Grassley target of Twitter-based health care reform campaign today

Sen. Chuck Grassley made news over the weekend when he "tweeted" that President Obama "got nerve" for sightseeing in Paris while telling lawmakers it's time to deliver on health care reform.

Beginning this morning, Grassley will be on the receiving end of a Twitter campaign aimed at convincing him to support health care reform legislation, including a public health insurance option.

Twitter.com is a free social-networking service that allows users to send and read other people's updates -- known as tweets. Grassley has embraced Twitter as a way to stay in touch with constituents.

Change That Works Iowa, an effort by SEIU to see comprehensive health care reform passed by Congress this year, will launch a Twitter health care story blast on today to hit Grassley's Twitter account with one compelling Iowa health care story per hour for 24 hours.

The action will begin at 10 a.m. with stories distributed on Twitter through traditional posts from "CTWIowaSEIU," which Grassley follows, and through direct messages to his username, "ChuckGrassley."

"We'll be telling 24 compelling stories" timed to coincide with Grassley's work as the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee as it marks up health care reform legislation this week, explained Andrew Mertens of Change that Works Iowa.

"It's a great time for him to see what's going on," Mertens said. SEIU wants Grassley to see people need more options, including a public health insurance option.

"In Iowa, all sides are reaching out to him because of his role on the Finance Committee and how involved Iowa has been in this debate because of the caucuses," Mertens said.

Due to the constraints of Twitter - tweets can be no more than 140 characters, each hourly story post will act as a teaser with a link to the full story at www.seiu.org/changethatworks/Iowa.

The stories will be about Iowans who have faced the barrier of private insurance and high health care costs, Mertens said. In some cases, the stories will be told by people who have struggled with the limitations of private health insurance, Mertens said. Others will be told by health care professionals who have seen patients encounter those problems.

Among the stories is one from Melinda Myers, a Cedar Rapids nurse, who says one of the hardest things she sees is people who put off care because they don't have the money to pay for it. "It is then we see a simple condition balloon into a costly hospital stay and the possibility of long-term effects to the patient's health," Myers says. "We see this more and more as Iowans continue to lose their jobs and their health insurance with it."

Another is that of Sarah Posekany of Cedar Falls who was diagnosed with Crohn's disease 15 years ago. A college freshman at the time, she had to drop her classes to mend from multiple surgeries. Her parent's private insurance dropped her coverage because she was no longer a full-time student. Four years later, she was $180,000 in debt and filed for bankruptcy.

 Cathy Glasson, Iowa president of SEIU, says Grassley has compiled an impressive record of supporting the health care needs of Iowans.

"Our hope is that reading these health care stories throughout the day will be a reminder to Sen. Grassley that the private health insurance industry has failed Iowans time and time again," Glasson said. "It's time to give private insurers some real competition, for the sake of all Iowans."