October 15th – And Beyond
In just two more days, the Mobilization for Health Care for All goes national.
When we launched this campaign we envisioned about 100 people signing up to sit in in the first weeks of the campaign – but with over 700 already we’re now well on our way to 1000 pledges. And we originally talked about sit-ins happening in 3 or 4 cities on October 15th – today we’re proud to announce that “Patients Not Profit” sit-ins will be happening in at least 9 cities across the country this Thursday! We believed that there was a hunger in our country for a vision like this, and the incredible response of people like you has left no doubt. The people are ready.
Below you’ll find a list with each city, the details for the action, and a contact. (Check this website for updates to the list.) If you’re close enough to attend one of these actions and you’re not plugged in yet – please contact the local coordinator, join in, show up. Local leaders in these cities have worked tremendously hard to pull these actions together with very little time and we need to do everything we can to support them and make each one as big and strong as possible.
October 15th will announce the arrival of a new force on the political landscape: Americans across the country who have had enough of the insurance company death panels and are standing up – and sitting in – to end their abuse once and for all. If we have to go to jail to move our nation to enact reform that finally guarantees the right to health care for all, so be it. The status quo cannot continue, and current reform proposals simply won’t solve the problem.
We know many of you are organizing sit-ins in your community, but haven’t been able to make it happen for the 15th. That’s okay: Thursday is just the beginning. Mark your calendars – the date for the next round of sit-ins is October 28th. That will be your turn. With the inspiration of people sitting in in at least 9 cities across the country on Thursday, how many cities will answer the call on the 28th? We don’t know – the answer is up to us. But we do know that if even a small percentage of the millions of people who’ve been hurt by these insurance companies start going to jail to stand up to them all over America, there will be historic possibilities for real reform that do not exist now. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to do everything we can to realize that possibility.
Thanks for everything you’re doing. Let’s make it happen.
If you haven’t yet, please donate today to help us continue to build this campaign.
October 15th Sit-ins:
New York, NY
When: 10am EST
Where: United HealthGroup / 1 Penn Plaza 10119
Contact: Omar Kutty – omarkutty at hotmail dot com
Washington, DC
When: 10 am
Where: Wellpoint / 655 15th St NW 20005
Contact: Kevin Zeese – kzeese at earthlink dot net
Palm Beach, FL
When: 11:30 am
Where: Humana / 2056 Vista Pkwy 33411
Contact: Rick Ford – floridianshealth at aol dot com
Boston, MA:
When: 12 noon
Where: Cigna / 2223 Washington St 02462
Contact Ben Day – director at masscare dot org
Cleveland, OH:
When: 10 am
Where: Medical Mutual / 2060 E 9th St 44115
Contact: Drew Smith – drewsmith86 at gmail dot com
Portland, OR
When: 10 am
Where: Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield / 100 SW Market 97201
Contact: Chris Lowe – clowe at igc dot org
Los Angeles, CA
When: 10 am
Where: Anthem Blue Cross / 801 S. Figueroa St. 90017
Contact: Sam Pullen – samuelbpullen at hotmail dot com
Reno, NV
When: 11 am
Where: United Healthcare / 5190 Neil Road #420 89502
Contact: Lisa Stiller – koffeenut at yahoo dot com
Phoenix, AZ
When: 4 pm to 6 pm
Where: United Healthcare / 2390 E. Camelback Road Suite 300 85016
Contact: Dan O’Neal – dan at pdamerica dot org
[...] Yesterday, in nine cities across the country, people staged sit-ins at health insurance offices to call for real reform that addresses the real cause of the health care crisis. The actions were a part of a national day of action coordinated by the group Mobilization for Health Care for All. [...]