single-payer system that picks up the vast majority of patients' costs. Despite those losses, HCAN supports the Affordable Care Act and frequently declares that the ACA's impact will be extensive in the policy and political arenas.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation |title=Focus on Health Reform: Summary of New Health Reform Law |date=April 15, 2010 |accessdate=July 15, 2011 |url=http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/8061.pdf}}</ref> HCAN did not achieve one of its central goals, the creation of a so-called public option, a government-run health plan that would introduce greater competition into local health insurance markets, nearly all of which are dominated by one or two large companies.<ref>{{cite report|author=Health Care for America Now |title=Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market: Lack of Competition Hurts Rural States, Small Businesses |date=May 2009 |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url=http://hcfan.3cdn.net/1b741c44183247e6ac_20m6i6nzc.pdf}}</ref> ] joined with ]s to block the public option and a proposal to allow Americans over 55 years old to pay unsubsidized premiums to the government to purchase ] benefits, which now are provided to the elderly and disabled through a single-payer system that picks up the vast majority of patients' costs. These compromises were the price of passage. Despite those losses, HCAN supports the Affordable Care Act and frequently declares that the ACA's impact will be extensive in the policy and political arenas.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation |title=Focus on Health Reform: Summary of New Health Reform Law |date=April 15, 2010 |accessdate=July 15, 2011 |url=http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/8061.pdf}}</ref>


==Activities since enactment of Affordable Care Act== ==Activities since enactment of Affordable Care Act==
Republican officials and organizations representing big corporations have devoted extensive resources to attempting to repeal the ACA, or at least to withhold the law's designated federal funds.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation |title=GOP Lawmakers Formally 'Pledge' To Repeal Health Law, And More |date=September 23, 2010 |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url=http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2010/September/23/GOP-Pledge-Repeal-health-reform.aspx}}</ref> Republicans and their ideological allies have filed federal lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the new law's requirement that starting in 2014 everyone who can afford it must carry health insurance or face a modest fine for going uninsured.<ref>{{cite news|last=Helderman |first=Rosalind S. |publisher=The Washington Post |title=Liberty University's challenge of federal health-care law is dismissed |date=November 30, 2010 |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/30/AR2010113006400.html}}</ref> Various cases are wending their way through the federal courts, and there is near unanimous agreement across the legal and political spectrum that the issue will not be settled until the ] rules. Republican members of Congress have been persistent in criticizing the ACA and seeking legislative tactics to interfere with and undermine implementation of the law.


As a result of political and legal challenges to the ACA, in 2010 HCAN transitioned from campaigning for passage of the law to a broad campaign to fully implement health care reform at the state and federal level. HCAN's executive director, Ethan Rome, has repeatedly declared in media statements and in frequent writings on Huffington Post<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Huffington Post |title=Ethan Rome |accessdate=September 6, 2011 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ethan-rome}}</ref> that Congress and the Obama administration should carry out all implementation activities.<ref>{{cite web|author=Health Care for America Now |title=HCAN Shifts To Second Phase Of Health Reform |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url=http://healthcareforamericanow.org/site/content/second_phase}}</ref> HCAN has said it intends to do this by identifying significant public policy issues as they arise and taking responsibility to lead campaigns to address them in collaboration with the diverse membership of its coalition. These efforts include pushing for strong accountability measures for insurance companies<ref>{{cite web|author=Health Care for America Now |title=Health Care Advocates Disinfect Big Insurance Meeting, Clean Up Lobbyistsí Dirty Tricks |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url=http://healthcareforamericanow.org/site/content/clean_up_lobbyists_dirty_tricks}}</ref> and countering what HCAN says is false information that has been systematically disseminated by opponents of the law.<ref>{{cite web|author=Health Care for America Now |title=HCAN Asks Broadcasters to Stop Airing Misleading Ads About Health Care Law |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url=http://healthcareforamericanow.org/2010/09/22/hcan-asks-broadcasters-to-stop-airing-misleading-ads-about-health-care-law/}}</ref> As a result of these political challenges, in 2010 HCAN transitioned from campaigning for passage of the law to a broad campaign to fully implement health care reform at the state and federal level. HCAN's executive director, Ethan Rome, has repeatedly declared in media statements and in frequent writings on Huffington Post<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Huffington Post |title=Ethan Rome |accessdate=September 6, 2011 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ethan-rome}}</ref> that Congress and the Obama administration should carry out all implementation activities.<ref>{{cite web|author=Health Care for America Now |title=HCAN Shifts To Second Phase Of Health Reform |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url=http://healthcareforamericanow.org/site/content/second_phase}}</ref> HCAN has said it intends to do this by identifying significant public policy issues as they arise and taking responsibility to lead campaigns to address them in collaboration with the diverse membership of its coalition. These efforts include pushing for strong accountability measures for insurance companies<ref>{{cite web|author=Health Care for America Now |title=Health Care Advocates Disinfect Big Insurance Meeting, Clean Up Lobbyistsí Dirty Tricks |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url=http://healthcareforamericanow.org/site/content/clean_up_lobbyists_dirty_tricks}}</ref> and countering false information that has been systematically disseminated by opponents of the law.<ref>{{cite web|author=Health Care for America Now |title=HCAN Asks Broadcasters to Stop Airing Misleading Ads About Health Care Law |accessdate=July 19, 2011 |url=http://healthcareforamericanow.org/site/content/stop_airing_misleading_ads}}</ref> HCAN continues to prepare reports highlighting insurance industry excesses and abuses and to ] the public about developments related to implementation of the law by state and federal agencies. In the fall of 2010, HCAN co-produced a short, two-part comedy video<ref>{{cite video|people=Black, Jack (actor) Ferrera, America (actor) Bremer, Gloria (executive producer) Health Care for America Now (executive producer)|date=October 11, 2010 |title=The Mis-Informant Part 1-with Jack Black as Nathan Spewman |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj4uBwpimjg |publisher=YouTube |accessdate=September 6, 2011}}</ref> starring ] and ] about professional "misinformant" Nathan Spewman, who spreads lies about the Affordable Care Act as part of an industry propaganda campaign.

