MoveOn pushes public plan Posted On: Sunday, Nov. 1 2009 05:02 AM By Don Bolding
Killeen Daily Herald

Members of the 20-strong local affiliate of the national advocacy group MoveOn.org gathered for two hours on W.S. Young Drive just north of U.S. Highway 190 Saturday morning to display signs supporting a public option in upcoming Congressional health care debates and collect signatures on slips of paper to be sent to Texas senators.

They placed the signatures in pill bottles to be sent to MoveOn's state headquarters in Austin to be forwarded to Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn Wednesday to try to influence them to support a public option to insure those who cannot obtain or afford private health insurance. The two senators are both Republicans, on the other side of the fence from Democrat-crafted legislation seeking to expand health care availability through government involvement.

The Killeen action was part of a statewide and nationwide Moveon.org effort.

Killeen teacher Irene Andrews made herself a "crown" of little pill bottles with packing tape and used considerable vocal powers to attract attention to handheld and planted signs reading "Insure People, Not Profit" and "All of America Needs Health Care," among other messages. Passing motorists honked their horns continuously. Interested people were directed around a corner to a parking lot to check applicable boxes on slips of paper saying, "I support health-care reform with a public option because ...

"I believe all Americans should have affordable health care.

"I don't have health insurance.

"I can't afford health insurance.

"I got hurt or sick and my insurance company cancelled my policy.

"I or someone in my family has a pre-existing medical condition and can't get insurance.

"I changed jobs and lost my insurance.

"I lost my job and lost my insurance.

"Other," with a single line to expedite quick responses.

The slips called for signatures and contact information.

The campaign didn't have an overall name, but Andrews said she wanted to call it "Nightmare on Health Care Street" to coincide with Halloween. She said, "I have health insurance with my job, but I'm standing here for my students whose families don't. Our economy is telling us to do something. Our emergency rooms are crushed.

"People are moving from job to job. Suppose you're out of money and have a new job flipping hamburgers. You go to the emergency room and they prescribe Tamiflu if you have the flu and tell you to stay home. But the drug costs $75, so you go home without it, and if you don't work, you don't get paid. So you go to work with the flu."

Marianne Miller, working the other side of the street, said she has changed jobs several times in four years after an extended period on one job, paying premiums that have no value now. She said that on subsequent jobs, she has had to wait three months for insurance to kick in, and that could stretch to a year with pre-existing conditions.

"(U.S. Rep. John) Carter held a town hall meeting about it, but he didn't reflect understanding that emergency rooms are not free. I had to go to an emergency room with a burn and paid $1,000, even at a reduced rate.

"People should be able to take their health care with them, like 401Ks, when they leave jobs and not have to base their life's planning on health-care coverage. COBRA is only temporary. My husband and I get routine preventive care, and we find it's cheaper not to have insurance as long as we stay out of the hospital."

Both houses of Congress are working on bills with various measures. The Senate is preparing to debate a bill crafted by Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada that includes a government-run insurance option but allows states to opt out. Republican leadership is vehemently opposed, saying that private health insurance premiums will skyrocket, Medicare benefits will be threatened, and tax increases and new mandates will decrease jobs.

"I hear people object to a public option because they're patriotic Americans and want to preserve free enterprise in health care," Andrews said. "I say I'm patriotic enough to want all my fellow Americans to have access to all the health care they need."

Contact Don Bolding at dbolding@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7557.