National News: Activists Push for Health Care Reform
TAKING A STAND | Lillian Roberts, executive director of DC 37, urging congressional leaders to tax the wealthy to help pay for health care reform.
TAKING A STAND | Lillian Roberts, executive director of DC 37, urging congressional leaders to tax the wealthy to help pay for health care reform.
Photo Credit: Clarence Elie-Rivera
Activists Push for Health Care Reform
AFSCME members throughout the country participated this summer in a National Call-In Day for Health Care.
The event was sponsored by Health Care for America NOW! (HCAN), a national grassroots campaign to win quality, affordable health care for all. AFSCME is a founding member of HCAN.
In New York City, members of DC 37, other unions and community representatives gathered at a city hall press conference to urge congressional leaders to support legislation that offsets the cost of health care reform.
The measure (HR 3200) would impose an income tax surcharge on the richest one percent of Americans. Supporters at the press conference noted that a recent study reveals the proposed income tax surcharge on married couples earning an adjusted gross income of $350,000 (or $280,000 for single taxpayers) would affect less than 1.2 percent of all American taxpayers.
Another study referenced by participants demonstrated why such a tax surcharge is necessary to achieve the goal of health care for all Americans. It found that New York’s working families saw their health insurance premiums increase by 97 percent between 2000 and 2007, while their median earnings went up by only 11 percent over that period.
“There are no two ways about it: Providing the necessary subsidies for low-and middle-income people to obtain affordable health insurance is going to require large expenditures by the federal government,” said Lillian Roberts, executive director of DC 37. “In order to make reform sustainable in the long-term, we’ve got to ask the wealthiest Americans—those who benefitted from the Bush tax cuts—to pay their fair share.”
In Minnesota, members of Council 5 attended a town meeting to urge U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D) to support a plan that includes the choice of a public insurance option.
AFSCME members in Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina and North Dakota also delivered letters to targeted members of Congress, generating close to 1,500 phone calls and 4,500 faxes to congressional offices.
