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Workers rally for health-care reform
In the first of two separate rallies planned for the steps of the Washington County Courthouse Thursday, a local resident told how she was nearly denied experimental cancer treatment until she learned she qualified under the Department of Veterans Affairs system.
Sonja Steward, 38, of Washington, a U.S. Navy veteran, noted she has survived for five years and two months after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. She told her story to about 20 people and two patriotically garbed dogs gathered at noon at what was billed as a declaration for affordable health care, sponsored by the Service Employees International Union.
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Steward, a caseworker for the state Department of Public Welfare and an SEIU member, said her private insurer would have required her to go into remission three times before she would have been permitted to have the experimental treatment.
The rally Thursday, which started just as a shower moved in, was part of the SEIU's national day of action.
"We all know someone who was been affected directly or indirectly by some type of major illness," Steward said. "We all know of someone, unfortunately, who did not make their five-year mark, either because they don't have health insurance or they have no insurance.
"In our country, health-care insurance is based on your ability to work. If you're not able to work, you're not able to get insurance. Once you stop working, your insurance stops. We need another option. A lot of people end up losing their employment because of illness, which means losing their insurance. COBRA's out there, but who can afford it? I know I couldn't," she said of the federal health-care benefit enacted in 1986 for those who have lost their jobs.
"I didn't serve in the U.S. Navy so I could get better health-care insurance than most people," Steward said. "I put my life on the line because of the founding principles of this country. Everyone is created equal and has the right to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Our health-care system denies millions of people these rights, and it's time we fixed that."
Kathy Shaner, a certified nursing assistant at the Washington County Health Center and an SEIU member, called on constituents to lobby Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter to support President Barack Obama's plan to change the delivery of health care in the United States. Shaner said Specter's counterpart, Sen. Bob Casey, supports the Obama plan.
Asked if the rally was aimed squarely at Specter, Matt Richards, communications director for the SEIU, said, "We don't see him as being against our position. He's made a number of comments that show he's in support of health-care reform. The details in health-care reform, what it will look like, are still a little unclear. We'd certainly like to see Sen. Specter come out in favor of a strong public health care option."
Told that the courthouse steps would, a few hours later, be the site of a gathering of tax protesters focusing on the state budget impasse, Steward said, "I don't want an increase in taxes right now. At this point, I don't think anyone can afford an increase. But taxes are the one way we give back to our community.
"If people understood where those moneys were going, they wouldn't have a problem in paying what they should.
"Is Grandma on medical assistance or in a nursing home? Do you have a hospital bill you can't pay? Where does that money come from?"
Healthcare Reforem : 7/3/2009
If you read this story carefully the comment is healthcare is based on your ability to work.. Here is the problem too many people who have the ability to work DO NOT, so free healthcare for them second illegal aliens free healthcare for them. Let's fix the real problems then we can afford to give healthcare to the Truly needy. This Obamanation of a healthcare reform is just giving more to the lazy, and taking out of the pockets of the ones who cannot afford to give anymore. The working middleclass.
Healthcare Reform : 7/10/2009
If you read the story carefully and don't jam it through the Limbaugh-lobotomizer, you will understand that what Ms. Steward, a hard working Navy veteran, said was that when you become too sick to work - like with cancer - you will then lose your health coverage. So here is the problem: Insurance companies are getting away with murder and are spending over a million dollars a day lobbying Congress to maintain an unacceptable status quo.
