12 Arrested in LA for Health Care for All!

Chanting “patients not profits,” citizens and health care providers attempted to enter the lobby of a Blue Cross office in downtown LA. When the police stated that they had put the building on lockdown, protestors sat down in a circle in front of the door. Several people were present who had been impacted by a harmful denial by a health insurance company. These sit-ins are part of a national mobilization involving rallies and acts of civil disobedience at health insurance company offices in New York, Washington, Phoenix, Palm Beach, Portland, Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Reno.

The mobilization was launched two weeks ago when 17 people were arrested at an Aetna office in downtown New York City. Last week, 7 were arrested at a Cigna office in downtown Chicago. Today, over 54 people were arrested at insurance offices for United Health Group, Wellpoint, Humana, Cigna, Medical Mutual, and Blue Cross. In several cities, police put the insurance company buildings on lockdown and refused entry to all. By 6 PM PST, the action in Phoenix, Arizona, was still ongoing and number of arrests was uncertain.

Participants in the actions are everyday Americans who are fed up with the state of health care in this country and the state of the health care debate in this country, and are putting themselves on the line for the hundreds of people who are denied lifesaving treatments every day by an insurance company seeking to maximize its profits.

“When I needed treatment for my ulcer, Blue Cross denied my claim after I had had my treatment. It is downright wrong that insurance companies decide who lives or dies based on what treatment is most ‘profitable,” said Sheila Dvorak, age 27, a resident of Los Angeles who was arrested today for sitting in front of the Blue Cross office in downtown Los Angeles. “We need a health care system that places patients before profit.”

Citizens and health care providers are participating in sit-ins at health insurance offices in nine cities across the country today to call for real reform that addresses the real cause of the health care crisis, the insurance companies. Within the past 18 days, over 750 people have signed up to risk arrest by sitting down in an insurance company office and refusing to leave, demanding the immediate approval of lifesaving doctor-recommended treatment and an end to denial of care.

The actions are the start of a national movement, coordinated by the groupMobilization for Health Care for All, of people who are fed up with the state of health care in this country, fed up with the state of the health care debate in this country, and are putting themselves on the line for real health care reform. Chanting messages such as “patients not profits,” participants in the actions are expected to say that insurance companies that deny people the care that they need for profit are the real death panels. They will show that the legislation currently in the limelight fails to address the real problem, the insurance companies.

“The health care bill being voted on this week is a giveaway to the insurance industry,” said Kevin Zeese, executive director of Prosperity Agenda, one of the groups that launched the national mobilization. “If it were passed, tens of millions of Americans would be forced to buy overpriced insurance, which would result in hundreds of billions in new annual revenue for the insurance industry and continued deaths and suffering due to insurance abuse and denials.”

Today’s sit-ins are part of the Patients Not Profit campaign of theMobilization for Health Care for All. The mobilization was launched by several national organizations. The actions are coordinated in cooperation with local groups based in each city and give people an outlet for their frustration and even outrage about insurance company abuse. The groups advocate for Medicare for All, a public single payer health care plan that expands Medicare to cover everyone.

“This will be one of the largest campaigns of nonviolent civil disobedience since the civil rights movement,” stated Kai Newkirk, national coordinator for the Mobilization for Health Care for All. “It’s just beginning and will continue and build until the insurance companies no longer stand between us and the care we need.”