Here's a look at some of the recent news coverage of the ongoing Health Insurance Reform Now bus tour:
From the Washington Post:
President Obama's supporters hope to recapture the energy of last year's triumphant election campaign in a bid to regain control of the health-care debate, planning more than 2,000 house parties, rallies and town hall meetings across the country over the next two weeks.The initiative began Wednesday with a rally at a labor hall in Phoenix that featured the Obama sunrise logo and placards that became fixtures of the 2008 presidential campaign.Organizing for America, a nationwide group of Obama supporters run by the Democratic National Committee, also brought along a colorful bus featuring the slogan, "Health Insurance Reform Now: Let's Get it Done." The vehicle is on an 11-city tour advocating for health-care reform."We think that change happens with neighbors talking to neighbors, and these rallies reflect that," said DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan. "That's how we won the campaign in the fall, with grass-roots organizing, and that's what we will see in these events going forward."
From the Denver Post:
President Barack Obama's Organizing for America team rolled its bright- blue bus into Denver on Friday evening and was greeted by about 1,500 supporters of health care reform at a rally at North High School."This is easily the biggest crowd we've seen," group organizer Mitch Stewart said as he stepped off the touring bus at the third of 10 stops across the country.Rep. Ed Perlmutter, D-Colo., had already warmed up the crowd."My daughter has epilepsy, and she's being discriminated against because of her prior condition," he told the cheering crowd. "We're not going to let her get pushed aside...Michele Tyler, 61, of Evergreen said she came to the rally because her health policy with Humana won't cover a fourth surgery she needs for a badly broken ankle. In addition to the exclusion of her ankle, her policy has a $5,000 deductible, she said."My husband, who's self-employed, has ulcerative colitis, and Humana dropped him when he turned 60 in 2007," she said. "He's now covered by state insurance, Cover Colorado. We need to change this. This isn't right..."The crowd in Denver was mostly older, with varying degrees of gray hair, with many minorities and children. The rally was organized by Obama staffers and Democratic Party workers who contacted supporters through e-mail, telephone banks, robo-calls and volunteers.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Supporters of President Barack Obama's health care plan rallied Saturday night outside the Summerfest grounds, chanting "Let's Get it Done" and presenting more than 24,000 "declarations of support" to Wisconsin's congressional delegation.Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who died Tuesday and fought for health care reform for decades, was remembered with a moment of silence and a call to arms."He was a giant on whose shoulders we all stood," said Meagan Holman, a Milwaukeean who worked on Kennedy's staff for more than 10 years. In an emotional address, she said she didn't travel to Kennedy's funeral Saturday because she and her husband are still paying off bills from a high-risk pregnancy more than two years ago."Today, we buried our health care champion," said Bruce Coburn, director of the Service Employees International Union. "Tonight, we say, 'Don't mourn. It's time to organize.' This is the Super Bowl of that fight for change..."The declarations of support were delivered to Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), as she and other members of Congress return to Washington.Organizers told stories in support of better coverage.Dream Gunther said she has good health insurance as a Milwaukee Public Schools teacher but remembers growing up with inadequate health insurance."We were the working poor," she said. "When we got sick, we didn't go to the doctor." She described how her twin sister, Keona, who also was at the rally, became ill and didn't want to tell their parents. "She said, 'What could they do if we tell them?' I felt what 47 million Americans feel every day."Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton said it's time insurance companies changed. "Everyone else in the 20th century has had to evolve. Why can't the insurance industry?" she asked.
And from the Des Moines Register:
As the sun began to set, Miller and Mitch Stewart, director of Organizing for America, reflected on the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat., and called on members of Congress to take up Kennedy’s passion for working in a bipartisan manner on liberal issues, specifically health care reform.Stewart read a statement from President Barack Obama that called Kennedy “the greatest United States senator of our time,” then urged the mostly democratic crowd for its support in passing health care reform.“The status quo is no longer sustainable,” Stewart said. “This is serious, every one of us has something to lose here...”
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