Health Insurance Reform Now: On the Bus
Last Wednesday, Organizing for America kicked off a ten city bus tour to help bring attention to the work that's been going on all month in the fight for health insurance reform. Since then the bus has traveled from Phoenix to Des Moines, and thousands of Americans have come out to demand insurance reform now. In Phoenix, people heard from Dr. Nicholas Vasquez and Linda Grady, who shared their own stories to demonstrate the need for reform:
The highlight of the evening was listening to personal testimony from two everyday folks, Linda Grady and Dr. Nicholas Vasquez. Dr Vasquez, an ER doctor, spoke about how he regularly would see patients who lack health insurance that needed some kind of treatment. He referenced one gentleman that came in six times within 10 days due to chronic migraines and no health insurance.
...Linda Grady was your average person that was suddenly afflicted with a herniated disk. She watched as the same injury happened to a professional baseball player in the same week. Linda followed his recovery very carefully and within two months he was back on the field while she was still bed ridden. When she tried to see the specialists her doctor suggested, her insurance company wouldn’t cover it, saying it wasn’t necessary. She was blessed to have a health care advocate in her family that took up her cause and got her the proper care. She ended her speech saying “God speed to this bus on its journey, because this bus is the real ‘Straight Talk Express’!”
The bus moved on to New Mexico, where a crowd overwhelmed the National Hispanic Cultural Center:
The heat in Phoenix yesterday gave way to a cool night here in Albuquerque, but the storm overhead didn't dampen anyone’s spirits. Before the bus arrived, the line at the entrance to National Hispanic Cultural Center was around the block; by the time the bus pulled out, the crowd unanimously agreed that this year, we will improve health care in America, rain or shine.
Along the way, the team on the bus has been tweeting continuously through their Twitter account, @OFAOnTheBus. They next stopped in Denver, for an event that was covered by the Denver Post:
"This is easily the biggest crowd we've seen," group organizer Mitch Stewart said as he stepped off the touring bus at the third of 10 stops across the country.
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., had already warmed up the crowd.
"My daughter has epilepsy, and she's being discriminated against because of her prior condition," he told the cheering crowd. "We're not going to let her get pushed aside."
The bus pulled into Des Moines yesterday, where Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller reminded them that the health insurance reform fight wouldn't be easy. The people of Iowa, though, are up to the challenge:
Des Moines was a perfect example of this ethic: regular people coming together and organizing not because it’s easy, or because the odds were in their favor. The people in Des Moines—just like those in Phoenix, Albuquerque, Denver, Austin, New York, and cities all over the country this week—are here because they refuse to let the health care reform debate be dictated by talking heads on cable TV or political pundits in D.C. Iowans and others are organizing for change not because it is easy, but because the status quo is unacceptable.
Later, the bus stopped in St. Louis, and now they're rolling on to Indianapolis—you can follow their progress on our Health Insurance Reform Now: On the Ground page. In the slideshow below, you can see some of the great photos from the trip so far: