AARP members urge Congress to tackle health care reform

As Members of Congress have just returned to Washington D.C. after their summer break, Decatur AARP members are making sure they don't forget to make reforming health care a top priority. With a giant inflatable Rx bottle as backdrop, and prescription bottles filled with constituents' personal health care stories, AARP members hosted a press conference today in Decatur to deliver a strong 'message in a bottle' to Congressman Phil Hare: Health Care Reform Now.

After the press conference, the group took the prescription bottles and delivered them to the offices of Cong. Hare in Decatur.

"Failure to pass health care reform legislation this year is not an option," said AARP Decatur volunteer Nancy Funk. "AARP is sending to Congressman Hare a message in a bottle from his constituents: fix what's wrong with our health care system, and preserve what's right."

Holding "Rx for health care reform" press conferences throughout the state, hosting community events and forums aimed at debunking the health care reform myths and helping the public to get the facts on the issue, AARP members are urging returning Members of Congress to tackle the issue now.

Opponents of health reform are spreading myths such as: health reform will hurt Medicare; it will allow the government to make life-and-death decisions for you; and reform is socialized medicine. AARP has set up a Web site (www.healthactionnow.org) where the public can get the facts and other up-to-date information on the health care reform debate.