Rochester Rallies for Single Payer Health Care

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Seventy Rochester citizens and activists gathered in the rain at Washington Square park today shouting slogans like “Human need not corporate greed” and “No bills for pills.” They were there to show their support for HR 676, a bill in the US Congress that would provide universal, single-payer health care to all citizens. We already have such a system in place for people over 65 called Medicare. HR 676 would lower that 65 year age threshold to age zero. Rochester Rep Eric Massa (D-29) is a co-sponsor of HR 676, but Rochester's senior Rep Louise Slaughter (D-28) is opposed to it. The purpose of today's action was to get the influential Democrat to change her vote and sign on to 676.

Health care horror stories followed. A disabled person was denied $200 for a hospital bed by an insurance company which paid its CEO 4.3 million dollars a year. A 23 year old woman was denied coverage for a breast lump because “age 23 is too young to get breast cancer.” A 53 year old small business owner came into a doctor's office complaining of difficulty breathing. The doctor recommended he be hospitalized but he was unable to get health insurance because of loans he had taken out for his business. The man died two days later.

While most other industrialized countries like France, Japan, the United Kingdom and Canada adopted universal health care systems decades ago, during the 1980's the United States moved toward a heavily privatized health care system, under the misguided notion that the free market and competition would keep costs down. Just the opposite happened. The free market is for consumer goods like cars, TV's and shoes. When someone is sick they want to be made well, not go shopping. Health care providers soon found this out and costs increased at 5 to 10 times the rate of inflation. If fact, if the current trend is not reversed, by 2050 every dollar earned will be spent on health care. So employers bought private insurance. Meanwhile the insurance companies found they could make more money by hiring people to find reasons to deny people care, rather than providing care. This was justified by assuring us that we had the best health care in the world. But we don't. In fact our lifespan is shorter and infant mortality rates higher than any first world country. The US rates number 37 worldwide in health care quality. Our neighbor, Canada, rates number 3. Canadians live an average of 6 years longer than Americans, despite the fact that they eat more fat, smoke more, and drink more alcohol.

Critics like to use the term “socialized medicine” to frighten people away from a public health care option, or claim that it will put private providers out of business. This is simply not true. We have many public and private options that coexist. Education: it is considered a right that all children have an education. There are public schools. But there are also all kinds of private schools. Public parks: We have many beautiful City, County, State and National parks. But you can still take your family to Disney World or Darien Lake. The Postal Service: Or you can take your package to Fed Ex or UPS. If these private companies are so fearful of being put out of business, perhaps it's because they aren't doing their jobs? Doctor Johnathan Hager shared a story about a patient who became enraged after reading materials favoring HR 676 while in the office. “How can you support this socialism” the patient fumed. After which he said “I'm done with you…..I'm going to the Veterans Administration.” Ironically for this man, the VA is another successful publicly-run health system, only spending about 2% of its budget on overhead, compared to over 30% for the patchwork of private providers.

After the speeches and a performance by the Raging Grannies, the crowd marched up Clinton Avenue to Main Street to Louise Slaughter's office in US Federal Building. A group of citizens wishing to exercise their right to petition the Government for redress of grievances had petitions to hand to Rep Slaughter urging her to change her stand on HR 676. They also carried a “prescription” written by Dr Hager, to “cure” health care. They were denied entry to the office building. It was later revealed that Slaughter's office had explicitly asked that no one from this group be allowed in. Slaughter herself was not in the office. Eventually a staffer came out and accompanied four petitioners into the office. The petitions were delivered.

Recent polls show that 62 percent of the American population is in favor of universal single-payer health care such as that provided by HR 676. Coincidentally, 62 percent of all bankruptcies in 2007 were due to medical expenses, and 60 percent of those came from people who had insurance. Why is Rep Slaughter against HR 676 given these statistics, while her colleague Massa, who represents the same relative part of the country, is not only in favor of it but one of its co-sponsors. This just begs the question Who does Louise Slaughter represent?

Constituents in Rep Slaughter's district are encouraged to call her office at 585-232-4850. We the people are for HR 676 and we will remember in November 2010 (the next Congressional election). Her office has offered to “explain why she's not for it.” Raging Granny Vicki Ryder responded “I don't care why she's not for it, we the people are for it!” Other speakers outside the Federal Building expressed similar sentiment. “It's time the people have a voice rather than just the owners of this society” said speaker Brian Erway. “Profit and health care should be totally removed from one another.” “Louise told us she had principles but she won't tell us what those principles are” said Mike Connelly. “It is obscene how much money the Federal Government has transferred into failed financial corporations.” Brian Lenzo of Rochester Against War reminded everyone that Congress just authorized another $110 billion in supplemental funding to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fully implementing HR 676 would cost about one fifth of that. Let's make this day a step toward implementing health care for everyone in America.

Many thanks to the Rochester Police Department for allowing us to march safely in the street while minimizing delays to anyone's commute, and to Mayor Duffy for approving our permit in the nick of time.