** STATEMENT by Dr. Flowers, arrested at insurance office today **
MOBILIZATION FOR HEALTH CARE FOR ALL: 10/29/2009
Contact: Lacy MacAuley, (202) 445-4692,lacy@massey-media.com
Katie Robbins, Healthcare-NOW! (330) 618-6379,info@healthcare-now.org
Kai Newkirk, Mobilization for Health Care for All, (310) 703-3046,info@mobilizeforhealthcare.org
Kevin Zeese, Prosperity Agenda, (301) 995-6582,kzeese@earthlink.net
Physicians and supporters arrested at CareFirst health insurance office to call for real health care reform
Dr. Margaret Flowers and Charles
Loubert, 81, will stay in jail until CEO of CareFirst meets to discuss
redirecting lobbying funds to pay for patients care
Baltimore,
MD " Two physicians and two supporters were arrested today at a sit-in
at a Baltimore CareFirst health insurance office. The sit-in is part of
a national groundswell of citizens and health care providers
demonstrating for meaningful health care reform at insurance company
offices.
Doctor Margaret Flowers, a pediatrician who has testified before Congress on the need for meaningful health care reform, was arrested and intends to stay in jail until the CEO of CareFirst has a public meeting with her. She is joined by Charles Loubert, 81, a Baltimore resident and former teacher who was also arrested, and who was denied health care several years ago by his insurer. Both Flowers and Loubert are refusing to give information to the Baltimore police that would lead to their release until Chet Burrell, the CEO of CareFirst, agrees to meet with them publicly to discuss CareFirst redirecting all funds that go to lobbying, advertising, or political contributions to pay for the care of clients who need it.
Doctor Margaret Flowers, a pediatrician who has testified before Congress on the need for meaningful health care reform, was arrested and intends to stay in jail until the CEO of CareFirst has a public meeting with her. She is joined by Charles Loubert, 81, a Baltimore resident and former teacher who was also arrested, and who was denied health care several years ago by his insurer. Both Flowers and Loubert are refusing to give information to the Baltimore police that would lead to their release until Chet Burrell, the CEO of CareFirst, agrees to meet with them publicly to discuss CareFirst redirecting all funds that go to lobbying, advertising, or political contributions to pay for the care of clients who need it.
Dr.
Flowers and Loubert were joined by Dr. Eric Naumberg, also a physician,
and Patricia Courtney, also a former teacher. They are part of a
national groundswell of civil disobedience at insurance companies to
end insurance abuse and win health care for all coordinated by Mobilization for Health Care for All.
The mobilization has seen 115 people arrested at health insurance
offices in 18 cities so far, with six more actions planned in the
coming week. Arrests include several nurses, as well as Matt Hendrickson, MD MPH, who was arrested yesterday in Los Angeles.
Statement by Dr. Margaret Flowers:
Written Wednesday, October 28, 2009, the night before going to jail:
"Let
me begin by saying that I don't have any desire to be arrested. I am
a pediatrician with 3 teenagers and a husband who would prefer that I
do not spend time in jail. I have never actually spent the night in
jail and I imagine it is not very pleasant. To be honest, I am a bit
frightened. But, I expect that these are normal feelings and I am
dedicated to act despite my reservations because there comes a time for
action. That time is now (or "way past now" as doctors and
patients whom I've met in my travels have told me).
In short, I am going to be arrested
again because I believe that it is my professional responsibility to
advocate on behalf of those who can't and because it is clear that the
other traditional advocacy tools are not working. The phrase that runs
continuously through my mind is "To be silent is to be complicit." I
cannot be complicit in the face of an industry that profits at the cost
of human lives and in the face of an administration and Congress that
are too dysfunctional to stop this practice.
I have traveled on an unexpected and
eye-opening journey this year. In January, I celebrated the
inauguration of a new President who I hoped would be the agent to
create real change in America. I hoped that we would see changes that
benefited the people of America(more than the corporations). I joined
the steering committee of the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed
Health Care because I believed that if we built the grassroots movement
for real health care reform: a national publicly-financed health system
that was truly universal and accountable, then we would provide the
political cover so that the new administration and the Congress could
pass it, or at the very least discuss it. I believed when the
administration said that it wanted to hear from the Americans, that we
would actually have a debate about how to improve health care in this
nation.