HCAN continues to prepare reports highlighting insurance industry excesses and abuses and to ] the public about developments related to implementation of the law by state and federal agencies. In the fall of 2010, HCAN co-produced a short, two-part comedy video<ref>{{cite video|people=Black, Jack (actor) Ferrera, America (actor) Bremer, Gloria (executive producer) Health Care for America Now (executive producer)|date=October 11, 2010 |title=The Mis-Informant Part 1-with Jack Black as Nathan Spewman |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nj4uBwpimjg |publisher=YouTube |accessdate=September 6, 2011}}</ref> starring ] and ] about fictitious professional "misinformant" Nathan Spewman, who spreads lies about the Affordable Care Act as part of an industry propaganda campaign.


==References== ==References==

Revision as of 06:30, 5 December 2013

Not to be confused with Healthcare-NOW!.

Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is a progressive political coalition of more than 1,000 organizations that joined together in 2008 in a successful effort to promote legislation to overhaul the United States health care system and extend medical benefits to most of the population that is currently uninsured. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA) was signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010, and HCAN was credited with being a "major contributor" to its passage. After enactment of the law, HCAN shifted its activities to defending the law from opposition attacks and advocating for the law before Congress and federal and state regulatory agencies.

Organization

HCAN is directed by a steering committee that consists of a wide range of tax-exempt public charities, advocacy organizations, labor unions and civil rights groups. HCAN is a 501(c)(4) issue advocacy organization that runs national and state-based legislative and regulatory campaigns through grassroots action, public education, aggressive media outreach, research and policy analysis. It works in cooperation with its 501(c)(3) partner, Health Care for America Education Fund, a project of the Tides Center, a public charity.

The "national organizations" that are members of the umbrella group is composed of the following organizations:

Funding and activities

Funding for HCAN's operations has come from its member organizations, individual contributions and progressive foundations, including the Atlantic Philanthropies. HCAN also received $5 million from billionaire George Soros. In its $50 million campaign for passage of the ACA, Health Care for America Now mounted a multi-faceted field program that included television advertising and thousands of actions, events, demonstrations, and advocacy meetings with government officials across the country.

HCAN assembled a network of state-based advocacy groups to carry the message from the ground up to members of Congress—an effort widely credited with strengthening progressive organizations. HCAN published numerous research reports and conducted extensive media outreach during the legislative campaign. An outside evaluation praised HCAN's "effective and disciplined strategic planning, decision-making and implementation; well-thought-out benchmarks; strong and effective internal leadership, efficient allocation of resources to staff and to fund a wide-ranging field program; resilience to buffeting external events; and its creation of opportunities for supporters to meaningfully engage with the movement for reform through multiple points of entry."

Major actions

HCAN's two largest public demonstrations occurred on June 25, 2009, when thousands of people from around the nation converged on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., for a rally in support of health reform, and on March 9, 2010, when more than 5,000 people rallied on the street outside a health insurance industry conference at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington, D.C. HCAN led grassroots online activists, conducted news conferences and published reports on health insurance industry profits, executive compensation, concentration of market power, and mistreatment of consumers and health care providers.

