SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
December, 08 2009, 02:31pm EDT
Contact:
Katie Robbins, healthcarenow08@
Kevin Zeese, kzeese@earthlink.net, 301-996-6582
Margaret Flowers, nose1@aol.com, 410-591-0892
Medicare for All: Sit-Ins & Protests at Senators' Offices in 19 Cities
Angry Citizens Vow to Sit-In at Senators’ Offices for Medicare for All
WASHINGTON
Declaring
health care to be a human right, hundreds of advocates for a
single-payer, Medicare-for-All health program will protest at senators'
offices around the country on Dec. 10, International Human Rights
Day. Many will risk arrest by committing acts of civil disobedience.
What: Sit-ins and protests at senators' offices to demand single-payer health reform
When: Thursday, December 10, 2009, International Human Rights Day
Where: 18 cities across the country (see list at end)
Who: Mobilization for Health Care for All, a national civil disobedience campaign https://mobilizeforhealthcare.org
Organizers
say the coordinated sit-ins and other actions will spotlight the
"complete inadequacy" of the present House and Senate bills, which,
they say, will leave at least 17 million people uninsured and millions
more with shoddy coverage, unprotected from skyrocketing medical costs.
"Elected
officials are the ones with the power to end this abusive, immoral
health care system we have," says George Randt, M.D., a physician
specialist in primary care medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, and a member of
the national single-payer advocacy group Healthcare-NOW!. "They have
the power to take out the middleman-the private insurance
industry-which provides no care but merely inflates the cost of care
for everyone. The bills emerging in Congress are completely inadequate.
Patients deserve better."
The
actions are part of a national civil disobedience campaign for
single-payer health reform led by the Mobilization for Health Care for
All. The campaign has gained notoriety for having organized more than
35 sit-ins across the country in recent weeks, targeting private health
insurance companies and exposing their role as the real "death panels"
that decide who lives and who dies based on ability to pay.
"My
life should not be in the hands of insurance CEOs who profit from
denying me care," adds Kate Barnhart of New York, one of the over 200
citizens arrested at the recent round of sit-ins.
Barnhart's
doctor ordered a brain scan for a tumor in early September, but the
procedure's approval has been repeatedly delayed by her insurance
company. "I had been paying $900 a month for my premium," she said.
"Last week, the company terminated my policy, and I still haven't had
my brain scan. Do my senators think this is OK?"
Medicare-for-All
supporters advocate a publicly financed, privately delivered health
care system similar to Medicare. The single-payer system would be
financed entirely through taxes, cover everyone, ensure freedom to
choose doctors, and save about $400 billion annually by eliminating
wasteful paperwork, bureaucracy and insurance company profits. The vast
majority of people would pay less in taxes than what they presently pay
for premiums and out-of-pocket costs like co-pays and deductibles.
Sen.
Bernie Sanders, I-VT, introduced a single-payer amendment to the Senate
leadership's health bill on December 2nd that would essentially replace
the existing bill's language with an improved Medicare-for-All plan.
Sanders has also announced plans to introduce another measure that
would permit individual states to experiment with their own
single-payer programs.
"While
Obama was courting my vote, he said during the debates that health care
is a right," said Andy Richards of the Coalition of the Uninsured and
Underinsured for Single-Payer, based in Washington, D.C. "My mom fought
cancer for 21 years, and even though she had health insurance, the
out-of-pocket costs were astronomical. She passed away in 2005. Today
my dad is still paying off medical debt and was nearly on the brink of
bankruptcy."
Richards
is another recent sit-in arrestee who, at age 25, was denied coverage
due to a so-called pre-existing condition. "Does it sound like a right
to you when people go without health care or pay so much for it that
they go bankrupt? My senators need to do the right thing: stop
accepting bribes from insurance companies and pass single-payer
amendments in the Senate."
December
10th is the 61st anniversary of the signing of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, of which the United States is a signatory.
