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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Insurance Companies Back Health Care Reform?


I attended a local Health Care Rally (sponsored by Move On, Yes We Can Tippecanoe from Organizing for America, and the Lafayette Peace Coalition) outside our courthouse yesterday. BRRRR! I thought it went really well - passers-by seemed supportive and receptive. And boy are my arms sore from holding a sign high above my head for half an hour to be more visible to folks driving by .... (I'm the gal in black in the picture below and I really need to get more exercise) ...




Ages of participants ranged from 13 years old to 94 years old - and the local tv reporters were there and featured us on the evening news! (By the way, the 13 year old is an avid activist as well as a home schooler and I admire his mom for making this event part of his education.) I also admired his astute sense of humor. At times we chanted slogans (to help keep warm as much as anything - hee), so after a few rounds of, "We want healthcare," he suddenly switched to, "I feel stupid!" I had to laugh - an unlikely collection of demonstrators, we all looked a bit uncomfortable out there in the freezing elements - but we were all willing to push past our comfort zones to support health care reform. Unfortunately Evan Bayh wasn't willing to push past his. His response was disappointing, out of touch, and ... clueless? Well, at least as Channel 18 reported it.

And thanks to the lovely lady from Lafayette Office Supply who, wearing no coat over a silky blouse with sheer sleeves, gingerly made her way across the street to invite us all in to warm up with coffee, tea, and hot chocolate! Just wrapping my frozen fingers around the steaming styrofoam cup warmed me up all over! Except for the frozen toes. ;)

I did learn something interesting while talking to one of my colleagues at the rally. He had read an article in an insurance industry trade journal. Apparently insurance companies are fast losing their customers.  The first wave of baby boomers are reaching the age of medicare eligibility. On top of that, massive unemployment and job loss has made health care insurance unaffordable for many. Also employers are dropping coverage because they cannot afford to provide it. So apparently the insurance companies are looking to health care reform and the government to guarantee them $30 million or billion in revenue or whatever! As a result, we may see more Republicans supporting health care ...

Just a heads up - and keep warm out there!

June Bug

2 comments:

JuneBug said...

Actually it kind of makes sense. I've been supporting the public option - but won't taking down a whole industry create further unemployment and joblessness? Something to think about as we seek the best way to bring about Health Care Reform!

Spring Chick said...

Great site, Bugs! Thanks for sending it to me. I'll check in occaisionally when I have time between racing around.

I still like the wide-open public option idea more than anything else they've postulated, so far. I'll bet every other modern, industrial country in the world thinks we're neanderthals for not providing for the health of our citizens long ago! Didn't you know they were going to screw this up from the beginning, though?