RetireSafe "Listens"

October 30, 2009

We Listened and you Spoke!!!

RetireSafe's Listen campaign has gotten off to a great start. We said we'd listen, and now over 1200 of you have spoken. We went to senior expos and over 600 of you filled out our surveys and talked face to face with me about the things that worry you the most about the health care reform discussion. Another 600 of you have already filled out our survey online and more and more people each day are letting their voices be heard. After meeting with senior advisors at the White House to discuss our campaign, and hearing of their interest in the results, we have kept our promise to them and have sent them the detailed results. They have seen your priorities; they now know what is, and what is not, important to you. You finally have a voice in this important discussion. We know that older Americans feel that they have not had anyone who really listened to them and represented their views. Some 67% of you said that no one really represents you in this debate. As one older American put it as I talked with him at a senior expo, "it was like the politicians put us on mute, we were talking but they weren't listening, someone else had their ear."

Here's what you've said so far (the complete results are posted here See the survey results). There are three things that were virtually tied at the top of the list that you think are the most important things in health care reform; "Being able to choose the doctor I want,"" Maintaining my Medicare benefits and all my present choices," and "Having quality health care options for me and my family." The one item that was at the very bottom of the nine choices -- the one item that was least important in this discussion -- was, "Having a government-run health care plan – a public option." In responding to the question, "What worries you the most about what you have heard about health care reform?" one older American said, "having the government involved in it more than it is. They make a mess of most everything that they try to get into in things that are best left untouched by them. When the government gets involved the costs skyrockets!!!!!"

Your hopes, your fears and your ideas are important and meaningful. We will distribute the results of this survey to the politicians and others who need to know what you think is important in this health care reform discussion. We will continue to be the conduit to those who need to hear your thoughts. I doubt that any of those people now discussing legislation that will affect us for decades have looked into the eyes of those who will be most affected and really listened to their concerns. When I talked with many of you at the expos I really began to understand how you feel. The younger generation often says, "Do you see what I'm saying?" At first blush I think that they should say, "Do you hear what I'm saying", but then the more I think about it the more perceptive the question becomes. Hearing is one thing but seeing denotes a deeper understanding, it gives an indication that you truly feel what they're saying. As I talked with you in person at the senior expos I got to see your body language, I got to look you in the eye and feel what you were saying. As I take the time to read your comments and see your earnest use of capitalization, your string of question marks and your multiple exclamation points, I don't yearn to correct your punctuation; I strive to feel what you are saying. Your experience has given you more than wrinkles; it has given you the ability to know when something sounds right. When someone says that a 1,990 page piece of legislation doesn't mean the government is getting too involved in our lives, does that sound right? The founding Fathers wrote a short document called the constitution that established a framework that allowed the growth of the most powerful country in the world. The 1,990 page bill that the House just released isn't a framework, it is the foundation, the walls, the rooms, each floor and the penthouse of a very detailed and government-controlled high rise called our health care system. They'll force us to live in this creation, tell us where we sleep, what and how much we will eat, who gets the basement apartments and who gets to live in the penthouse. And worst of all they'll make us pay for it. We haven't been desensitized to the real impact of paying $894 BILLION dollars for this government mandated program as outlined in the House's bill. Does that sound right? What does your gut tell you? What do your years of experience whisper in your ear?

We urge you to be heard, if you haven't filled out our survey, click here to do it. If you have filled out the survey, please tell your friends about it and ask them to get involved. And continue to come back to our web site, as we are going to have follow-on surveys and questions and we will continue to seek your input. Lastly, we need your help to spread your message, we want to get this survey to every state, we need to go to more expos, meetings, and gathering places all over this nation so I can really "see" what you're saying. Please support us with your donation (hot spot to donate) that will be used to spread the word and gather more survey results. Numbers do count, and the more that speak the louder the message.

You can be heard, RetireSafe is Listening, together we can make a difference.