Canvassers try to rally support for health reform

Published: August 16, 2009
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Nancy Phillips

Undaunted by the late-morning heat, Debbie Cole crisscrossed the streets of Jenkintown yesterday, preaching the virtues of health-care reform.

She trudged along the sidewalk, pamphlets in hand, and knocked on door after door, trying to engage strangers on a topic of explosive national debate.

"The problem is huge," said Cole, 65, a retired hospital social worker who lives in Center City. "It doesn't make sense in this wealthy, educated country that we don't provide care for everyone."

Cole was among hundreds of volunteers who fanned out across the state yesterday, trying to rally support for President Obama's controversial health-care proposal. Supporters were seeking to counter the angry protests that erupted last week at several town-hall gatherings.

In Jenkintown, Cole and scores of others gathered for a rally that included union leaders, Democratic activists, and the head of a national physicians organization.

"What do we want? Health care. When do we want it? Now," they chanted, holding aloft placards and signs.

Valerie Arkoosh, president-elect of the National Physicians Alliance, told the crowd the need for universal insurance coverage was pressing.

"As a doctor, I can tell you that our patients can't wait another day for health-care reform," said Arkoosh, of Wyndmoor, whose group represents 20,000 physicians. "Give our patients the peace of mind that health-insurance coverage will be there for them no matter what."

A couple headed to breakfast at a restaurant who wandered over to listen were skeptical. They agreed on the need for reform, but said Obama's plan was moving too quickly.

"We can always make it better," said the woman, who declined to give her name because she was uncomfortable voicing opposition amid the supportive crowd. "No one wants people [to be] without care, but why knock down a wall when you can patch a window?"

Cole, canvassing the neighborhood yesterday, encountered other skeptics - and also some apathy.

When she knocked on the door of a stone house on Walnut Street, a woman parted the curtains and peered out at her.

"I wanted to talk to you about health-care reform," Cole said. Silently, the woman closed the curtains and withdrew.

Down the block, Joe Turowski listened to Cole's pitch, only to reject it.

"There's myths on both sides, as far as I'm concerned," said Turowski, 53, who works at Home Depot and moonlights as a graphic designer. "Both sides are fighting for themselves, and whoever has the most money's going to win. What you and I do is irrelevant.

"You can raise your voice and make your feelings known, but it's not going to determine the outcome."

Cole shook her head as she left his doorstep.

"If everyone felt that way, we would not have any chance at all, and we would fall into the chasm of the earth as it opens."

Dispirited but not defeated, Cole moved on to the next house.

There she met Marina Zeccardi, a single mother of four who agreed that health-care reform was long past due. She took some literature and, at Cole's urging and using Cole's cell phone, called her congresswoman in support of Obama's plan.

"This affects everybody," Zeccardi said. "There isn't a single person in the country who isn't affected by it. It's a horrible, sad, crunching-the-middle-class issue, and I don't know how he's going to make heads or tails out of it, but I'm in support of anything he can possibly do."

Yet, she said, she expected contentious and protracted debate on the issue.

"I don't think there are many other issues with so many opposing forces with more money to fight each other to the ends of the earth."