White House. Jody Hall. The Recap.

What started with a quick once over of the sale rack at Sea-Tac's Hudson News, (Sleepless in Seattle tees. For just $29.99. Que ganga!) ended with Jody Hall delivering up a hot helping of the truth about health care for small businesses...at the White House.




Yup. That White House. Our very own Jody Hall (see also, Glorious Leader,) went there, and she took this photo with her iPhone to prove it.



Then she went inside and sat at this table with the likes of Nancy-Ann DeParle, (Director of the White House Office of Health Care Reform) and Larry Summers (Director of the White House's National Economic Council...who may or may not have echoed Barbie's early nineties assertion that math is hard ...for girls.)

Jody's the one in the snappy argyle vest.

For those of you who are new to this story, Jody has been working with Washington Small Business for Secure Health Care Coalition for awhile now on health care reform, specifically in regards to insuring the millions of employees of small businesses in America. Scroll down and read on for more info, and watch this video to see what she said.




And of course you all want to know if she met Barack Obama. No. But she did see his motorcade.

Shop around.

To be fair, Smokey Robinson said it first. He was talking about something entirely different, but still. Credit where credit is due.

TV on the Internets

For those of you who prefer to get your TV from your computer, you're in luck. Jody's White House meeting will be streaming live from the following two sites.

www.whitehouse.gov
www.healthreform.gov

For added camaraderie, why not come on in and stream it from one of our cafés?

Jody on C-SPAN. Watch it.

L to R Nancy-Ann DeParle, President Barack Obama, Jody Hall

Jody is getting ready to board her flight to Washington, where she will be fighting for a public health care option for these United States. You can watch it all go down live tomorrow morning on C-SPAN. The roundtable meeting will include a handful of small business owners from around the country along with Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Care Reform. It's happening from 8am to 9:30am PST.

At the White House.

The one Barack Obama lives in.

Again, it will be airing on C-SPAN, so, although we rarely advocate this, get up tomorrow morning and TURN ON YOUR TVs!!!!

Health Care. White House. Jody Hall. Friday.

L to R: President Barack Obama, Jody Hall, Nancy-Ann DeParle

Yup, that's right. Jody Hall, owner of this here small business, is heading off to Washington tomorrow for a roundtable discussion for small business owners with Nancy-Ann DeParle. Yes, THE Nancy-Ann DeParle, Director of the White House Office of Health Care Reform.

With the April Congressional recess over, health care reform is comin' up front and center, (see photo.) Having made it a clear priority for the session, the White House will continue its series of roundtable discussions on health care this Friday with a focus on small business. Small business owners from around the country will be meeting to talk shop with Nancy-Ann DeParle about what's the what with health care for small businesses and the millions of Americans they employ.

As our rep from the Washington Small Business for Secure Health Care Coalition (a project of Washington CAN!), Jody will be discussing the need for a public health care option to lessen the burden on small businesses who insure their employees.

She sums it up rather nicely like this:
“A public health insurance option would give us real choice and greater bargaining power, increase competition and drive down costs for everyone. Small businesses can create the jobs to help revitalize our economy. But we’ve got to get health care fixed. We need real health reform, and we need it now – this year.”

We have 51 employees here at Cupcake Royale, and as a company, we spend almost as much on insurance as we do on rent for all three stores. That's pretty nutty. And if things don't change, it'll only get worse. Insurance rates continue to climb, (ours just spiked 40% - neat!) and small business owners are being forced to purchase plans with inadequate coverage, or to drop their policies completely, adding to the millions of already uninsured and underinsured Americans. Those who continue to fork it over to private insurance companies are giving out a good chunk of dough in some pretty tough financial times. Clearly, none of this is good for anyone.

So, you tell 'em Jody! And we'll be sure to tell you all what's new as it goes down. Stay tuned.

Foe more info on the issues, check out these links.
Washington Small Business for Secure Health Care Coalition
Washington CAN!
Main Street Alliance