Labor & Employment Law

Today?s the Day to Make Your Voice Heard on Health Care

By Seth Michaels

Thousands of union members, community activists and health care advocates from across the country will converge on Capitol Hill today to demand that Congress pass health care reform legislation that provides quality health care for all.

Today’s rally and lobby day sponsored by Health Care for America Now! (HCAN) is expected to be the largest-ever health care reform rally. It’s taking place from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Upper Senate Park.

The rally will provide a much-needed voice on Capitol Hill for millions of families that are uninsured, under-insured and fed up with being at the mercy of insurance companies. Participants will call for real change in health care, including a public health insurance option for workers and families who either have private insurance or no coverage at all.

Results of the 2009 Health Care for America Survey (sponsored by the AFL-CIO and Working America) clearly show that America’s working families are suffering under a system that does not protect their health or their financial security. Of the more than 23,000 respondents in the survey, more than half say they can’t get the health care they need at a price they can afford.

AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker says the rally shows the momentum and enthusiasm behind health care reform:

We are closer than ever to getting the health care reform we need. We cannot let the voices of opposition and the naysayers stifle the will of the people in order to maintain a system that only benefits private corporations. We must use this momentum to finally create a health care system that ends the delays and denials and provides health care for everyone.

If you can’t make the rally today, stay tuned here?we’ll be reporting live using Twitter.

Click here for more rally information from HCAN and text “HEALTH” to 94553 to receive updates on fast-moving health care reform activities throughout the summer.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on June 25, 2009 (boomark / email).