PEORIA -- About 40 sign-waving, chanting health reform advocates gathered at the closed office of Cong. Aaron Schock, R-Peoria, around 5 p.m. on March 19, to urge him to vote for reform.
The bill is not perfect, and Schock probably won't listen, some acknowledged. But the group, led by the Campaign for Better Health Care, contended that Schock should not be allowed to control the message on reform.
Organizers urged the crowd to phone wavering Illinois Congress members, listed on the website, to urge them to vote in favor of the bill, expected to come before the US House in 48 hours. The vote will be very close.
A few people spoke of their needs for reform. A Caterpillar, Inc. retiree said she is now facing the 'donut' hole in Medicare, a situation the reform measure will end.
A mother said her daughter just had a second C-section only to find the insurance company trying to deny coverage on the grounds of a 'preexisting condition.' She had a first C-section.
Another mother said her daughter just had surgery which the insurance company refused to cover, and now has a $55,000 hospital bill. And she's now uninsurable. The crowd booed these incidents.
The bill will solve these problems, even if it won't bring Canadian-style or Medicare-for-all universal coverage to everyone. It's worth passing, as a first step toward more reform. It's half a loaf, but worth eating.
The Republican intransigence on health reform is amazing. Every member of Congress who votes against it should vow to drop Medicare and Social Security coverage forever -- after all they're government programs.
Do you hear that, Aaron Schock? We'll be watching.
Republicans should be on their knees thanking Pres. Obama for saving capitalism, given the situation in the USA today. He should have ditched it by nationalizing the banks and enacting universal, government health care, European style. He had the political capital to do that, and squandered it.
And now the Republicans attack their own ideological savior. Amazing.
-- Elaine Hopkins
UPDATE 3/20/10: Now progressives must fight off Rep. Stupak's attempts to add restrictive abortion language to the final health reform bill. Women's rights advocates say these restrictive rules would make safe, legal abortions unavailable by putting providers out of business. Very diabolical. When will we see the last of a handful of religious extremists trying to impose their view on all women?
Phone lines and fax numbers are busy. Go to a candidate's website and send an email expressing your views.
Here's a good article from Paul Krugman in the New York Times that beautifully sums up the issues. Except for the abortion situation.
And here's a piece from filmmaker Michael Moore, who lives in Stupak's district. It tells all about Stupak, and suggests he will have an opponent next fall.
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