The uninsured should march on Washington. There are 45 million. [View All]

[Bouncy Ball]

Remember the Poor People's Campaign in the late 1960s? MLK Jr. was organizing it but had a hard time really getting it together, then he was assassinated, and the donations started flooding in and they finally got it done in June of that year (1968).

I think it's generally agreed that the results were mixed, but it certainly brought attention to the plight of the poor in America (they set up tent cities in DC).

I wish we could have a march of those who have no health insurance. And those who have health insurance, but care about those who don't. There are 45 million plus who have no health coverage at all, and many, if not most of those people WORK. That's a crying shame.

My hairstylist owes $17,000 for the birth of her son (her only child) and an emergency gallbladder removal (hers). She's going to be paying this back for a very long time, making her financial situation even harder than it already is. All because she has no health coverage. Her son (two years old) has asthma but she has to wait until he is bad enough for the ER to take him to a doctor. She was told he has suffered irreversible damage to his lungs which could have been prevented with timely medical care. Can you imagine? And she works her ass off at two jobs.

And just look at our DU friend Andy. Reading the posts on Andy makes me think of all those other Andys out there who don't have a huge internet community pulling together for them.

It's shameful when working parents can't take their kids to the doctor. Those kids tend to miss school and kids with high absentee rates tend not to be as successful in school. They tend to drop out, which means they are at higher risk for being unemployed, and on Medicare, welfare, food stamps, unemployement. Right wingers don't seem to see this connection. Or won't see it. They don't understand how cheap an ounce of prevention is compared to a pound of cure.

But here's an idea: bring together all the major progressive organizations in a mass mobilization of the uninsured in America. Even 1% of the uninsured in America would be 450,000 people marching on Washington, telling the world "This is only a tiny percentage of us, we cannot take our kids to the doctor when they are sick, we cannot get the surgeries we need to save our lives." 10% would be 4.5 MILLION PEOPLE.

Remember that vet in a wheelchair who told John Edwards during the campaign that both he and his wife suffer from the same heart problem, but they can't afford meds for both of them (from the VA)? He said they split their meds. He choked up. Edwards choked up. You had to not have a soul to hear that story and not be affected. They were risking both of their lives just so they could each have half a chance to live, and he served his country.

Imagine it. Imagine something like all those people going to DC saying something has to change. I don't want to hear "it won't change anything." That's defeatist talk. We all know bush and his ilk don't give a flying shit about the uninsured in America (and many other groups of people), but sometimes, just sometimes, when politicos see an action as politically expedient (ie: it saves their neck), they will move forward.

Sometimes miracles do happen.

And with enough public pressure (how many of you can name people of ALL political flavors who have no health insurance? Or can't even afford the health insurance they DO have?) something could be accomplished, something big.

Let's start talking. If this came together, despite tough finances, I'd FIND a way to DC. I'd do whatever it took. It would involve doing some non-computer legwork. But it would also wake a hell of a lot of people up.

Who's with me?