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For Immediate Release
October, 13 2009, 09:37am EDT
Contact:
Lacy MacAuley, (202) 445-4692, lacy@massey-media.
Katie Robbins, Healthcare-NOW! (330) 618-6379, info@healthcare-now.
Kai Newkirk, Mobilization for Health Care for All, (310) 703-3046, info@
Citizens and Health Care Providers Will Risk Arrest at Health Insurance Offices in Nine Cities Across the Country on Thursday
Civil disobedience is part of a national mobilization to end insurance abuse and win real health care reform
WASHINGTON
Citizens and health care providers are participating in sit-ins at
health insurance offices in nine cities across the country on Thursday
to call for real reform that addresses the real cause of the health
care crisis, the insurance companies. Within the past 16 days, over 700
people have signed up to risk arrest by sitting down in an insurance
company office and refusing to leave, demanding the immediate approval
of lifesavaing doctor-recommended treatment and an end to denial of
care.
Thursday, October 15, 2009 - SCHEDULE OF SIT-INS
1) New York, NY, 10am EST, United HealthGroup / 1 Penn Plaza / 10119
Contact: Omar Kutty / omarkutty@hotmail.com / 773-576-2559
2) Washington, DC, 10am EST, Wellpoint / 655 15th St NW
Contact: Kevin Zeese / kzeese@earthlink.net / 301-996-6582
3) Palm Beach, FL, 11:30am EST, Humana / 2056 Vista Pkwy
Contact: Rick Ford / floridianshealth@aol.com / 561-601-9150
4) Boston, MA, 12:00p EST, Cigna Office / 2223 Washington St / 02462
Contact Ben Day / 617-723-7001 / director@masscare.org
5) Cleveland, OH, 10am Central, Medical Mutual / 2060 E 9th St / 44115
Contact: Drew Smith / drewsmith86@gmail.com / 330-703-0556
6) Portland, OR, 10am, Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield / 100 SW Market / 97201
Contact: Chris Lowe / 503-788-2543 (preferred) 503-913-3980 / clowe@igc.org
7) Phoenix, AZ, 4-6p, United Healthcare / 2390 E. Camelback Road Suite 300 / 85016
Contact: Dan O'Neal / 480-650-0746 / dan@pdamerica.org
8) Los Angeles, CA, 10am, Anthem Blue Cross / 801 S. Figueroa St. / 90017
Contact: Sam Pullen / samuelbpullen@hotmail.com / 760-275-7874
9) Reno, NV, 11am , United Healthcare 5190 Neil Road #420 / 89502
Contact: Lisa Stiller 775-232-2823 / 775-746-1313 / koffeenut@yahoo.com
The actions are the start of a national movement, coordinated by the group Mobilization for Health Care for All,
of people who are fed up with the state of health care in this country,
fed up with the state of the health care debate in this country, and
are putting themselves on the line for real health care reform.
Chanting messages such as "patients not profits," participants in the
actions are expected to say that insurance companies that deny people
the care that they need for profit are the real death panels. They will
show that the legislation currently in the limelight fails to address
the real problem, the insurance companies.
The mobilization was launched two weeks ago when 17 people were arrested at an Aetna office in downtown New York City (read New York Times city blog write-up). Last week, 7 were arrested at a Cigna office in downtown Chicago (see Associated Press article). (View videos of New York sit-in and Chicago sit-in on YouTube.)
"The health care bill being voted on this week is a giveaway to the
insurance industry," said Kevin Zeese, executive director of Prosperity
Agenda, one of the groups that launched the national mobilization. "If
it were passed, tens of millions of Americans will be forced to buy
overpriced insurance, which will result in hundreds of billions in new
annual revenue for the insurance industry and continued deaths and
suffering due to insurance abuse and denials."
National efforts are part of the Patients Not Profit campaign of the Mobilization for Health Care for All.
The mobilization was launched by several national organizations. the
actions are coordinated in cooperation with local groups based in each
city and give people an outlet for their frustration and even outrage
about insurance company abuse. The groups advocate for Medicare for
All, a public single payer health care plan that expands Medicare to
cover everyone.
"This will be one of the largest campaigns of nonviolent civil
disobedience since the civil rights movement," stated Kai Newkirk,
national coordinator for the Mobilization for Health Care for All.
"It's just beginning and will continue and build until the insurance
companies no longer stand between us and the care we need."
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Fine, who has the endorsement of President-elect Donald Trump in his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives, called himself the "Hebrew Hammer" in a post on X on Tuesday and suggested Reps. Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Omar (D-Minn.) should leave office for their own safety.
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has spoken out previously about anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim statements by Fine (R-19), called the lawmaker an "unhinged anti-Muslim bigot."
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Despite rainy conditions, the United American Indians of New England held its 55th annual National Day of Mourning at Cole's Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Kisha James, who is an enrolled member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and also Oglala Lakota, shared how her grandfather founded the event in 1970 and pledged to continue to "tear down the Thanksgiving mythology."
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James took aim at fossil fuel pipelines, oil rigs, skyscrapers, corporations, the U.S. military, mass incarceration, and the criminalization of immigrants, and declared that "no one is illegal on stolen on land."
Jean-Luc Pierite, a member of the Tunica-Biloxi Tribe of Louisiana and president of the board of directors of the North American Indian Center of Boston who helped organize this year's gathering, toldUSA Today that "while we are mourning some tragic history but also contemporary issues, we are also expressing gratitude for each [other] and building this community space."
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This year's event in Plymouth included speeches about the suffering of Palestinians—as Israel wages a U.S. government-backed war on the Gaza Strip that has killed at least 44,330 people, injured 104,933, and led to a genocide case at the International Court of Justice—and of people impacted by extractive industries.
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According toABC 7:
For the second year in a row, the group ran in front of the Ronald McDonald float to briefly stop the parade.
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Many sat on the ground, locking arms and chanting "Free, free Palestine!"
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Video footage shared on social media shows members of the New York Police Department grabbing protesters and their banner, and throwing at least one person face-first into the road.
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