Truth-telling time

This is truth-telling time in the fight for health care. The voices of the uninsured and underinsured, of those who have insurance but live in fear of losing it, must be heard. The stakes could not be higher.

The right-wing campaign to whip up anti-health-reform hysteria and demonize the Obama administration is based on lies, lies and more lies.

Insurance companies will stop at nothing to protect their giant profits. They are rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of funneling the 50 million uninsured into their clutches.

The truth is that 14,000 people lose their health coverage each day — that’s 2.3 million each year. One in six people in the U.S. have no health coverage.

Health care is a basic human right. That right cannot be fulfilled when health care depends on profit-driven corporations. A public option is essential.

As Howard Dean noted, the Veterans Administration and Medicare, both public, are “two very good programs that have been around for a long time.”

Republicans and conservative Democrats are holding health care reform hostage, placing the insurance companies above their constituents’ needs.

But a growing number in Congress say they will not support a health care bill unless it includes the public option.

The choice of a public option is included in the House bill that will be voted on in September.

The big fight now is to get enough support in the Senate to win the public option there.

The White House has reiterated that President Obama “believes the public option is the best way.”

The far-right attacks are a signal that the task of mobilizing the 83 percent who support health care for all is vital.

Union members are setting the pace. They know that if this fight is lost it will be very hard to win the Employee Free Choice Act for the right to organize.

The time is now for everyone to get involved. Attend your lawmakers’ town hall meetings. Phone-bank. Knock on doors. Get the truth out. Join the national day of action Sept. 3 to send members of Congress back to Washington with the message “We can’t wait.”

This is a fight for the future of our country. It is a fight for democracy and progressive change. It is a fight that can be won with a groundswell of truth-telling and participation.