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18,000 Union Members Took Part in More Than 400 Health Care Events in August |
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When Marianne Hoynes rolled her wheelchair into a town hall meeting in Red Bank, N.J., last week hosted by Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) to share her thoughts on health care reform, she says, “I didn’t expect to be heckled and booed.”
Hoynes sent us her story yesterday, along with a link to a You Tube video showing that some in the audience sneered and jeered as she explained her situation of trying to live with two incurable autoimmune diseases. At the meeting, she says:
America’s a completely different place to live in when you get sick. I live in fear everyday that I will lose my home….I’m afraid because the co-pay for one of my medications is $389 every two weeks. I’m afraid I might not be able to afford my property taxes and I will lose my home. Please hear this voice of the disabled and don’t let the insurance lobby win this fight. Please protect me from the extortion of the pharmaceutical industry. We all need reasonable health coverage to be a basic human right, not a privilege.
The loud and disruptive tactics and outrageous lies that marked so many of the early congressional health care forums can still be found. But a counteroffensive by the union movement, including AFSCME’s recently completed Highway to Health Care Reform, and our allies, notably Health Care for America Now (HCAN) and Organizing for America (OFA), show there is strong and broad support for fixing the nation’s broken health care system.
The mainstream media, which Hoynes says has “only been covering the screaming hordes of barbarians,” is taking notice.
Ed Sill, Texas AFL-CIO communications director, says a health care reform town hall and rally in Austin this past Saturday drew nearly 2,000 supporters and only about 100 opponents. The turnout was too large for the church where the meeting was held, so the Texas AFL-CIO opened its nearby auditorium for the overflow, which filled all its seats.
The strong coverage of Saturday’s pro-health care reform rally suggests that the media, which has duly reported the shout-down protesting by right-wingers at previous forums, will not ignore a huge turnout of support in later ones.
Following a rally that drew more than 1,100 health care reform supporters in Orlando, Fla., over the weekend, Jacki Schechner, a spokeswoman for HCAN, told the Orlando Sentinel:
There were a lot of successful town halls and meetings over the recess, but the ones that got the most attention were those where angry people got up and yelled. We want to make sure the message that they take back to Washington is that the majority of the public stands behind the need for reform and that they need to get it done now.
Meanwhile, union members are turning out in big numbers for health care reform rallies and forums coordinated by Organizing for America, the Obama administration’s grassroots action team, along its national bus tour and at other sties around the country.
The 10-city bus tour kicked off in Phoenix last week at the Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 640 parking lot, where more than 2,000 heard from Rebekah Friend, Arizona AFL-CIO executive director and treasurer, along with several lawmakers and health care professionals. The tour has drawn thousands of supporters during its other stops in Albuquerque, Denver, Des Moines, St. Louis, Milwaukee and Indianapolis.
So far, more than 18,000 union members have turned out for more than 400 health care events since Congress began its August recess. More action is in store for the last week of the congressional recess and the Labor Day weekend, when the call for health care reform will be heard at thousands of parades, picnics and rallies.
Says Sills:
If the support for health care reform that is reflected in polls continues to manifest itself in big turnouts like the one in Austin and other mass actions, it may fortify some members of Congress who have been wringing their hands over whether to support real reform. It may also be the only way to overcome the money arrayed toward the forces of reaction.
Click here and here to find upcoming health care events in your area.
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The twisted ‘preacher’ and his uzi toting disciple here in Phoenix should be behind bars; no matter what AZ’s prejudicial-based, wanna-be “laws” are; there are federal laws regarding protecting our President—if it was “W” Bush and these gun-toters and death threats were even mentioned Cheney would have them labeled terrorists and confined to Guantanimo–
Here we go. this is going to sound negative because that is exactly how I feel. First of all, it is admirable to so many people care about the state of healthcare in our country. So many people are rallying for the cause. The message is being heard world-wide. So if the latest pornography. It’s the internet. Everything can be seen world-wide. Here is my point. Is the government listening? Do our representatives read it? If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there, does it make a sound? Same principle. If none of this registers with the powers that be, where are we then? I am still going to be prematurely retired because I now have ALS. My medication is still costing me over $1000.00 a month out of pocket. I have Medicare. Pays for most of my doctor visits, but I still get bills for what it doesn’t pay. Prescriptions? Yeah, as long as it comes in a generic. All of this will make sense to me when the government listens. I can go out in my parking lot right now, stand on a soapbox and make a speech. People may cheer me on, not the right people. I worked all my life. I got Cancer a couple of years ago and lost everything. I was out of work so long, all my benefits were used up. I could not get help anywhere because I still “had a job” even though I was not working at that time. I survived through my friends, family and my church. I went back to work. Two years later….ALS. Am I bitter? You bet! As soon as this bill passes, I will be even worse off because Medicare is being cut to take up the slack. God Bless all of you for trying but, my cynical self feels like those that need to, aren’t listening.
Why has the Obama team and Congressional Democrats had such a difficult time selling meaningful health care reform? Everyone knows that Republicans are anti people and
essentially represent the corporatists and special interests; say the upper 25% of the American people. The rest of us are really in the “little people” category, you know, working Americans who work hard to make better the lives of their families. Some in that
category are well off, most struggle to make ends meet, others are very poor and struggle just to survive. All of those in the “little people” category would personally benefit through the enactment of a “single payer” universal health care system, one that is founded in public wellness, one that is less expensive and one that is more efficient than the current insurance monopoly. All of those goals can be realized, but not through the current
system; to the likes of the anti people Republicans and their wealthy backers. Their pocket books like things just the way they are. The “little people” know, that if there is to
be true health care reform, that it’ll be the Democrats and only the Democrats who can see it through. So do it! As the NIKE ads say, “just do it!” The “little people,” the 75% of the American people will be better-off for it and will respect the Democrats for their bold action.
It is almost beyond comprehension to see adults act like hooligans.
In a civilized world when attending a town hall meeting or any meeting everyone has a right to ask questions and listen to the answers. Not be booed, shouted over, called names.
Republicans are gullible, easily lied to, easily frightened into believing each will end up or a family member in front of a ‘death panel.’
I am so disgusted by foolish people who are unaware that medicare, medicaid, veterans’ benifits, and many other programs are government run. Are to ignorant to know they will one day need health care and will be turned away by their Insurance company.
President Obama must get tough with republicans and democrats alike that take money from insurance companies under the guise of it being a campaign contribution, to vote against universal health care.. I know bribery when I see and so does everyone else.
I njust heard Mr. Acuff on TV willingly giving up my hard earned Health Care coverage to the government. He must be kidding. Our local fought hard to get the excellent coverage that we have, and we can continue to pressure our Bd of ED in a way that we could never hope to change the mind of government. The Public Opinion is not something we want.