Progress Illinois

Here's the latest Illinois-centric health care news:

Citizen Action Targets Bean, Halvorson, Foster

In today's edition of Crain's, Paul Merrion writes that, when it comes to health care reform, suburban Reps. Melissa Bean, Debbie Halvorson, and Bill Foster are all "stuck in the middle, still uncommitted and coming under pressure from both ends of the political spectrum."  On the left, Citizen Action/Illinois is doing its part to push these moderate reps towards supporting a public option:

"The next five or six weeks will determine whether we have a strong health reform plan or a weak one," says John Gaudette, Illinois health care director for Citizen Action, a non-profit advocacy group leading local efforts for Healthcare for America Now, a national coalition pushing for a low-cost government-run plan to pressure private insurers' premiums.

Two weeks ago, Citizen Action generated more than 1,000 calls to the three moderate Illinois Democrats, urging them to support a strong government-run plan, and the group is planning a rally with upward of 300 people in Ms. Bean's district later this month. "She's the one we've been focusing on the most," Mr. Gaudette says.

Office Visits For Health Reform

Over the weekend, Organizing for America urged supporters of health care reform across the country to schedule a visit to their congressman's district office.  From their email blast announcing the "Office Visits for Health Reform" action: 

As you've probably seen in the news, special interest attack groups are stirring up partisan mobs with lies about health reform, and it's getting ugly. Across the country, members of Congress who support reform are being shouted down, physically assaulted, hung in effigy, and receiving death threats. We can't let extremists hijack this debate, or confuse Congress about where the people stand.

Office Visits for Health Reform are our chance to show that the vast majority of American voters know that the cost of inaction is too high to bear, and strongly support passing health reform in 2009.

Don't worry if you've never done anything like this before. The congressional staff is there to listen, and your opinion as a constituent matters a lot.

Durbin "Open" To Public Option Alternatives

Sen. Dick Durbin made the media rounds this past weekend to discuss the health care battle and raised some eyebrows with this comment on CNN:

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that he is committed to getting a bipartisan bill, even if it means sacrificing a public insurance option.

“It doesn’t have to be a perfect bill,” Durbin said. “I support a public option, but yes I am open. I want to make sure we do something positive for the American people.”

Yet Durbin said that if bipartisan talks break down, he still wants to see Members get something done. “I don’t want to see health care reform fail,” he said, noting that it’s an opportunity that only comes along “once in a political lifetime.”

Huffington Post reporter Sam Stein interpreted the remark as an indication that "the party -- from Obama on down -- sees the public option as a likely victim in an effort to get 60 votes for health care's passage in the Senate."  Stein further pointed out that Howard Dean is urging Senate Democrats to use a parliamentary maneuver known as "reconciliation" to pass a reform bill with just a simple majority of 51 votes.

Durbin also appeared on Fox Chicago Sunday, where he once again lambasted the efforts by conservative reform opponents to disrupt public meetings held by members of Congress during the August recess.  "This isn't about you [the public]," Durbin said. "It's about YouTube."

Costello Cancels Town Hall

Speaking of those tense public forums, downstate Democratic Rep. Jerry Costello has decided to hold a so-called "tele-town hall" on health reform, rather than appear in public on the issue:

The Belleville Democrat won’t be appearing to speak to the public about President Barack Obama’s proposed health care reform, spokesman David Gillies indicated Friday, adding the raucous crowds showing up at such meetings is a factor in Costello’s decision not to participate in one.

“We are not having any in-person town hall meetings, and the congressman thinks it is unfortunate that the disruptions are occurring and making such meetings impossible to hold,” Gillies said in an e-mail to The Southern Illinoisan.

Elsewhere in the state, Reps. Danny Davis, Jan Schakowsky, and Phil Hare are all scheduled to hold health care town halls before the end of August.