UFCW Rallies Against Big Insurance, Calls on Congress to Pass Health Care Reform NOW

UFCW joined with our partners in the fight for health care reform yesterday to stand up to Big Insurance. Spurred on by the inspirational words of leaders like former Vermont governor Howard Dean, Change to Win Chair Anna Burger, and USAction President William McNary, over 5,000 workers, doctors, nurses, patients, survivors, and activists took to the streets of Washington, D.C. for a march culminating at the Ritz Carleton, where members of AHIP, the health insurance industry’s lobbying group, were meeting.

UFCW was there in full force, forming a sea of gold, to expose the insurance companies’ abuses and to tell Congress to listen to us, not to the insurance lobby. We were proud to stand with our brothers and sisters from Health Care for America NOW, SEIU, the Teamsters, AFSCME, AFT to send a strong unified message – America can’t afford to wait for health care reform. We need an up or down vote on health care now.

At the rally we heard from laid off workers who are living without health care coverage, just one illness away from bankruptcy; we heard from fellow Americans who have seen loved ones lose their fights against cancer because they couldn’t afford treatment; and we heard from activists from all over the country who can no longer afford their skyrocketing insurance premiums.

Here are some highlights from the rally:

March 9th Health Care Rally from UFCW on Vimeo.

The need to reform our country’s health care system couldn’t be clearer. Insurance companies are making record profits, while regular Americans are facing a crisis of unprecedented proportions. Yesterday’s march spoke loud and clear – now we’ve got to keep up the fight to turn that message into results. You can help – to call the Senate and tell them we must use reconciliation to pass a better health care bill that includes part-time workers, visit http://www.fixthebill.org/.