"August 2008" Posts
Action!
In Spokane, SEIU'ers joined with our HCAN partner Washington CAN! for an action at health insurer Premera Blue Cross -- seeking greater transparency into the firm's finances and rejection rates. TV crews were on hand as Will Pittz, executive director of Washington CAN!, presented a list of questions, prompting a company executive to come down to the lobby to try to answer them.
"I'm so glad we did that!" said Paula Hall, a child care worker from Spokane and member of SEIU Local 925. "The way I see it, health insurance companies are answering to their shareholders, so they focus more on profits than on patient care. This has to change."
Posted By: Stephanie Hoo on 8/19/2008 4:35:00 PM
Taking the long view
"This bus has been on the road now for 74 years actually," said U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, at an event in Seattle. "In 1935, Franklin Delano Roosevelt wanted to have universal health care for this country. It was part of the Social Security Act in 1935. The people who defeated it were organized medicine and the insurance industry. Big surprise, right? And, actually, organized labor wasn't very hot on it at that point.
"Now we've come down the road and a lot of people have tried it again and again, but we are going to have a national health care plan in 2009. A lot of things are coming together that are going to make this thing happen."
Posted By: Stephanie Hoo on 8/19/2008 4:34:00 PM
Moms against McCain
Coloring books? Check. Cookies and juice boxes? Check. The Road to Health Care joined with Oregonians for Health Security in hosting a roundtable on women's health in Portland on Aug. 8 -- complete with activities for children and action steps for grown-ups.
"It is ridiculous that insurance companies are able to refuse people due to pre-existing diseases," said Judith Auslander, as she told the group about her struggle to get health care. A complication during childbirth more than 30 years ago led to chronic illness, and she is now categorized as having a pre-existing condition and can't get private insurance. "I've looked through the candidates' plans, and I'm very disappointed to see that John McCain would do nothing to stop health insurance companies from taking advantage of people such as myself."
Posted By: Stephanie Hoo on 8/19/2008 4:32:00 PM
Insuring health or ensuring profit?
SEIU in August launched a nationwide series of actions questioning health insurance industry tactics -- with the big purple bus playing its part. The bus pulled up to the state capitol building in Salem for a press conference with our HCAN partner Oregon Action that presented evidence that the industry is using deliberate tactics designed to maximize profits by raising premiums, co-pays and deductibles; refusing coverage or charging exorbitant rates to people with pre-existing conditions; and even retroactively denying coverage to people with insurance. See the full report "Insuring Health or Ensuring Profit?" at nwfco.org.
Posted By: Stephanie Hoo on 8/19/2008 4:09:00 PM
Nevada looks to November
"Nevada has seen what happens when unscrupulous clinics and hospitals put profits ahead of patients," said Shauna Hamel, RN and SEIU Nevada president, at a press event just off the Vegas strip. "SEIU Nevada members are committed to continuing to raise health care standards here in our hospitals, through our local Southern Nevada Health District, and in the election in November."
To drive the point home, SEIU member Sharon Kisling brought along her 18-year-old son Jashaun -- a first-time voter this historic year. "Like me, he is a health care voter," she said. "We are calling on all Nevadans to join us in voting for change we can believe in -- change, finally, to our health care system."
Posted By: Stephanie Hoo on 8/8/2008 1:30:00 AM