Yesterday Campus Progress joined close to 20,000 others at the University of Maryland for President Obama’s Health Care Rally.
Other than a handful of pro-life and pro-costume protesters on the sidelines, the thousands of people lining up to listen to the President speak on health care reform all seemed to be supporters. We were happy to see so many University students turning out for the rally and pledging their support for Obama’s health care plan by signing our pledge sheet while standing in line. Several of our students, including Emma Sandoe, an uninsured student who volunteered with us and interns at the Center for American Progress, were able to express their concerns with the health care system. Emma speaks of her support for reform in this PBS segment on young people and health care.
It was a significant day for young people in the health care debate, because it was one of the first times the President directly addressed the impact our broken health care system has on our generation and spoke directly to us, instead of leaving us out while addressing our grandparents about Medicare concerns.
The President spoke about components in his plan that would directly benefit young people, such as eligibility to remain on our parents’ coverage until the age of 26, or receiving tax subsidies if we cannot afford coverage, or no longer being denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
A young woman, who is a student at the University of Maryland, spoke just before the President took the stage. She courageously shared her story of battling cancer at such a young age. She spoke of her good fortune of making it through her medical struggles only because she had health insurance coverage from her parents due to her status as a student. What if her parents had lost their jobs in this economy and therefore lost coverage during her chemotherapy? They could have purchased a plan from the private market but she would have been denied coverage based on her existing illness or charged an exorbitant amount because or her pre-existing condition. This is the sad truth of our health care system and it shows that not all of us are as invincible as we care to believe.
President Obama spoke of this reality and stressed once again the importance of health care reform, for our generation and for all Americans. He ended his rally with some familiar campaign stories and the arena erupted in cheers as he shouted “Fired Up!” and “Ready to Go!”.
He reminded us that this generation help put him in office and now that it’s time to pass health care reform, “We need the voice of the young people to transform this nation.”