Early in the year, I lobbied with many
other members of the LCGHC who represented health professionals,
patients, labor and faith groups. We had two simple requests: include
advocates of single payer in the hearings and do an economic study of
single payer legislation so that it could be compared to the plans
being put together in Congress. We were assured by members, such
as Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, that this would happen. However, before
long, we started seeing quotes from the leadership that essentially
said all options were on the table except single payer. Ever the
optimist, I thought this was simply a signal to work harder. "OK," I
told myself, "they aren't going to make this easy. No surprise there."
We continued to meet with members, we
pressured the White House to invite single payer representatives to the
Health Summit in March (which they did) and we continued to reach out
to organizations to join our movement.
We thought the health care debate would
include the stakeholders (health providers and patients), but found
that only the stockholders were invited to the table. When it came time
for the first series of public hearings on health care, which were held
in the Senate Finance Committee, we requested that one single payer
advocate be included with the 41 other witnesses (many of whom
represented the private insurance industry, pharmaceutical corporations
and big business). Despite thousands of calls and emails from across
the country, our request was denied. That is when it became clear that
we would have to use stronger tools. On the day of the second hearing,
May 5th, 8 of us traveled to Washington to attend the hearing. As it
began, we stood up one by one and requested a seat at the table. And
one by one we were arrested to the sounds of nervous laughter from the
members of the committee and audience. It reminded me of a quote from
Gandhi, something like "first they ignore you, then they laugh at you,
then they fight you and then you win." We returned the following week
with nurses and more people were arrested in the committee. This time
there was no laughter. I guess that meant we were on to phase three:
the fight.
For decades, health providers have
found it more and more difficult to provide quality health care. The
private insurance industry placed more and more obstacles in the way of
providers and patients - co-pays, deductibles, networks, uncovered
services, the need for authorization, pre-existing conditions,
rescissions, rapidly rising health insurance premiums,etc. And we, the
doctors and patients, did our best to comply with the complex and
confusing maze of requirements. We saw medicine turned into a business
rather thana healing art. Patients became consumers and health care
became available only to those who could afford it or were eligible for
government programs. Doctors became frustrated and started leaving
practice or opening "boutique" practices. Many of the doctors I spoke
with this summer said things like, "well, up until about five years ago
I could still get care for my patients, but now, I can't."
For decades, legislators at the state
and federal levels have tried incremental health reform. I have heard
legislators and health advocates say over and over again, that they are
"diehard incrementalists" or "political pragmatists". Despite patchwork
efforts to expand Medicaid, provide tax credits or subsidies towards
the purchase of private insurance or to provide competing public
insurances, the number of uninsured and underinsured has continued to
grow. The cost of health care in this country has increased faster than
wages, inflation and the GDP. How practical is it to keep trying the
same thing and expecting a different result?
We, as a nation, have put off the fight
we know we will have to wage if we want real health reform. The fight
is against the market model of health care and the foe is formidable.
The medical-industrial complex has billions of dollars and strong
influence over the politicians. The revolving door between the M-I
complex and the Congressional staffers is spinning so fast that it is
hard to keep track. For instance, Liz Fowler worked for Sen. Baucus,
then became Vice President of Public Policy for Wellpoint (one of the
largest health insurers) and then returned to the Senate Finance
Committee this year to oversee the legislative process for the health
bill. There are 6 health insurance lobbyists for each member of
Congress and at least 350 of these lobbyists were former staffers.The
industry is spending around $1.4 million each day on lobbying.
We are the only industrialized nation
to use this market model for health care and it has failed to be either
universal or affordable for a very simple reason: the business of
private health insurers is to make a profit for their investors which
is done by charging high premiums, avoiding the sick and restricting
and denying payment for care. Decisions are made based on what is best
for the bottom line, not the health of the patient.
The United States ranks at the top in
only one area when it comes to health care and that is for how much we
spend. We spend twice as much or more per person than any other
industrialized nation and for that we are ranked 37th in the world on
health outcomes. We have high infant and maternal mortalities, growing
health disparities and low life expectancy. The other industrialized
nations guarantee health care to almost everybody living on their soil.
