Vigil calls for universal health care

A vigil in memory of those who have died due to denial of health care was held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at sunset on Sept. 28. Vigils were also held in Chicago, Kansas City, Mo., and Louisville, Ky.

SiCKO cast members carry health care banner Sept. 29. WW photo: Deirdre Griswold

Members of the cast of Michael Moore’s movie “SiCKO” organized the vigils as part of a campaign for universal, single-payer health care. Donna Smith opened the one in D.C., calling for just and compassionate health care for all as part of the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke from the same steps to denounce racism many years ago.

Naming some of the people whose stories were featured in the film, Smith said, “We grieve for Tracey Pierce, who died not from kidney cancer but from inhumanity” when treatment was denied. She also told of Mychelle Keyes, a baby denied care by an “out of network” emergency room and whose mother was escorted out while begging for someone to see her 18-month-old daughter.

Carlos Arredondo holds photo of his son, Alexander, killed in Iraq. WW photo: Liz Green

Adrian Campbell, who went to Canada seeking care denied by her health insurance company in the U.S., said she hoped that her father, a recently retired member of the Auto Workers union, whose contract has been under assault by General Motors, would not find himself plagued by health bills. She called for passage of HR 676, known as Medicare For All, which has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan.

A disabled 9/11 first responder, John Graham, pointed out that 50,000 rescuers have lost their health care benefits after they became too sick to work, and that every year 18,000 people die for lack of health care.

Julie Pierce was a nurse at Catholic Medical Center where her husband Tracey was denied many treatments for kidney cancer—even morphine when he was in a coma. She thanked Michael Moore for showing the truth in “SiCKO” and the California Nurses Association for supporting the vigil. Pierce urged people to stand up and fight for universal coverage.

A representative of the CNA pointed out that under Medicare, administrative costs are only 3 percent, compared to 30 percent in private insurance plans—part of the reason health care is so expensive in this country.

Smith denounced the proposals for mandatory health insurance being offered by the leading Democratic presidential candidates because they benefit the insurance companies but not the patients. Expressing her horror at the lack of care for people after Hurricane Katrina, she introduced Ivey Parker, a New Orleans resident now organizing survivors fighting for their rights. Parker took President George W. Bush to task for his speech insulting Cuba at the U.N. just days before. “Cuba has free health care, free education. ... He has a nerve to talk about Cuba being cruel to its people when mothers with sick babies are turned away from hospitals” right here, she said.

People from the Encampment at the Capitol took part in the vigil with signs reading “Health care, not warfare.” The next day, the “SiCKO” forces participated in the Troops Out Now Coalition’s rally and march to end the war at home and abroad.