Bodies Delivered to Senate Offices for Human Rights Day
Washington, D.C. – On International Human Rights Day, Dec. 10, 2009, health professionals and patients delivered “bodies” to selected Senators to make visible the number of people who die in the Senators’ home states because we do not have Medicare for all.
As part of a national day of action centered on health care as a human right, dozens of health professionals and patients gathered at the Hart Senate Building in Washington, D.C. yesterday morning. The day was sunny but very windy, which made it challenging to hold the large banners which stated: “How many must die for insurance company profits” and “Medicare for all saves lives.” Activists also held signs declaring that “Health care is a human right” and “Single payer now.” They chanted and sang as passing cars honked their support.
Following the spirited rally, the activists entered the Senate building to visit 26 Senators and present them each with a letter that requested their support for Senate amendment 2837. The amendment, co-sponsored by Senators Brown and Burris, would substitute single payer financing for the current senate health legislation and would create a federal health system, administered at the state level, which would be universal, comprehensive and financially sustainable.
The letters were attached to the backs of large cutouts of bodies, much like the chalk outlines seen at a murder scene. The number of adults who die each year in that Senator’s state was printed on the front of the body with the words that there would be this number of fewer deaths if we had a Medicare for All health system.
Some of the senate staffers reacted strongly to the appearance of the bodies, which was the intention. It is imperative that members of Congress and their staff understand the magnitude of suffering and death that would be prevented if they took steps to pass Medicare for all.
Senator Reid’s Deputy Chief of Staff, David McCallum, met with the delegation that brought the body to his office. The group implored Mr. McCallum to, at the very least, give the majority of Americans who support Medicare for all the right to have S.A. 2837 debated on the floor of the Senate.
Serendipitously, the Mobilization for Healthcare for All was contacted by the daughter of Senator Phil Hart, for whom the building is named, on the day before the rally. She stated that International Human Rights Day was also her father’s birthday and that he would have supported single payer, as she does.
The movement for single payer continues to grow and become more visible daily. It is unacceptable that at least 120 people die each day in the United States from lack of access to health care. This magnitude of suffering and death does not occur in any other industrialized nation.
We must continue to demand that the voices of the majority of people in America, including the majority of health professionals, who support Medicare for all are heard by the members of Congress not just on Human Rights Day, but every day. Join the Mobilization at www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org and let your voice be heard.
