NATIONWIDE EVENTS TO PUT HEAT ON FINISHING HEALTH CARE REFORM RIGHT
Health Care Advocates and Supporters to Tell Congress This Week: Listen to Us, Not the Insurance Companies
***Locate Events Here: FinishReformRight.com***
Washington, DC – Health Care for America Now (HCAN) – the nation’s largest health care campaign – in conjunction with tens of thousands of local partners and progressive advocates nationwide are starting a week-long push insisting Congress act now on health care reform and listen to everyday Americans, not the insurance lobbyists who are spending millions to block health care reform and protect their profits. Organizers are holding nearly 40 events in 32 states between the 17th and the 24th.
“This is health care we’re talking about. It’s not House versus Senate. It’s right versus wrong. And it may also be now versus never,” said Senator Al Franken (D-MN) who is participating in a rally in Minneapolis on Sunday February 21st. “The final hurdle in this health care debate just got harder to clear. But make no mistake -- we can and we will clear it.”
The flagship event of the week is the “March to the Finish Line for Melanie” - an eight-day walk which starts in Philadelphia, PA on Wednesday the 17th and will end in Washington, DC on Wednesday the 24th – the day before President Obama's Health Care Summit. The march is named for Melanie Shouse, a health care advocate who just lost her long battle with breast cancer after missing out on treatment because she did not have access to good, affordable health insurance.
Learn more and follow the “March to the Finish Line for Melanie” at: http://melaniesmarch.com
“Enough is enough. People voted for change and want results,” said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager, Health Care for America Now. “While Congress has been debating health care reform for more than a year, the American people continue to suffer at the mercy of insurance companies’ soaring premiums and denied claims. As we’ve just learned, the top five for-profit insurance companies raked in record profits in 2009. The nation is in a recession, and yet the health insurance industry is thriving. We need good health care we can afford, and we need it now. This week – in the run-up to the President’s Health Care Summit - we are saying, ‘No more.’ No more political games. No more stalling. Congress must get comprehensive reform done now and get it done right.”
Health care reform advocates will be joined by progressive organizers and supporters across the country to emphasize the pressing need to make change by reining in corporate greed, regulating Wall Street, creating more jobs, shoring up our economy, addressing global warming, protecting workers’ rights, and finally achieving quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
