| April 2009
The White House has set the agenda: health reform by the end of the year. It's now up to the Divided We Fail coalition to keep the heat on Congress to take action. While Congress was home for the April recess, Divided We Fail supporters like you wrote letters to the editor of their local papers or picked up the phone and called their members of Congress in their local offices.
Now that Congress is back, let's remind them we can't afford to wait for health care reform. Tell Congress that the cost of doing nothing is simply too high.
|WHAT'S NEW|
 On April 9th, Divided We Fail, AARP and the Mason City Chamber of Commerce sponsored "The Cost of Doing Nothing on Health Care Reform" with Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee.
Sen Grassley is working closely with Finance Committee members, including the Committee Chair, Sen. Max Baucus, to find bipartisan solutions to the issues facing Congress, including health care reform.
Watch the event and see why Sen. Grassley agrees that we must have reform by the end of the year.
|TAKE ACTION|
Earlier this month, over 50,000 people joined AARP's first Nationwide Tele-Town Hall on health reform. Nancy LeaMond, AARP's Executive Vice President of Social Impact and director of the Divided We Fail initiative, hosted the two-hour event. She was joined by a number of speakers, including featured guest Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Reform.
Learn more about the Tele-Town Hall and read excerpts of DeParle's answers to questions from participants -- and then forward them on to your friends and families.
|TELL US WHAT YOU THINK|
At Divided We Fail, we talk a lot about the "cost of doing nothing." But it's not just talk. The AARP Public Policy Institute has outlined the costs in dollars and cents. Take a look and then let us know what you think!
|CHAMP OF THE MONTH|
Our Champ of the Month for April is Robin Anderson, the Executive Director of the Mason City Chamber of Commerce.
Robin played a huge role in the success of the "Cost of Doing Nothing" forum (with Senator Grassley, mentioned above), including assisting with media, community outreach, and event set-up. She also championed the Divided We Fail message to the Mason City Chamber Board of Directors -- who subsequently joined the Divided We Fail Iowa team.
Thanks Robin! |