We leave at least 46 million out entirely and have millions more who
are insured but unprotected and so they lose their home or go bankrupt
trying to pay for needed health care. We rank the highest of the top 19
industrialized nations for the number of preventable deaths, estimated
at 110,000 per year in 2007.
It doesn't have to be this way. We have
a model that does work for the population it serves, those 65 years of
age and over and the disabled. It is traditional Medicare. Medicare is
already nationwide. It finances health care with a very low overhead
(3% instead of the 31% spent on private insurance) and allows doctors
and patients to make medical decisions without jumping through numerous
hoops (like private insurers do). The politicians know this, but they
try to shut it out because adopting Medicare for all means giving up
those generous campaign contributions.
There comes a time when we must ask
ourselves if we can continue to delay doing what we know is right. Can
we be silent and allow thousands of our fellow Americans to die each
year? Is it acceptable to close our eyes and pretend we don't see
because we may believe that we have "good insurance"?
A dear friend of mine recently wrote a
song about the health care situation that contains the question "Isn't
this America?" And I ask the same question. If we are spending the
most, why aren't we trying to be the best? Or at least in the top ten?
A national single payer health system, such as Medicare for All, is
civilized medicine. It is what civilized societies do for their people.
It allows people the freedom to go to school, change jobs, open their
own businesses, and provide for their families without the stress of
worrying about losing everything if they become ill.
I have decided to join other doctors
and citizens in the mobilization for health care reform - a nationwide
coordinated nonviolent civil disobedience campaign for Medicare for
all.As we saw in other social justice movements such as women's
suffrage and civil rights in the 1960's, change will not come unless we
take a stand. I do this reluctantly because I am still on probation
from my arrest in May and so I will likely have to stay in jail. But I
do this with resolve for those who would like to act but cannot - the
patients who are suffering and the doctors who are trying to provide
care. And I hope that others will join and support the campaign in
whatever way they can. The website is www.mobilizeforhealthcare.org.
With hopes for peace and a better future,
Margaret Flowers, M.D.
Sparks, MD
Congressional Fellow, Physicians for a National Health Program
# # #
More info:
Mobilization for Health Care for All www.MobilizeForHealthCare.org
View ourFacebook Page
Check us out onYouTube
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# # #
SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING SIT-INS AT INSURANCE COMPANY OFFICES
Thursday, October 29th:
Baltimore, MD
When: 12:00PM
Where: CareFirst
Contact: Kevin Zeese,kzeese@earthlink.net, (301) 995-6582
Link:http://mobilizeforhealthcare-baltimore.ning.com
Louisville, KY
When: 10:00AM
Where: Humana insurance
Contact: Kay Tillow,nursenpo@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,jeff@healthcare-now.org
Link:http://mobilizeforhealthcare-pa.ning.com/
Tuesday, November3rd:
San Diego, CA
When: 10:00AM
Where: Blue Shield
Contact: Jerry Malamud,aabs@aol.com, 858-270-5562Link:http://mobilizeforhealthcare-sandiego.ning.com/
Wednesday, November 4th:
Albuquerque, NM
When: 10:30AM
Contact: Guy Watson,drguy0@gmail.com
Link:http://mobilizeforhealthcare-abq.ning.com/
Atlanta, GA
When: 10:00AM
Where: Blue Cross Blue Shield
Contact: Denise Woodall,denisewoodallksu@yahoo.com
Link:http://mobilizeforhealthcare-atlanta.ning.com/
Detroit, MI
When: 12:00pm
Where: Blue Cross
Contact: Precious Daniels,vincious1@hotmail.com; 313-361-4318
Link:http://mobilizeforhealthcare-detroit.ning.com
Portland, ORWhen: TBAContact: Jim Ferner,vjday153@hotmail.com, 503-231-0847
Link:http://mobilizeforhealthcare-oregon.ning.com
--
Katie Robbins
Assistant Coordinator
Healthcare-NOW!
339 Lafayette St
NY, NY 10012
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