A good day for health care reform

By Gabe Falsetta

It was a beautiful day Feb. 20 for New Yorkers and for health care reform.

The sun was shining while the temperature hovered around 40 degrees and New Yorkers-over 4,000 strong - sent a clear message to lawmakers: pass health care reform with a strong public option.

Coming from all five boroughs, people assembled on the Brooklyn side of the Brooklyn Bridge for the march. The rally was held on the Manhattan side not far from City Hall.

David Braun, a member of MoveOn, spoke at the rally and pointed out that while Dick Cheney was bringing up terror - again and again - 45,000 people die every year in this country simply because they lack access to affordable health insurance. Several other speakers took the stand in front of the offices of the health care giant, Wellpoint to tell their stories of being denied needed care due to insurance companies trying to cut costs to keep profits up.

Frank Stearns, president of Veterans for Peace Chapter 34 NYC said, "The burden of health care nearly crippled the auto industry, if America had a national health care system there would be many more workers in the industry today."

As we marched across the bridge we held our signs high so the cars passing below could see, lots of cars honked for health care, not the traffic! The pedestrians, many of whom were tourists, took pictures and asked questions. One marcher commented in jest to a group of tourists that they should wait to get sick when they return to their respective country.

The New York march was one 40 actions in 32 states that took place over the last week as part of Health Care for America Now's national week of action.

Send this letter to Schumer!

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This is a sample. Please write it out in your own words, and add (or subtract) anything you want. (For example, you may want to put in information about your personal situation, or information about a relative, friend, or coworker.) Send it to your U.S. Senators (listed below), your Congressional representative, and anyone else you think can help. Be sure to sign it and include your home address. Feel free to share this idea with others, and get organizations in which you are involved to send a group message.

Senator Charles Schumer
313 Hart Senate Building
Washington, DC 20510

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

478 Russell

Washington DC 20510


Dear ___________________________:

I am writing as a concerned constituent. Health care for every person is a particular need for all people in this country. This includes the growing number of us who do not have any health insurance, the many who have only partial coverage, and those who have pretty good coverage. Too many of us fear losing our health benefits because of decisions of our employers or when an insurance company denies care after deciding the condition was “pre-existing.”

President Obama’s health care plan moves in the direction of providing complete, quality coverage to every person in this country, and I support that effort.

At the same time, the health insurance industry, one of the least regulated businesses in the U.S. today, is trying to protect their profits. That is why they are trying to stop any public option, which would provide an alternative to their plans to continue to rake in outrageous profits.

Please support and work for health care reform we can all count on. That would mean expanding both Medicare to people between the ages of 55 and 64; and Medicaid by elevating the federal poverty level. A “public option” that expands Medicare and Medicaid, with little or no buy-in by people, makes the most sense. Of course, the remaining uninsured need a “public option” that is as low and as affordable as possible.

Our country has the opportunity to remove itself from the “uncivilized” list. Please help President Obama in this effort.

Yours truly,
[name]
[home address, including ZIP]
[optional: telephone &/or email]

Obama needs you: "Keep on Organizing for the Change we need in America"

A few weeks ago, the President submitted a historic budget to Congress, a budget that would reverse nearly 30 years of Bush/Reagan policies, in which the super-rich were given tax cuts while services for working people were slashed. Obama's budget isn't perfect, but is huge break with that unfortunate past: It restores taxes on the wealthy and puts money into education, health care and the environment. Obama makes this perfectly clear.

This is a fight of historic importance, and, if it is victorious, will better the lives of millions of people across this country, and prepare the groundwork for even better things.

We want to join in with the millions of other democratic and progressive-minded people who are seeking to make the priorities expressed in this budget law.

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