73 arrested yesterday / 115 total arrested in 18 cities / hundreds more to follow..... Mobilization for Health Care for All

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Frank Cordaro

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Oct 29, 2009, 4:52:30 PM10/29/09

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NEWS RELEASE
MOBILIZATION FOR HEALTH CARE FOR ALL: ACTION UPDATE 10/28/2009

Contact: Lacy MacAuley, (202) 445-4692, la...@massey-media.com
Katie Robbins, Healthcare-NOW! (330) 618-6379, in...@healthcare-now.org
Kai Newkirk, Mobilization for Health Care for All, (310) 703-3046,
in...@mobilizeforhealthcare.org
Kevin Zeese, Prosperity Agenda, (301) 995-6582, kze...@earthlink.net

Total number who risked arrest today: 73 in 10 cities
115 arrested so far in 18 cities to demand for health care for all
Those arrested include Matt Hendrickson, MD, a California doctor who
is calling for real health care reform
Margaret Flowers, MD, will be risking arrest tomorrow at CareFirst
insurance in Baltimore, Maryland

(Dr Margaret Flowers spoke in Des Moines July 27
http://www.desmoinescatholicworker.org/healthcareaction.html)

A grassroots mobilization for health care reform is underway that
represents a groundswell of public sentiment in support of real health
care reform. Sit-ins and other acts of civil disobedience are
occurring in cities across the country including New York, Seattle,
Philadelphia, Columbus, Los Angeles, St Louis, Albuquerque, Atlanta,
Providence, Fort Lauderdale, and San Francisco. (Schedule of events
listed by city is below.) The events are being coordinated by the
group Mobilization for Health Care for All, which is not funding the
actions but is helping individuals link into groups of people that
want to participate in a growing movement that gives people an outlet
for their frustration around insurance companies.

Today 37 were arrested, although 73 staged a sit-in or blockade and
were not arrested due to the entire building being put on lockdown.
Tomorrow, several dozen more risk arrest, including Margaret Flowers,
MD, a former pediatrician and mother of three teenagers. (More
information on Flowers is below.) A growing number of doctors and
nurses are joining in the events to risk arrest for real health care
reform, reform that addresses the main cause of the health care
crisis, the insurance companies. They are demanding that health
insurance companies immediately redirect all lobbying funds to pay for
doctor-requested lifesaving treatments. 78 people have been arrested
so far as part of the national mobilization (17 in the first week, 7
in the second, and 54 in the third). In this next wave, over 100
people will risk arrest. In the first two weeks actions took place in
just two cities, New York and Chicago. In the second day of national
action, actions took place in nine cities. This week, actions happen
in 19 cities.

Mobilization for Health Care for All has seen almost 900 people sign
up to risk arrest at a health insurance office in the past four weeks.
The mobilization itself was launched on September 29 in response to a
growing sentiment among Americans that something had to be done to
call for meaningful health care reform. Participants with the
mobilization represent a new, more extreme tactic employed in the
health care debate, targeting the insurance companies and demanding
that lobbying dollars be redirected to providing care for the hundreds
of people denied doctor-requested lifesaving treatments every day by
an insurance company. The campaign continues to grow.

"This will be one of the largest campaigns of nonviolent civil
disobedience since the civil rights movement. We’re seeing people
coming out of the woodwork on this one," stated Kai Newkirk, national
coordinator of Mobilization for Health Care for All. "It's just
beginning and will continue and build until we win and the insurance
companies no longer stand between us and the care we need."

Chanting "patients not profits" and "insurance companies are killing
us and killing democracy," with signs that say "insurance companies
are the real death panels," participants in the sit-ins will walk into
the offices and demand that insurance companies immediately route all
the funding the currently pay for lobbyists to providing care to
patients who need it. The participants will sit down and refuse to
leave until their demands are met. Many of them expect to be arrested
for trespassing, disturbing the peace, or another charge.

More info:
Mobilization for Health Care for All www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org

Check us out on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2bcnQel7pw

# # #

MOBILIZATION FOR HEALTH CARE FOR ALL: 10/28/2009

“Why I’m risking arrest for real health care reform,” Margaret
Flowers, MD - a doctor who has testified before Congress tells why she
is risking arrest at CareFirst tomorrow to demand health care reform.
Flowers intends to stay in police custody until CEO of CareFirst meets
with her.

What: Sit-in at CareFirst insurance company
Date:Thursday, 10/29,
Time: 12:00 PM
Place: 3401 Boston St & 1501 S Clinton St, Canton Crossing, MD

Margaret Flowers, MD, will be sitting in with dozens of other health
care reform supporters tomorrow at CareFirst insurance company and
risking arrest for meaningful reform. The sit-in at CareFirst tomorrow
is part of a grassroots groundswell of people calling for health care
reform that is being supported by Mobilization for Health Care for All
http://mobilizeforhealthcare.org/ in which over 100 people are risking
arrest at a health insurance office in the next week. Flowers
participated in an act of civil disobedience for health care reform in
May on Capitol Hill, which resulted in Ted Kennedy asking her to
testify before the Senate Health Committee.
[View a VIDEO of Flowers just after her Congressional testimony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDuSkMjgVjo&feature=player_embedded ]

Here is Flowers’ statement on why she is risking arrest.
"We must stop this abuse by private insurers. We are the only
industrialized nation that allows health insurance companies to profit
at the expense of human lives. There are at least 45,000 adults who
die each year because they don't have health insurance and an
estimated 110,000 preventable deaths each year in the US (the worst of
any industrialized nation). We have a simple solution that will end
this - expanded and improved Medicare for all. Our legislators know
this but they lack the political will. We can create this political
will through our actions.

