Today as the Senate prepares to consider health care reform legislation I took the time to write several Senators urging them to support the bill being placed before them. If you have time and support health care reform you might want to use these letters as models for your own.

Dear Senators Harry Reid, Dick Durbin and Charles Schumer:

I am writing to express my support for the Patient Protection and Affordable Act now before the Senate. The United States needs health care reform and while this bill is far from perfect it will ensure that around 94% of Americans have health care coverage, a major improvement over the current situation. Importantly it will also help to curb health care costs over the long run. I hope that as part of the legislative process you will consider an amendment to allow for the creation of single payer health care at the state level. As demonstrated by the experiences of most other industrialized countries, single payer is the best way to manage a health care system over the long term.

That aside, the major reason why I am writing to you is to urge you to strip Senator Lieberman of his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs if he fails to support the Patient Protection and Affordable Act. If Senator Lieberman cannot support the Democratic Caucus as the Senate considers probably the most important piece of legislation before it during my lifetime then he does not deserve to be numbered among the Caucus’s leaders. 

Sincerely,

The Rev. Colin Bossen

Dear Senator Joseph Lieberman:

I am writing to urge you to support the Patient Protection and Affordable Act now before the Senate. The United States needs health care reform and while this bill is far from perfect it will ensure that around 94% of Americans have health care coverage, a major improvement over the current situation. Importantly it will also help to curb health care costs over the long run.

It is time now to demonstrate whether you are a member of the Democratic Caucus for your own political expediency or because you genuinely care about the American people. Concurrent with this letter I am writing Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin and Vice Chair of the Conference Charles Schumer to urge them to strip you of chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs if you fail to support this legislation. I also pledge to send a campaign donation to any progressive Democratic or third party candidate who runs against you in 2012 if  vote fail to support the Democratic Caucus at this critical juncture.

Please, Senator Lieberman, make the right choice for the country and yourself and support the Patient Protection and Affordable Act.

Sincerely,

The Rev. Colin Bossen

Dear Senator Voinovich:

I am writing to urge you to support the Patient Protection and Affordable Act now before the Senate. The United States needs health care reform and while this bill is far from perfect it will ensure that around 94% of Americans have health care coverage, a major improvement over the current situation. Importantly, it will also help to curb health care costs over the long run. 

Back in August you wrote me to express that you were opposed to health care reform because it would add to the national debt. Now it appears that the legislation will largely be deficit neutral and that over time it will save middle income Americans money, allowing them increase their consumer spending and investment in small businesses. Over the course of many years this should spur economic growth and, in turn, greater tax collection, allowing the government to reduce the national debt. I hope that you will express a consistent position and as a sign of your concern for the long term state of the economy and the national debt vote in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Act. Anything less would hypocritical.

Sincerely,

The Rev. Colin Bossen