Georgeanne Koehler’s Success in D.C.
Georgeanne Koehler championed her own campaign in an effort to ensure that those who died due to lack of coverage are not overlooked. In early December she set out to make sure the world, or at least those in Washington, knew Billy and his story. In doing so, she continued to inspire countless people and organizations including the Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN) which pledged to help her gather 1,000 holiday cards for her campaign.
We are proud to report thousands of you logged onto the PHAN website to read her story, learn about Billy and submit your holiday wish for health care. Volunteers in Philly then got to work handwriting your messages and personally decorating the cards. In Pittsburg, Georgeanne herself canvassed neighborhoods gathering cards and in central PA PHAN organizers collected them as well. Too many of these messages were stories as heartbreaking and tragic as Georgeanne’s, others were simple thank you messages or cleverly worded demands – “The donut hole is like getting coal for Christmas.”
The wind was whipping, the cold biting as Georgeanne stood next to an empty chair in front of the Capitol in D.C. “No more empty chairs” she calls this campaign and together a handful of us read from the holiday cards. Georgeanne has a special one picked out, her sister’s. Her sister who she says hadn’t smiled after Billy died, until she found out about this campaign and people like you taking part.
She told Billy’s story, not only how he died, but also about how he lived. Billy was a sweet and giving man, whose last act was to throw his car in park right before he died so that it wouldn’t roll into anyone. “This is the face of the uninsured,” Georgeanne reminded us, “This is who we lose.”
Georgeanne took these cards and her stories past the Capitol to the offices of PA Congressional leaders. The cards were sorted and placed in gift bags and as she dropped them off at Congressional offices she told each one about Billy and read her card to them. Senator Specter met with her personally and said, “I know what happened to your brother. I’m really sorry. It’s a tragedy.”
Georgeanne handed him hundreds of cards and Specter listened as people read ten of the most powerful messages to him. Specter commented that this is a historic process and that often in this country history isn’t made with one sweeping piece of legislation; that it can be an incremental process.
It is a fight. And for as long as we have the Georgeanne Koehlers in the world and people like yourself ready to support her, it is a fight we will win.