I am planning to risk arrest, which may have serious consequences for
me – up to six months in jail. But it won't be as serious as the
suffering and needless deaths that too many face each day in this
nation. I hope you will join me in our action in Baltimore on
Thursday. If you can't risk arrest, at least you can stand in
solidarity with us during the legal picket."

In peace and hope for a better future,
Margaret Flowers, MD
# # #

More info:
Mobilization for Health Care for All www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org
# # #

SCHEDULE OF SIT-INS AT INSURANCE COMPANY OFFICES

Wednesday, October 28th:

Augusta, GA
When: 9:00AM
Where: Blue Shield
Joseph Elliot, josephe...@gmail.com, 843-469-0336
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-augusta.ning.com/

Columbus, OH
When: 11:30AM
Contact: Drew Smith, drews...@gmail.com, 330-703-0556
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-ohio.ning.com

Glendale, CA
When: 10:00AM
Where: CIGNA
Contact: Laura Flanagan, lefla...@hotmail.com, 305-542-3570
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-la.ning.com

Newark, NJ
When: 12:30PM
Where: Blue Cross Blue Shield
Contact: Carol Gay, carol...@aol.com, 732-616-1751
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-newark.ning.com

New York City, NY
When: 10:00AM
Where: Wellpoint insurance
Contact: Frances Anderson, msfra...@gmail.com, 917-609-6050
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-nyc.ning.com

Rochester, NY
When: Noon Where: MVP Insurance
Contact: Rebecca Elgie, healt...@gmail.com, 607-272-0621
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-upstateny.ning.com/

San Francisco, CA
When: 7:30AM Where: Market St & Beale St
Contact: Dan Hodges, actforsi...@gmail.com, 510-263-2409
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-bayarea.ning.com

Seattle, WA
When: TBA
Contact: Lila Z, pdx....@gmail.com, 503-267-0387
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-seattle.ning.com/

Sunrise, FL
When: 11:00AM
Where: CIGNA
Contact: Al Rogers, democrat...@gmail.com, 561-283-0299
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-florida.ning.com

Virginia Beach, VA
When: 11:00AM
Where: Anthem Blue Cross
Trudy Serrano, trudys...@live.com, 757-671-9345
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-vabeach.ning.com

Warwick, RI
When: 11:00AM Where: United Healthcare
Contact: Robert, rob...@ripda.org, 401-497-7419
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-ri.ning.com

Thursday, October 29th:

Baltimore, MD
When: 12:00PM
Where: CareFirst
Contact: Kevin Zeese, kze...@earthlink.net, (301) 995-6582
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-baltimore.ning.com

Louisville, KY
When: 10:00AM
Where: Humana insurance
Contact: Kay Tillow, nurs...@aol.com, 917-621-7268
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-kentucky.ning.com/

Friday, October 30th:

Philadelphia, PA
When: Noon
Where: Anthem Blue Cross
Contact: Jeff Muckensturm, 267-515-2400, je...@healthcare-now.org
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-pa.ning.com/

Tuesday, November 3rd:

San Diego, CA
When: 10:00AM
Where: Blue Shield
Contact: Jerry Malamud, aa...@aol.com, 858-270-5562Link:
http://mobilizeforhealthcare-sandiego.ning.com/

Wednesday, November 4th:

Albuquerque, NM
When: 10:30AM
Contact: Guy Watson, drg...@gmail.com
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-abq.ning.com/

Atlanta, GA
When: 10:00AM
Where: Blue Cross Blue Shield
Contact: Denise Woodall, denisewo...@yahoo.com
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-atlanta.ning.com/

Detroit, MI
When: 12:00pm
Where: Blue Cross
Contact: Precious Daniels, vinc...@hotmail.com; 313-361-4318
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-detroit.ning.com

Portland, OR
When: TBA
Contact: Jim Ferner, vjda...@hotmail.com, 503-231-0847
Link: http://mobilizeforhealthcare-oregon.ning.com

-----------------------------------

Attached photos bylines:

#1 Photo: New York, NY - Nine were arrested in New York protesting at
Wellpoint insurance. About 50 health care reform supporters picketed
outside in the rain, including Ken Weinberg, MD (not pictured), who
will be risking arrest at a New York health insurance office in the
coming weeks to demand health care for all.
[View VIDEO of New York sit-in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnbSGJx_f1w ]

#2 San Francisco, CA - About 40 people risked arrest at Blue Shield of
California in San Francisco. Police put the building on lockdown
rather than allowing people to come inside to state their demand that
the company redirect all its funds that it currently pays for lobbying
efforts and use it to pay for doctor-requested treatment for people
with life-threatening conditions.
[View article about San Francisco blockade:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/10/28/18627006.php ]

#1.jpg

#2.jpg

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