If you are in the Washington D.C. area on Tuesday, March 9th, you need to be in the streets for health care reform. The insurance industry's chief lobbying group, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), will be meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel to plan the industry's next moves to defeat health insurance reform. Outside the hotel, thousands of union members and health care activists will rally to put people before Big Insurance profits.
This is a call to action.
Arrive In Style
There are at least two marches planned by allied groups that will converge on the Ritz-Carlton.
- Health Care for America Now, SEIU, and other groups will meet up in Dupont Circle at 10:30am to assemble for a march to the Ritz-Carlton.
- AFL-CIO, DC Jobs With Justice, and other groups will meet up in front of the AFSCME building at 1625 L St NW at 11:00am for the march to the Ritz.
The Main Event
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is located at 1150 22nd Street NW (between L and M Streets). At 11:30 am, thousands of supporters of health insurance reform will rally outside the hotel, where AHIP's conference will be under way. Many will attempt a citizen's arrest of health insurance executives. Many progressive leaders are willing to risk arrest themselves in the process. After all, Big Insurance CEOs and their lobbyists are responsible for at least 45,000 deaths per year by denying care and blocking common-sense reform.
A partial list of progressive leaders who will be there:
Online leaders like Howard and Jim Dean from Democracy for America, Michael Kieschnick from CREDO, and Justin Ruben from MoveOn will be there. Labor leaders like Rich Trumka of the AFL-CIO, Anna Burger of SEIU, Randi Weingarten of the AFT, and Gerald McEntee of AFSCME will be there. Community leaders like Deepak Bhargava of Campaign for Community Change, Jeff Blum and William McNary of USAction, and Bob Edgar of Common Cause will be there. We'll have leaders of faith, leaders from the doctor and nurse professions, and perhaps most importantly, victims of insurance company abuses.
People Power vs. Corporate Power
It's time for the progressive movement to retake the streets from the teabaggers and the astroturf defenders of big business. If we are going to win decent health insurance reform, it will take people power pushing Congressional Democrats over the finish line. It will also take calling out Big Insurance for what it is: a parasitic industry that thrives by jacking up premiums, denying health care, and obstructing democracy.
Will we be a country where everyone has quality, affordable health care? Or will we be a country where a small group of people grow very wealthy by making sure that many of us don't have health care? It's our health vs. their profits. The next couple of weeks may answer those questions--one way or the other--for a generation. And if we show up, Tuesday in DC could set the tone for those couple of weeks.