As you know, Sen. Baucus has proposed taxing insurance companies that offer plans worth more than $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families – a scheme that would slap a 40% excise tax on the health plans of millions of Americans, including hundreds of thousands of AFSCME members. We must make sure that the House stays firm in its commitment to finance health care reform through taxes on the wealthiest Americans – not on the backs of the middle class. A strong showing on Rep. Courtney’s letter is one way we can do that. So far nearly 60 Democrats have signed the letter – but we need many more.

So please do the following:

1. Use the below target list to call all the members of Congress in your state.

2. Ask for the member, and if s/he is unavailable, ask to speak with the member’s chief of staff or health care staffer (see the target list for names of chiefs of staff).

3. Ask him/her to sign on to Rep. Joe Courtney’s letter opposing the excise tax on insurance plans using facts from the attached backgrounder.

4. Send a summary of your conversation to Marc Granowitter (mgranowitter@afscme.org) in the Legislation Department so that we can follow up here in DC to garner more signatures.

Should you have any questions, you can contact Marc at 202-429-1157.


See also: Backgrounder on the issue