19 citizens and health care providers arrested, launching national
mobilization for health care for all
New York, NY – Citizens and health care providers today staged a
sit-in at the offices of Aetna, one of the nation’s largest health
insurance companies, in New York City (99 Park Ave @40th. The action
is part of a national mobilization to end health insurance abuses such
as the denial of coverage for lifesaving treatments, and win support
for the only real public option – Medicare for all, a single payer
plan. The action was part of a Mobilization for Health Care for All
campaign that includes actions in Chicago, Los Angeles, and other
cities across the country.
VIDEO: View a video of today’s sit-in on our YouTube channel
<
http://www.youtube.com/mobilize4healthcare>The 19 participants, wearing T-shirts with slogans that read
“Medicare for All” and chanting “patients, not profits!”
linked arms and sat down in the lobby of the Aetna building, prompting
Aetna employees to step around them on their way into their offices,
where insurance claim reviewers are busy looking for ways to deny
people the lifesaving treatment that they need. A crowd of supporters
picketing outside the building held signs that said "Aetna is the real
death panel," and "Single payer now."
Participants in the action demanded that the insurance company
immediately approve all doctor-recommended lifesaving treatments in
their files, stating that they would not leave until Aetna approved
care. Aetna, however, refused to meet with their representative.
“Insurance companies are denying care to people who need it right
and left, but that’s not how it should work. Health care is a right,
not a privilege,” said Constancia ‘Dinky’ Romily, 68, just
before getting arrested. Romily is a retired nurse and a resident of
East Village, New York. “I’m putting myself on the line and
getting arrested to end insurance abuse and win health care for
all,” she says.
The sit-in is part of the Patients Not Profit campaign of the
Mobilization for Health Care for All. The mobilization was launched by
the organizations Prosperity Agenda, Health Care NOW!, and the Center
for the Working Poor. Today’s action has been organized by the
Private Health Insurance Must Go coalition, a local New York
organization.
"People are dying because these corporations put profits before
patients, and the health care bill currently on the floor of Congress
fails to address the real cause of the health care crisis – the
insurance companies." says Katie Robbins, an organizer with
Healthcare-Now! "The only solution to our health care crisis is the
real public option, Medicare for All, a single payer plan."
Laurie Wen, 38, a Manhattan resident, is one of the everyday
Americans who are fed up with the state of health care in our country,
and was arrested today to stand up for the hundreds of Americans who
are denied lifesaving care every day, and to call for the only
solution for health care for all, Medicare for all. A friend of hers,
she says, was recently denied by Aetna for coverage for a bone marrow
transfusion to treat cancer for three months, setting his care back
for three months.
“We will continue to stage these sit-ins as Congress debates
legislation that expands the insurance company stranglehold over our
health, our lives, and our government,” says Wen. “We need a
better system to end insurance abuse and win health care for all.”
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