Single-payer actions commemorating Human Rights Day are taking place in
the following cities:
Atlanta, GA: Denise Woodal, denisewoodallksu@yahoo.com
Des Moines, IA: Mona Shaw, 515-282-4781, monashaw@aol.com
Louisville, KY: Harriette Seiler, (502) 644-7124, hmseil01@insightbb.com
Baltimore, MD: Charles Loubert, folkspirit@yahoo.com
Kalamazoo, MI: Don Cooney, 269-387-3190, donald.cooney@wmich.edu
New York, NY: Laurie Wen, 917-446-1610, lauriewen@aol.com
St. Louis, MO: Mark Reed, 314-773-7876, mtreed@swbell.net
Newark, NJ: 917-446-1610, organize@mobilizeforhealthcare.org
Syracuse, NY: Karen Nezelek, 315-876-9669, knezele@twcny.rr.com
Cleveland, OH: Drew Smith, 330-703-0556, info@mobilizeohio.org
Philadelphia, PA: Joan Martini, joanmmartini@aol.com
Virginia Beach, VA: Trudy Serrano, 757-671-9345, trudyserrano@live.com
Seattle, WA: Sally Soriano, Sally@SallySoriano.org
Washington, D.C.: Andy Richards, (571)-438-3393, arichards365@hotmail.com
Davie, Orlando, West Palm Beach, and Tallahassee, FL: Rick Ford, 561-601-9150, ffordpa@aol.com
LATEST NEWS
'Biggest Wealth Divide in Modern History': Graphic Shows Shocking Reality of US Economy
Data released by the University of Michigan and Gallup this week showed US consumer sentiment cratering even as stock markets hit record highs.
May 23, 2026
Multiple polls and surveys released in recent days have shown US consumer sentiment cratering—and all the while, the US stock market keeps hitting record highs.
The Kobeissi Letter, a financial newsletter, posted a graphic Saturday that matched consumer sentiment as measured by the University of Michigan's Surveys of Consumers with the performance of the S&P 500 stock index over a 30-year span.
The graphic shows that, up until around 2020, consumer sentiment matched stock market performance closely, although there was a large divergence between the two leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, where stocks briefly outperformed consumer sentiment before crashing downward as the housing bubble burst.
But throughout the last six years, the graphic shows, the S&P 500 has produced an almost continuous upward surge even as consumer sentiment spirals downward.
Absolutely incredible:
Over the last 6 years, the S&P 500 has risen +130% while US Consumer Sentiment has collapsed by -55%, to its lowest since data began in 1952.
We are witnessing the formation of the biggest wealth divide in modern history. https://t.co/XGMR6DfuNc pic.twitter.com/2w7cRvn7ok
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) May 23, 2026
"Absolutely incredible," commented Kobeissi Letter. "Over the last six years, the S&P 500 has risen +130% while US Consumer Sentiment has collapsed by -55%, to its lowest since data began in 1952. We are witnessing the formation of the biggest wealth divide in modern history."
Kobeissi Letter produced the graphic one day after the University of Michigan's latest survey found consumer sentiment hitting the lowest level on record.
Joanne Hsu, director of the survey, observed that "the cost of living continues to be a first-order concern, with 57% of consumers spontaneously mentioning that high prices were eroding their personal finances, up from 50% last month."
On the same day, Gallup published new data showing that Americans' economic confidence has fallen to its lowest level since October 2022, with just 16% of Americans rating the economy as excellent or good, and nearly half describing it as poor.
Axios reported on Saturday that even Republicans have been growing sour on the US economy, citing a recent poll from The Associated Press showing GOP approval of President Donald Trump on the economy to be at around 60%, down from 80% just three months ago.
"The growing GOP gloom could hardly come at a worse time for Trump and the party," Axios noted, "less than six months out from a midterm election that's likely to turn on the economy."
The gap between overall consumer sentiment and stock market performance also lines up with recent consumer spending trends. Data published by The Financial Times earlier this year showed that the top 10% of earners in the US now account for nearly half of all consumer spending, while the bottom 80% of earners now account for less than 40% of all consumer spending.
A February report from TD Economics economist Ksenia Bushmeneva noted that “the economic divide between America’s households at the top of the income spectrum and everyone else continued to widen last year,” as “upper-income households benefited from the still-robust wage growth, strong gains in equity markets, and better access to consumer credit.”
