Dear 5849376, We've now had four nights of Democratic debates – of attacks, one-liners and canned talking points – but we haven't heard the substance we deserve. There was only one thing everyone agreed upon after the last Democratic presidential debate: The format was terrible. This was especially true on health care, where moderators cut off candidates trying to offer substantive responses and instead focused on repeating right-wing lies and trying to get candidates to attack each other.1 ABC and Univision are in charge of September's debate and must do better. That is why we're standing with progressive activist Ady Barkan and the Be A Hero Fund to demand more coverage of American health care stories. Can you help? Tell ABC and Univision: We need a real health care debate. Click here to sign the petition. One of the few positive moments in the Democratic debate was when Sen. Warren lifted up Ady's story. Ady, a longtime progressive activist, was diagnosed with ALS shortly after the birth of his son. As the incurable disease has progressed, Ady has devoted himself to resisting Trump and his Republican enablers. In 2017, he confronted Sen. Jeff Flake on a plane. His call for Flake to "be a hero" by rejecting the Trump Tax Scam went viral. Since then he has advocated for Dreamers, fought Brett Kavanaugh's nomination and testified on behalf of Medicare for All. Now he's working to make sure there's a real debate about health care among the Democratic presidential contenders. More than 80 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured. People fortunate enough to have insurance can't afford the high copays and deductibles, and have little to no recourse when insurance companies say no. Given everything at stake, and the fact that health care impacts every single American, we need much more than the sound bites we got from the CNN debate in order to make a decision about who gets our vote. ABC and Univision are in charge of the next Democratic debate in September. We need to make sure they do better. Tell ABC and Univision: Put health care front and center in the next presidential denbate. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/abc-univision-healthcare-debate?t=9&akid=33623%2E3291973%2EQHj4zz Thank you for speaking out, Heidi Hess, Co-Director CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Adam K. Raymond, "2020 Democrats' New Foe: CNN's Debate Format," New York Magazine, July 30, 2019.
- Justin Peters, "How CNN Botched Both Democratic Debates," Slate, Aug. 1, 2019.
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