Obama seeks divine intervention on health care
By: Sarah Kliff
September 22, 2010 10:33 AM EDT
With nothing else working, President Barack Obama is asking religious leaders to help him sell the public on health care reform.
POLITICO listened in to an Oval Office conference call Tuesday, where Obama and top administration officials, beseeched thousands of faith-based and community organizations to preach the gospel on new insurance reforms, chiefly the Patients’ Bill of Rights.
“Get out there and spread the word,” Obama told leaders from across the religious spectrum on the conference call, organized by the Health and Human Services Center for Faith-Based and Community Partnerships.
“This is something that we’ll be able to look back on, just like we do on Medicare and Social Security, as a cornerstone that improves the security of millions of Americans, at the same time lowers costs and gets control of costs, both at the government level, but also for families and businesses," he added.
Obama instructed faith leaders to treat the new law as settled fact and use their perches of power to convey that message to congregants and friends.
“The debate in Washington is over, the Affordable Care Act is now law ... I think all of you can be really important validators and trusted resources for friends and neighbors, to help explain what’s now available to them,” he said.
The call included the administration’s highest-ranking health reform officials: Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, White House Office of Health Reform director Nancy Ann-DeParle, and Assistant to the President for Special Products Stephanie Cutter.
Joshua DuBois, director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Partnerships, gave activists a rallying cry: “Get the word out there, get information out there. Make use of the resources we’ve described on this call: the website, door hangers, one pagers and so forth. We’ve got work to do.”
DuBois ended the call by giving leaders a point-by-point rundown of the new Patients’ Bill of Rights that rolls out Thursday. “These protections, our families need to know these things,” he said.
Faith groups briefed the administration on plans under way to educate the public and organize this weekend.
“We’re rolling up our sleeves to get our communities ready for reform,” said Gloria Cooper, a volunteer with People Improving Communities through Organizing (PICO), who cited the Bring Health Reform Campaign, designed to both educate the public on the new law and push for a stronger provider network.
PICO plans to distribute 50,000 door hangers in lower-income communities within the next two weeks, the group’s spokesperson, Gordon Whitman, told POLITICO. PICO meets with the administration regularly and participated in an HHS-run call for faith groups just last week.
Peg Chemberlin, president of the National Council of Churches, who also participated in the call, has also seen regularly outreach from the White House on reform issues.
"Since the law passed, there's been some discussion about what the best way to get information out on this law," she said. "There are a lot of conversations about what to do on health care, how we can be a good partner."
The White House sees the faith-based community as a key partner in spreading information on health reform issues.
"We believe community-based and faith-based can spread the word," an administration official told POLITICO. "They are reaching people every day in churches, synagogues, mosques and secular organizations. They can spread the word about these things."
On the call, DeParle said the administration has noticed the faith-based efforts. She noted that a fellow congregant thanked her last Sunday for the provision that allows dependents to be covered up to age 26.
“I know some of you have done some work to educate,” DeParle said.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/42540.html
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