Get 3 Others to Communicate

1. IDENTIFY OTHERS Find others who support the U.S. having non-profit single-payer national health insurance.
   • As necessary, increase their level of comfort with the idea of Health Care for All with non-profit single-payer national health insurance.
     • You can study the education section to be able to help others.
     • Plus … they can read the information in Single-Payer Education, especially at the explanation of single-payer.
     • Knowledge is Power! Go for it! Be an educated citizen!
       • Submit your questions.
2. CREATE YOUR NETWORK Find 3 who are willing to take action once each month to contact their U.S. Representative.
   • Keep their names and contact information on a special sheet of paper devoted to knowing who is in your network of 3 persons.
   • Their action can be as simple as picking up the telephone and calling a toll-free number and following the easy directions for calling.
   • It would be great (best) if they followed the suggested communications actions.
3. GIVE SUPPORT IF AND AS NEEDED
   IF they want to be contacted to help ensure that they take action each month:
   • Contact them a day or two before this month’s date for communicating on the schedule.
4. MAINTAIN YOUR NETWORK If you learn that someone never takes any action after 3 months of contacts, replace them on your list with one someone else who will take action. Do not complain to them or give them a hard time about it. Be polite by not saying anything further; just move on … or resume reminders if they want to resume communications.
5. CONSIDER GETTING TRAINING TO CONTACT MORE THAN 3 After you have your network and feel all settled with that activity and you want to tell more than 3 persons, contact the activist who educated you to get a short but critical training session about how to proceed. If you don’t have an activist name for some reason, contact me so that I can let you know who to contact.

Additional Ways to be a Good “Contact Person or Contact Team” for Others

• QUESTIONS: How to Get Answers If one of the persons has a question, comment or concern for which you cannot provide a reply at this web site, then please contact me.
  • Know what single-payer provides and what it eliminates.
• Reminders
  • If they want a reminder each month
    • They could get e-mail reminders or you could call them as per the schedule.
• VOTING REMINDERS If there is a candidate who supports single-payer and who plans to run in the next U.S. election to become their U.S. Representative or U.S. Senator, mention that person’s name to other citizens as a candidate worthy of consideration for voting and mention the Use the Voters Guide link at the homepage.
  • If they need to register to vote, then tell them what the options are. If they decide that they do want to register, then do whatever you can to help them register. Know in advance what the closest options are for voter registration and try to have a form for it with you or get one for them. [Temporary note: I need to find the best link to voter registration information and put a link here. In my state any Secretary of State office is a good place for voter registration.]
• ORGANIZATION – Remember who your participants are. Keep a list of them …
  • Name, address, e-mail address, phone number, date initially contacted, and the number of their U.S. Congressional District.
• MOTIVATION Stay motivated: consider the points noted in Motivation of You and Participant.

Related information

• Over half of U.S. citizens want single-payer, but the opposition to single-payer is very powerful and can design media campaigns that sound frightening and convincing.
  • Due to this reality about media campaigns, it’s best to contact only the number of persons who you can solidly support. Have a solid group of educated people all taking action, no matter how many are on your list.
• More than 3? Contact more than 3 if you know that you will have time to remind, encourage, and help them. Otherwise, due to the powerful opposition of the health insurance companies and their supporters, the degree of impact might not be as significant as you would think it would be.
  • If you decide to contact more than three persons, decide whether you want to spread the word by yourself or with a partner.
• Be polite! If someone expresses strong concerns or opposition, suggest that they go to www.medicareforall.org and carefully review the Single-Payer Education section. For example, there is a link to explanations about the potential concern about wait times.