Protesting the insurance bosses
By
PORTLAND, Ore.--More than 200 people rallied outside Blue Cross Blue Shield offices on September 22 to protest the role insurance companies have played in denying care, bankrupting working people and stunting health care reform.
The rally was part of national day of action organized by Health Care for America Now (HCAN) along with MoveOn.org. It was also endorsed by Portland's Jobs with Justice Health Care Committee, which is for single-payer health care.
Although the message put forward by HCAN signs was to support the "public option," the overwhelming majority of participants wore buttons, held signs and shouted loudly for single-payer.
Jobs with Justice's speaker, Tom Leedham of Teamsters Local 206, described what kind of system can save 45,000 people from needless death each year and 700,000 from bankruptcy--single-payer. He energized the crowd in support of a bill that would improve and expand Medicare for all, HR 676.
Dr. Paul Gorman of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) spoke to the ideas that unite supporters of both the public option and single payer, including cradle-to-grave health services for whatever care is needed that won't force people to choose between basic necessities and health care. He urged the crowd to help organize a movement strong enough to challenge the insurance industry and the well-funded right-wing demonstrations against reform.
Gorman cited Martin Luther King Jr., who said, "History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period...was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."
In this last category, we might include those in national organizations like HCAN that continue to advocate for a cure that may be worse than the disease--the "public option." As many local organizers are frustrated time and again by half-measures that leave the insurance companies untouched, single-payer advocates are preparing for a long-term fight.
To build this struggle, we need to be honest about the weaknesses of proposed reform and willing to publicly oppose politicians who won't stand up to the insurance companies. We must also continue to engage and debate with those who believe the public option is the best we can do but who secretly wish for single-payer. Silence won't get us the change we desperately need.
