As the health care debate heats up, with a vote on a plan expected in the Senate Finance Committee within the next week, connections between pro-health reform organizations both locally and nationwide have started to surface and become more prominent.

Many of the key players in the health care reform movement are members of the Herndon Alliance, a national alliance that — like many reform supporters — claims to be politically neutral.

Several health-related organizations affecting how Kansans view health care reform are affiliated with the Herndon Alliance.

Noteworthy members of the Herndon Alliance that have publicly supported Obamacare include the Service Employees International Union, the AARP, AFL-CIO, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the American Cancer Society, Families USA, Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Small Business Majority.

The nation’s largest union of communications and media members, the Communications Workers of America, is also a member of the Herndon Alliance. A handful of states are represented by name in the alliance, including Kansas.

The Kansas Health Consumer Coalition, a group that says it is politically neutral, is a member of the alliance. The coalition has taken a public stance as being supportive of Democrat health-care reform plans, including the public insurance option.

Another principle member of the Herndon Alliance, the Small Business Majority, recently attempted to influence Kansans about small business owners’ perspective on reform.

Small Business Majority founder and CEO John Arensmeyer spoke at a chamber of commerce event last month, where he assured attendees that many small business owners were supportive of reform plans, a statement refuted entirely by local business owners, including the state chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

The event was sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City and the REACH Healthcare Foundation. The event and Arensmeyer’s comments were publicized by the Kansas Health Institute.

Ken Daniel, executive director of the Topeka Independent Business Association and Kansas Health Policy Authority board member, said he had been approached by the Small Business Majority and the Herndon Alliance more than a year ago. Daniel said he was contacted with information on the Small Business for Affordable HealthCare, an organization created out of a partnership between the Herndon Alliance and the Small Business Majority.

Daniel said he thought the Small Business Majority’s presence in Kansas did not effectively sway local business owners into supporting reform or lead lawmakers to believe that small business did support reform.

“There is not one small business owner I know of who supports it,” Daniel told Kansas Liberty. “But there is so much misinformation out there about the reform and how it will take care of small business.”

Several other members of the Herndon Alliance have been involved in trying to sway Kansas’ views on reform. An advocacy branch of the American Cancer Society made calls to Kansas residents urging them to support health care reform and to contact their legislators.

The SEIU recently attempted to gather information from state contract workers. Their request initially was supported and complied with by Gov. Mark Parkinson and Secretary of the Kansas Social and Rehabilitation Services Dan Jordan. However, after an uproar by House Republican leaders, the Kansas Republican Party and contract workers, both agencies have backed down in gathering the information and have said they will not distribute any information that was collected to the SEIU.

The Herndon Alliance has funded communication tools created by AARP and Families USA that help pro-reform groups discuss health care with Americans. The alliance provided training to representatives in 12 states on how to effectively communicate the necessities of reform. The group also uses Lake Research Partners, a polling organization utilized almost entirely by Democrats.

Polls publicized by the Small Business Majority have also been conducted by the Lake Research Partners, which defeated the credibility of the polls, according to the New York Times.

Many members of the Herndon Alliance are also the advocates and leaders of another pro-reform group, Campaign for America’s Future and the national coalition Health Care for America NOW.

The Health Care for America NOW was created before President Barack Obama was elected and is meant to be a collective voice of reform supporters. At a 2008 coalition meeting, leaders with ACORN, SEIU, AFSCME and the Small Business Majority spoke about the importance of creating a united front of reform supporters to help push the initiative through.

“It’s obvious that we need to work with lots of other organizations, lots of other groups in partnership ….to build a movement,” Assistant Director of AFSCME Barbara Coufal said. “Our efforts together will be greater than the efforts of all of us individually.”

Coufal pointed out that it was important the reform be addressed at the federal level, as many states have laws that require them to have a balanced budget at the end of the year, which she said would cause health plans to “slash and burn” if a state economy declined. She referred to the balanced-budget laws as “an awful situation.”

Many Republicans have voiced concerns about the effect reform would have on the tremendous national deficit, with some legislation expecting to cost $1 trillion over the next 10 years.

The meeting laid the groundwork for strategies to defeat reform opponents, including the importance of gaining small business owners’ support of reform, a task assigned to the Small Business Majority.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under the leadership of Kathleen Sebelius, has worked in alliance with reform-leading organizations, such as the AARP, in silencing reform opponents. Last week, a branch within HHS issued a gag order of Humana, an insurance provider that informed its members of the cuts to Medicare Advantage being proposed in health reform legislation.

While Humana is unable to speak about how reform will affect members’ Medicare Advantage benefits, AARP — which also is a Medicare Advantage provider — continues to disseminate information to its members about Medicare.

Republicans have been keeping a close eye on organizations such as ACORN, and have recently pushed legislative action to strip ACORN of federal funds and tax breaks.

Kansas Fourth District Republican Rep. Todd Tiahrt is sponsoring an initiative that would remove ACORN’s tax-exempt status, arguing that the group was using the status “for corrupt purposes.”

ACORN and the SEIU are closely related, with a sharing of staff, finances and initiatives.

The Kansas Republican Party urged this week for Democrats to return any of the campaign donations they received from SEIU or ACORN and pointed out that the groups had donated $125,000 to Kathleen Sebelius’ Democrat-promoting PAC, $27,500 to Third District Democratic Rep. Dennis Moore and $5,000 to the Democratic Party of Kansas.

Greg Ward, co-founder of the Kansas branch of the conservative 912 Project, said he thought the decision for pro-reform groups to create a united front signaled desperation.

“I think they have been surprised at the level of engagement by the town hall meetings, and the tea parties, and how informed the general public is,” Ward told Kansas Liberty. “Now they are trying to pull out all the stops; they are desperate.”

Ward, who has helped coordinate town hall meetings, said he recently extended invitations for health reform advocates to participate in a health care forum, but the ObamaCare supporters were not interesting in attending.

“Its frustrating and amazing that they are working as hard as they are to promote propaganda but they aren’t willing to actually engage in discussion,” he said.

Resources

Campaign for America’s Future
http://www.ourfuture.org/

HealthCare for America NOW
http://healthcareforamericanow.org/

Herndon Alliance
http://www.herndonalliance.org/

Previously on Kansas Liberty:

Roberts blasts Sebelius gag order on Humana
http://www.kansasliberty.com/liberty-update-archive/2009/05oct/Roberts-blasts-Sebelius-gag-order-on-Humana/

Kansas Health Consumer Coalition lobbies Roberts for ‘public option’
http://www.kansasliberty.com/liberty-update-archive/2009/28sep/KS-health-consumer-coalition-supports-health-care-reform/

American Cancer Society dives into health care debate
http://www.kansasliberty.com/liberty-update-archive/2009/07sep/american-cancer-society-involved-in-health-care-debate?searchterm=greg+ward

Small business leaders angered by KHI report
https://kansasliberty.com/liberty-update-archive/2009/14sep/small-business-advocates-angered-by-khi-report/?searchterm=small%20business%20majority

The Week in Review