‘Medicare for All’ Protesters Crash Regional Healthcare Forums The Demand for Genuine Healthcare Reform Gains Momentum

By Sheilah Garland-Olaniran



Advocates for a single payer
healthcare system invited themselves to the White House Regional
Healthcare forums held around the country.  The kickoff forum was in
Dearborn, Michigan, in March where nearly 60 demonstrators held a
picket and rallied at the forum site. 



Temporarily stashing the picket signs, protestors in this organized
mobilization made their way into the session and fanned out among the
approximately 400 participants. They were clearly not the intended
audience. Hosts Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Wisconsin Governor
Jim Doyle, and White House Staff Representative Melody Barnes became
increasingly frustrated as they called on audience members around the
room who all spoke on behalf of single payer healthcare and HR 676
(Rep. John Conyer' Medicare For All bill). 



After a representative from Blue-Cross Blue Shield declared how
much in favor they are of healthcare reform, Adrianne
Campbell-Montgomery told the audience that it was Blue Cross Blue
Shield who had denied her claim when she attempted to get treated for
uterine cancer several years ago.  (Campbell-Montgomery was featured in
Michael Moore' documentary SICKO”). Today, she has NO INSURANCE and
was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She challenged the hosts
asking, When will it end? When will it end?(The right of insurance
companies to refuse treatment). It became clear that the insurers were
interested in demanding a different kind of reform than the majority of
Americans need. 



These White House forums were held around the country in Iowa,
Vermont and North Carolina and ended in Los Angeles, where nearly 1000
people rallied in support of healthcare for all. In a media interview,
Bob Sisler, a single payer activist and President of UAW Local 6000
Retiree Chapter in Michigan declared, Our message is simple. We want a
healthcare system in the U.S. Right now we have an insurance system.”



The demand and growing fight for a single payer healthcare system
is not the only fight facing working people. Autoworkers are preparing
to defend their health insurance coverage, their dependents’ coverage,
health insurance for retirees and their pensions.  Single payer
advocates, indeed all workers, whether employed or not, must come to
the defense of the autoworkers now. Challenging any move by the auto
industry to take away health insurance from autoworkers, while our
government fails to support a single payer system that would protect
them, must be made a priority demand by advocates for single payer. 
What better way to articulate and define why the corporate reform
agenda will doom not only autoworkers but millions more to misery?  



Protestors promoting single payer legislation are beginning to
challenge the right of corporations to treat healthcare as a commodity
to be bought and sold on the market for profit. They know that any
reform that does not directly challenge the right of insurers to profit
on our health is not a reform that can be sustained. 



 With the recent economic crisis, it is becoming increasingly clear
that the government exists to protect the interests of society rather
than the interests of a small handful of billionaires and
millionaires.  As millions more lose their healthcare insurance
millions more will join the fight to demand healthcare as a right. 
Join the battle to hold government responsible for healthcare and other
basic needs.  It is the only way society can to be protected from the
corporations and the investors they represent.



Check out HealthCare-Now.org to find out Action Day events in your area, including a DAY of ACTION on May 30th.



Sheilah
Garland-Olaniran works for a union for Registered Nurses and is
involved in the fight for a single-payer healthcare system.