Kindra Muntz

The UULMF Advocacy Committee on Healthcare Reform under the leadership of Kindra Muntz offers factual, "spin-free" information on healthcare reform. Kindra encourages all Florida UUs to call their friends and members of Congress to support reform legislation. Kindra's Advocacy Committee on Healthcare Reform is e-mailing Information to Florida UU congregation presidents, ministers, and Social Action Chairs for immediate circulation to their members. Kindra notes, "New developments are occurring daily. The time to speak is now. Congress returns to Washington September 8th. These lawmakers need to hear from us before they head back to our nation's capital." Request more information or join the Advocacy Committee on Healthcare Reform by clicking This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Current members are Kindra and Larry Stauber. The Reverend Gail Tapscott is the Steering Committee liaison.

Larry Stauber

MEET LARRY STAUBER Larry holds a BA in political science from Oklahoma University. He earned his law degree from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Larry served as an Air Force officer stationed in Lincoln, NB, and at the Pentagon, after which he spent 33 years in civilian government service in Washington, DC, Europe, Asia, and the Near East. He is active in the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Palm Beaches, having served as vice president and president. He currently serves on several church committees including Social Justice.

As a board member of the nonprofit Floridians for Health Care (FfHC), Larry is a passionate advocate on behalf of a national single-payer system, working with the Florida District Southeast Cluster and other Palm Beach County political and religious organizations in support of single-payer. At General Assembly in 2008, Larry worked to help adopt the Action of Immediate Witness (AIW) on single-payer health care. FfHC successfully lobbied the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Florida to endorse single-payer.

In addition to her work on this committee, Kindra also heads the UULMF Advocacy Committee on Redistricting and Election Reform which you can visit by clicking this link.

Working for voting rights and verified elections since 2004, Kindra realizes the strong connection among...

• the power of incumbency
• the need for verified elections to ensure our votes are counted as cast
• the influence of lobbyists and large corporate and private donations on elected officials.

"No wonder members of Congress have difficulty passing legislation to benefit the American people rather than the large donors like pharmaceutical companies and health insurance giants whose massive contributions help keep them in office," Kindra observes.

According to Kindra, the current "Bermuda Triangle of politics" is the need for...

1. Health insurance reform
2. Verified elections
3. Campaign finance reform

Click this link to see the Fair Elections Now video  www.fairelectionsnow.org and learn for yourself how these issues are entwined.

While two bills in Congress address verified elections and campaign finance reform (the Holt Bill, HR2894 and the Fair Elections Now Act (FENA), HR1826), a strong health insurance reform bill that will benefit all Americans is still needed. Kindra helped draft an AIW at the UUA General Assembly this year that was passed in support of the HR 2894 and HR1826,  and she is working with health reform advocates around the country to separate truth from fiction on health insurance reform bills now before Congress. HR 3200 is the "public option bill." HR676 is the "single-payer bill." You can see the text of these and other bills currently under Congress' consideration at http://thomas.loc.gov

Kindra warns that all health insurance reform bills need more cosponsors in Congress--ideally bipartisan--to pass. She urges, "Please call your members of Congress now to express your preferences. When you call, tell them you're a Unitarian Universalist and that you, the UULMF, and the UUA support a strong public option to ensure competition to drive down healthcare costs and keep the insurance companies honest!"