Health Care Reform Action Alert: Pre-emptive Action to Stop Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen for Secretary of Health and Human Services

It seems there are some developments in the quest for Secretary of HHS.  This article was contributed to Blog for Iowa by Alta Price, M.D. 

Unlike Governor Howard Dean, a physician who dramatically expanded health care to the citizens of Vermont, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen (D), apparently a serious contender for Secretary of HHS, made his fortune in the for-profit health insurance industry and “presided over the largest state cutback of public health programs in the history of our nation” a quote from Ron Pollack, Families USA in an article from The New Republic “More reasons why Bredesen is a bad, bad idea”. 

A powerful documentary, Collateral Damage: Bad Medicine in Tennessee was made about the 170,000 citizens of Tennessee cut virtually overnight from the Tennessee Medicaid program. How many of these vulnerable citizens of his state did Governor Bredesen condemn to unnecessary suffering and death? Is this the type of change Obama wants to emulate? Do they want Phil Bredesen to apply to the country his proven talent for taking health care coverage away from the sick and the poor, so even more than 18,000 people die annually from lack of health care coverage in our country?

The only thing Howard Dean and Phil Bredesen share is that they are both Democrats.

Please e-mail Rahm Emanuel, President Obama’s Chief of Staff, and tell him your objections to consideration of Governor Phil Bredesen for Secretary of Health and Human Services.

 Then call, or write your congressman and tell them NO on Phil Bredesen!

Bruce Braley, 1st Dist., Phone: (202) 225-2911 or web form
Dave Loebsack, 2nd Dist., Phone:  (202) 225-6576 or web form
Leonard Boswell, 3rd Dist., Phone: (202) 225-3806 or web form