News Coverage of Team Health Care on the Road
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Published December 08, 2009 11:02 pm - A small group of committed heath care-public option advocates ignored frigid temperatures and gathered in front of the Montour County Courthouse on Tuesday night in a candlelight vigil to share health care stories and send a message to Congress to fight for reforms.
Vigil sends message on health care reform
By Rick Dandes
The Daily Item
DANVILLE — A small group of committed heath care-public option advocates ignored frigid temperatures and gathered in front of the Montour County Courthouse on Tuesday night in a candlelight vigil to share health care stories and send a message to Congress to fight for reforms.
The vigil was one of hundreds held statewide. It was organized locally by the Pennsylvania Health Access Network.
Eleven residents from Danville and Milton showed up to shed light on the problems of health care for the uninsured and under-insured. They stood on Mill Street waving at motorists and holding up large signs that read “Health Care Now.”
Amy Johnson, of Milton, said she and her husband, a musician, are uninsured and have been for about five years. “Fortunately, my three young children are insured by the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program. But my husband and I know that we’re one accident away from total ruin. Living with this fear, it’s just not right,” she said.
Alicia Kriner, of Danville, told the group that for her, it was a question of a car payment or health care premium, “and I need my car to get to work.”
Tom Kane, a nurse from Danville, empathized with Johnson’s plight. He said: “It’s time for this nonsense to stop. Some people I know are also having to choose between buying food and paying for health care. This whole … health care system is out of order.”
A retired health care administrator also was there to protest the existing system. “I’m retired,” said Richard Sawyer, of Danville, “and I fall under Medicare, so I’m taken care of. But I can tell you that costs are escalating and are out of control.”
Sawyer said his wife had a one-hour medical test and was billed $11,000 for it. “I mean, people just can’t afford to be sick anymore, and it shouldn’t be like that in this country,” he said.
One way or another, change is coming, said Antoinette Kraus, of Norristown, one of the event’s organizers.
The U.S. Senate is debating its version of health care reform. In the latest development, a special committee of moderate Democrats has come up with three alternatives to a public option.
This news did not please Kraus.
“Too many hard-working Americans cannot afford to pay the cost of their medical bills and are forced into bankruptcy while two people die every day in Pennsylvania from not having health insurance,” she said. “A public option is the way to go, we believe, and we can’t afford to wait.”
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Vigil draws attention to heath care reform needs
By MIKE REUTHER mreuther@sungazette.com
POSTED: December 9, 2009
Iwanka Kultschyckyj of Williamsport holds a candle at the Candelight health care reform vigil held in front of the Federal Building Tuesday night.
About a dozen people held a vigil in downtown Williamsport Tuesday night, braving the chill of a December night to speak out in favor of health care reform.
The local event in the 200 block of West Third across from the federal building was among 300 candlelight vigils held nationwide Tuesday.
Kelly Amos of Williamsport said a public option is the best solution for health care reform.
“We have to start somewhere,” she said.
She urged those on hand to contact U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, D-Scranton, and Arlen Specter, D-Philadelphia, to demonstrate they should put the interests of families above those of insurance companies.
For her own part, Kelly, 35, said she works a 35-hour-a-week job that offers no health insurance.
Harry Nash of Williamsport said politicians are in the pockets of health insurers.
“We are the only industrialized nation without health insurance. The system itself is unbelievably corrupt.”
Richard Saam said he gets upset when people spread lies about universal health care not working in nations such as Canada and England.
One city woman suffering from asthma and unable to afford health insurance on her meager earnings, now is in jeopardy of losing the public assistance she also receives to help her subsist.
“I’m working at minimum wage,” she said.
Her health insurance problems began, she said, when she lost another job.
She said “good” health reform is needed.
Rob Cooley of Montoursville attended the vigil to talk about a couple who have come up against costly insurance problems.
The couple, he said, earned college degrees, raised a family together and lived the “American Dream.”
But because the man suffered from health problems earlier in his life, he is faced with unaffordable insurance deductibles.
At one point, he was forced to make decisions about how he pay for his health care from a hospital bed.
“You shouldn’t be penalized,” he said.
Kelly noted that many people cannot afford to pay the cost of their medical bills and are forced into bankruptcy, while at least two people die every day in Pennsylvania from not having health coverage.
The event, sponsored by Move On, Health Care for America Now and The Pennsylvania Health Access Network, was used to shine the spotlight on the hardships of neighbors, friends and family members who are unable to speak for themselves.