Affordable Care Act

HCAN did not achieve one of its central goals, the creation of a so-called public option, a government-run health plan that would introduce greater competition into local health insurance markets, nearly all of which are dominated by one or two large companies. Republicans joined with conservative Democrats to block the public option and a proposal to allow Americans over 55 years old to pay unsubsidized premiums to the government to purchase Medicare benefits, which now are provided to the elderly and disabled through a single-payer system that picks up the vast majority of patients' costs. These compromises were the price of passage. Despite those losses, HCAN supports the Affordable Care Act and frequently declares that the ACA's impact will be extensive in the policy and political arenas.

Activities since enactment of Affordable Care Act

Republican officials and organizations representing big corporations have devoted extensive resources to attempting to repeal the ACA, or at least to withhold the law's designated federal funds. Republicans and their ideological allies have filed federal lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the new law's requirement that starting in 2014 everyone who can afford it must carry health insurance or face a modest fine for going uninsured. Various cases are wending their way through the federal courts, and there is near unanimous agreement across the legal and political spectrum that the issue will not be settled until the U.S. Supreme Court rules. Republican members of Congress have been persistent in criticizing the ACA and seeking legislative tactics to interfere with and undermine implementation of the law.

As a result of these political challenges, in 2010 HCAN transitioned from campaigning for passage of the law to a broad campaign to fully implement health care reform at the state and federal level. HCAN's executive director, Ethan Rome, has repeatedly declared in media statements and in frequent writings on Huffington Post that Congress and the Obama administration should carry out all implementation activities. HCAN has said it intends to do this by identifying significant public policy issues as they arise and taking responsibility to lead campaigns to address them in collaboration with the diverse membership of its coalition. These efforts include pushing for strong accountability measures for insurance companies and countering false information that has been systematically disseminated by opponents of the law. HCAN continues to prepare reports highlighting insurance industry excesses and abuses and to educate the public about developments related to implementation of the law by state and federal agencies. In the fall of 2010, HCAN co-produced a short, two-part comedy video starring Jack Black and America Ferrera about professional "misinformant" Nathan Spewman, who spreads lies about the Affordable Care Act as part of an industry propaganda campaign.

References

  1. "Focus on Health Reform: Summary of New Health Reform Law" (PDF). The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. April 15, 2010. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  2. Novick, Tom (September 21, 2010). "Evaluation: Executive Summary of Findings and Lessons from the HCAN Campaign". The Atlantic Philanthropies. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  3. Health Care for America Now (December 2, 2010). "Who We Are". Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  4. Health Care for America Now. "More About HCAN". Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  5. Member Organizations, National Organizations
  6. Health Care for America Now (December 2, 2010). "Who We Are". Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  8. Health Care for America Now. "Reports". Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  9. Health Care for America Now. "Media". Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  10. Novick, Tom (September 21, 2010). "Evaluation: Executive Summary of Findings and Lessons from the HCAN Campaign". The Atlantic Philanthropies. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  11. Health Care for America Now (June 26, 2009). Health Care Can't Wait-June 25th 2009. YouTube. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  12. CNN The Situation Room (March 9, 2010). Howard Dean Joins Pro Health Care Reform Protesters Who Surround Ritz Carlton. MoxNewsDotCom. Retrieved July 19, 2011. {{cite AV media}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  13. Health Care for America Now (May 2009). Premiums Soaring in Consolidated Health Insurance Market: Lack of Competition Hurts Rural States, Small Businesses (PDF) (Report). Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  14. "Focus on Health Reform: Summary of New Health Reform Law" (PDF). The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. April 15, 2010. Retrieved July 15, 2011.
  15. "GOP Lawmakers Formally 'Pledge' To Repeal Health Law, And More". The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. September 23, 2010. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  16. Helderman, Rosalind S. (November 30, 2010). "Liberty University's challenge of federal health-care law is dismissed". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  17. "Ethan Rome". Huffington Post. Retrieved September 6, 2011.
  18. Health Care for America Now. "HCAN Shifts To Second Phase Of Health Reform". Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  19. Health Care for America Now. "Health Care Advocates Disinfect Big Insurance Meeting, Clean Up Lobbyistsí Dirty Tricks". Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  20. Health Care for America Now. "HCAN Asks Broadcasters to Stop Airing Misleading Ads About Health Care Law". Retrieved July 19, 2011.
  21. Black, Jack (actor) Ferrera, America (actor) Bremer, Gloria (executive producer) Health Care for America Now (executive producer) (October 11, 2010). The Mis-Informant Part 1-with Jack Black as Nathan Spewman. YouTube. Retrieved September 6, 2011.

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