WASHINGTON - November 5 - Dozens of people held a sit-in at Senator Lieberman's Capitol Hill office this morning to demand that Senator Lieberman pledge to stop taking health insurance company campaign contributions and free up funds so they can be used to pay for patient care. For 30 minutes, demonstrators requested to talk to Senator Lieberman and chanted "Patients not Profits, Health Care for All." They carried signs that say, "Insurance $ is making America sick." Nine members of the Mobilization for Health Care for All sat down in the office lobby until forcibly removed by the police.

Those arrested:

1. Midge Potts 2. John * 3. Kai * 4. Brittany Florio 5. Linda Larson 6. Danielle Green 7. George Ripley 8. Katherine Banhart 9. Polly *

* People who gave only their first names are refusing to give their names to the police, seeking to stay in jail until Sen Lieberman pledges to stop taking private insurance company contributions.

The sit-in was part of a national mobilization called the Mobilization for Health Care for All  (www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org) to end insurance abuse and win health care for all. The Mobilization for Health Care for All demands that insurance companies re-direct their lobbying funds to pay for doctor-requested treatments for people with life-threatening conditions. In some states, one in five of these requests is denied by insurance company bureaucrats. 

"There is nothing more important to the general welfare of the nation than healthcare. We need a system that places patients before profits," says George Ripley from Washington, DC, who was arrested this morning and remains in jail.

Since 1989, only 10 other current senators have brought in more cash from the health sector than Lieberman, who has collected $2.6 million in that time. Senator Lieberman has accepted over $110,000 from private health insurance Aetna in campaign contributions so far this year. In 2009, Aetna has already spent over $2 million dollars in lobbying for health care a system based on private coverage, while denying countless claims for patients who need treatment.

Sources: Center for Responsive Politics and OpenSecrets.org.