Stopping Health Insurance "Crime"

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

Labor, community, health care and religious activists will surround the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown DC with bright yellow tape at noon today, declaring the area a crime scene as big insurance’s lobbying arm (AHIP) comes to town for an anti-health reform conference. Two labor feeder marches will converge at the Ritz, one originating at Dupont Circle at 10:30a and the other at AFSCME starting at 11 (click here for details). “The Congress and White House are working on a comprehensive health care package and we expect the insurance industry to mount an unprecedented campaign to delay or kill reform,” reports James Parks on the AFL-CIO Now blog.  Thousands of activists are expected to join AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka, AFSCME President Gerry McEntee, AFT President Randi Weingarten, Congresswoman Donna Edwards, SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger, Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO President Jos Williams, best-selling author Barbara Ehrenreich, Common Cause President Reverend Bob Edgar, Americans for Democratic Action National Director Michael Wilson, Coalition of Labor Union Women President Karen See, Progressive Maryland Executive Director Sean Dobson and many more. “On behalf of the millions without insurance, the underinsured, those facing run-away premiums and bankruptcy, our voice must be heard such that public attention remains focused on the urgency of reform,” says Edgar. See “Teamster’s 639’s Phil Feaster Dies” for comments on how the “donut hole” coverage gap affects more than 24 million seniors in Medicare’s prescription drug program by former President of Teamsters Local 639 Phil Feaster, who died last weekend. - photo: at the "Hands Off Our Health Care" rally at the Capitol Hilton last October; photo by Chris Garlock