Yesterday at noon four dedicated health care reform activists left Philadelphia, PA on foot headed for Washington DC, 135 miles south. 150 people gathered at the center of the city to cheer them on and see them off, voicing their support for health care reform. The march is named in honor of Melanie Shouse, a volunteer for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, who suffered from breast cancer. She could not afford health care and therefore succumbed to the disease while fighting for others who shouldn’t have to endure the same tragedy.
President Obama’s healthcare forum on February 25th will be graced with the arrival of the marchers into Washington the preceding day. Anyone who feels that reform must be accomplished immediately is encouraged to join the march at any point along the way, especially the final mile from Union Station on Capitol Hill to their destination. A list of events along the trail is on the official website Melaniesmarch.com and you can follow the happenings through Twitter and Facebook as the marchers update their progress.
As the march’s finale is taking place there will also be a Virtual March for Real Health Care Reform on February 24th sponsored by MoveOn.org; a convergence on Washington of physical bodies demanding change and a mass influx of calls, tweets, emails, faxes, and facebook posts to represent the foundation of Americans who are in dire need of real action by Congress.
As the public presence of health care reform seems to dwindle every day we need to let our representatives know that we will not give up. Congress’s forum will be a good effort to bring the issue back to the forefront but that doesn’t mean they have a plan.
Representatives from California, Connecticut and Maryland held a joint press conference today to discuss the facts that the mainstream media has passed up. Some of those facts include Anthem Blue Cross and their attempt to hike up premium prices by nearly 39% despite a year of profits higher than ever before. Cigna’s profits also increased by 346% last year, all while our rates go up more than we can afford to shell out. According to statements made by Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) in yesterday’s press conference, premiums for employee-sponsored health care have increased 131% since 2000. This has been the cause of over 50% of bankruptcies in the United States. We are going broke to get/stay healthy. With the struggling unemployment rate in this country we not only have less access to healthcare but many of us don’t have enough income to even consider coverage. We spend our time trying not to think about what might happen if we were to get sick or be involved in an accident.
Efforts by some members of Congress show a glint of hope in a struggling system. There a few who are brave enough to stand up and shirk the politicking in favor of ideas that would benefit the majority of Americans. Eight Senators and over one hundred Representatives in the House have signed a letter addressed to Harry Reid, urging him to hold a vote on the public option through budget reconciliation rules. Such a vote could conceivably put the much-needed provision back in play but most believe it will simply be ignored. The public option is a sticking point for those on the right and cooperation from both parties would be near impossible if it were in the final bill. It’s devastating that the few people whom we elect who are compassionate enough to fight for something as inclusive as the public option will most likely be disregarded. The office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has released a series of graphs that encapsulate the misdeeds of private health insurance providers (as linked to above) as well as the support in the United States for a public option as shown here, here, and here.
These Congressional pushes and actions like Melanie’s March are just one example of people fighting for reform; and your support is needed. Sign MoveOn’s petition to Congress to let them know that you are willing to fight with them, then on February 24th either join the march by RSVPing on the website or by participating in the virtual march from anywhere in the country. Send emails, call your representatives, update your facebook and twitter, find a fax machine and send passionate letters with words cut from magazines. Do anything you can to pressure our leaders in Washington, they need to know that we will not forget about health care reform.
* This post was written by CP Intern, Christian Pittman