Keep ReadingShow Less
Platner Says His Anti-Private Equity Ad Targeting Red Sox Owners Was 'Taken Down' During Game Broadcast
"Private equity is destroying our favorite baseball team, stripping them for parts," Democratic US Senate candidate Platner said in an ad that aired on the New England Sports Network.
May 23, 2026
Maine Democratic US Senate candidate Graham Platner on Saturday said that a campaign ad that aired during a Boston Red Sox game was "taken down" after it took aim at the team's ownership.
The ad in question features Platner discussing the role that private equity firms play in the US economy, including sports teams.
"Private equity is destroying our favorite baseball team, stripping them for parts," Platner says at the start of the ad. "Private equity is buying up our homes, our sports, and our lives. I will reverse the private equity curse."
Private equity is taking our homes. It's taking our hospitals. It's taking beloved local businesses and stripping them for parts.
And now private equity is running the Red Sox into the ground.
Our new ad ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/w7LapElpdA
— Graham Platner for Senate (@grahamformaine) May 22, 2026
Platner concludes the ad by saying that he approves this message "because I miss Mookie Betts," the star player whom the Red Sox traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020 in a deal that was widely decried by local fans as a salary dump.
According to Platner, his campaign began airing the ad Friday on the New England Sports Network (NESN), the cable TV station owned partially by Fenway Sports Group, the conglomerate that owns the Red Sox.
However, he said that "midway through the game the ad was taken down" by NESN, after which the Red Sox proceeded to blow a 4-0 lead, losing to the Minnesota Twins by a final score of 8-6.
Platner, an oyster farmer and upstart candidate who has never before held political office, became the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee for the 2026 US Senate race in Maine last month after his top rival, Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills, dropped out of the race.
In recent weeks, Platner has pivoted to challenging incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has held the seat since 1996 and is now running for her sixth term in office.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Absurd and Cruel': Critics Decry Trump Rule Change for Green Card Applicants
The policy change means "we could have families separated for months or years," said one expert.
May 23, 2026
Critics are slamming the Trump administration for implementing a new rule that foreigners who apply for green cards must do so from abroad.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Friday announced that foreigners currently in the US who want to establish permanent legal residency must first return to their countries of origin to apply for a green card.
This announcement broke with decades of US immigration policy, which made it possible for immigrants in the US to obtain green cards without having to leave the country.
Doug Rand, a former senior advisor at USCIS under President Joe Biden, said in an interview with The Associated Press that "the goal of this policy is very explicit," which is to block a path to citizenship "for as many people as possible."
Sarah Pierce, a former USCIS policy analyst, told The New York Times that the rule change could have particularly dire consequences to foreigners who are married to US citizens and will now have to apply for permanent residency from overseas.
"Our consular processing system through which they would have to apply is already overburdened," Pierce explained. "So that means we could have families separated for months or years."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, similarly noted that the new policy "could force people to leave their jobs, homes, and families for weeks or months, all at their own expense" just to stay in a country where they have already established roots.
Reichlin-Melnick said that the full scope of the policy isn't yet clear because there are several unknown details about how broadly it will be applied, but added that "in the meantime, hundreds of thousands of immigrants now have to worry about upending their lives to get a legal status that they are entitled to under our laws."
Drop Site News reporter Ryan Grim argued that the new policy rips the mask off Trump administration claims that they aren't opposed to all immigration, they simply want to reduce undocumented immigration.
"The talking point that we do want legal immigration, we just want people to get in line and follow the rules, is BS," Grim commented. "This is an attempt to blow up the line, blow up the rules, and make it insanely difficult to immigrate legally."
Rep. Chuy García (D-Ill.) echoed Grim's comments by pointing out that the new policy shows the Trump administration's disdain for immigration overall.
"This new policy will force thousands of LEGAL immigrants, including spouses of US citizens, to leave their homes, families, and jobs for weeks or even months to get their green card outside the US," said García. "This is an absurd and cruel policy."
Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY), chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, condemned the new policy for targeting "students, scientists, entrepreneurs, spouses of US citizens, and other individuals following legal immigration processes."
"Aspiring lawful permanent residents are valued members of our communities, workforce, and economy," Espaillat emphasized. "I will continue fighting to protect the rights of aspiring green card holders and immigrant families."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular