Senator Cantwell,

I have a meeting scheduled Friday the 28th at 9AM with your South King County outreach director, Nate.  As a member of MomsRising.org and a professional insurance biller, I am meeting with your staff to say that the health care system as it is is broken and must change.  We need a not-for-profit public competitor to put the emphasis back on excellent, evidence based health care, instead of on the profits of insurance companies.  And as a member of the MAMA Campaign, I am meeting with your staff to say that giving all healthy pregnant women access to Certified Professional Midwives outside of the hospital and Certified Nurse Midwives in the hospital with obstetricians handling complications will save the US money and improve outcomes for women and children.  Please watch this important video about infant mortality, found here:  http://www.reducinginfantmortality.com/.  Thank you for the work you have always done for women's health and rights.  This is one more issue where we need you to be our champion. Visit my blog (http://alison-cole.livejournal.com/) for more information or consider coming to the meeting on the 28th.

God Bless,

Alison Cole Duren-Sutherland

* I SUPPORT A PUBLICLY-RUN COMPETITOR TO PRIVATE INSURANCE.  Private insurance is a for-profit business.  Their job is to make money off of insuring people; to make money, they try not to pay for care.  Insurance employees cannot tell a doctor the best way to bill the services provided to the patient.  Private insurance companies are allowed to "quote benefits" to patients and doctor's offices which may be totally inaccurate and to which they are not bound.  On the other hand, Medicaid, PUBLIC insurance for the poor, publishes "billing instructions" which communicate to providers how to be reimbursed for the services they provide, and which services and diagnoses will not be covered.  Customer service reps for Medicaid refer doctors offices to the billing instructions, even consulting the appropriate parts of the instructions for the doctor's representative.  They are clear about what they cover.  Patients need to know what health care will cost them, and in my experience, public insurance is more up-front about what will be covered and how much coverage there will be. 

* I SUPPORT HEALTH INSURANCE THAT COVERS WOMEN MAKING THEIR OWN BEST CHOICES ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH.  Women who choose to prevent pregnancy when they are not prepared to be parents save money for their insurer (the state in the case of a public plan).  Women who do not wish to be pregnant but are will save their insurer money by choosing abortion.  Women who are carrying a pregnancy to term and wish to seek midwifery care in an out of hospital setting will save their insurer money because interventions will be reduced.  Any reasonable insurer, while not mandating a woman to do any of these things, will provide her the coverage to do these things if she so chooses.  By honoring a woman's own wisdom about her reproductive choices, insurers win as does the dignity of the woman, who is given every opportunity to control her reproductive destiny.