Who We Are

We're a group of Boston neighbors that meets every week over coffee.  We discuss the pressing issues of the day.  With health care reform  taking up more and more of our discussions we decided to do more than just talk among ourselves. 

We decided to use our CLOUT to demand real health reform.

We did our homework and decided that for us real health reform must:

• Give every American the choice of a strong public plan like extended Medicare;
• Emphasize and pay for primary care, prevention and wellness; and
• Slash waste, build efficiency and promote best practices.

The savings from real reform can more than pay for the costs of covering everyone AND guarantee that every American benefits through higher quality care at more affordable costs.

As Bay Staters we have a special stake in national health reform.  Congress is using Massachusetts as a model and as a political strategy.  Washington is putting the special interests before our interests. 

That's just what Massachusetts lawmakers did.  They put new money into the old broken system.  We're living with the consequences.  The newly insured are losing their coverage.  Families and employers face skyrocketing premiums and shrinking benefits.   We still waste billions of dollars each year on medical error and unnecessary redtape.

Make no mistake.  We all believe covering the uninsured is the right thing to do.  We're proud Massachusetts took a big step toward righting one of the fundamental injustices in our society. 

But doing the right thing, however belatedly, just isn't enough.

We need to do the smart thing.  Expand coverage AND reform the health care system.

We need a healthcare system that efficiently delivers the highest quality health care to every American at a price we can afford now and for generations to come. 

Without reform the 85% of Americans who already have insurance get nothing.  That's the lesson from Massachusettts. 

Without reform our premiums will continue to rise faster than our paychecks.  That's the lesson from Massachusetts.

Without reform we will continue to waste 30% of every health care dollar on substandard care and redtape.  That's the lesson from Massachusetts.

Without reform we will continue to lag the rest of the world when it comes to basic measures of health like infant mortality and life expectancy.   That's the lesson from Massachusetts.

Please join us and demand real health reform.

Use your CLOUT!

There are more of us in the citizens lobby than the medical industrial complex could ever hope to hire.  

But we need to speak up to have CLOUT.