I don’t know how effective any protest like this one really can be… If it’s just the usual ritual of people walking around carrying signs, being herded by the police. Protests can be effective these days only if people are willing to do something different, which means some people have to take bigger risks. But I’ve gone into that in other blogs, and I’m not going to get much into it right now/here. Protests for single issues, and to support certain legislation, can be a little more effective if people pledge to follow up on such protests with appropriate actions in the electoral arena (or refusal in the electoral arena, as the case may be). That means, if you want H.R. 676 and you want a national single-payer healthcare system, it would be better if you made it clear that you are not going to support the politicians who oppose these things. And that means you should not vote for or support either John McCain or Barack Obama.
One more quibble is that I don’t know if the HIP/GHI issue should be wrapped up in the fight for single-payer healthcare. I don’t know much about HIP and GHI, except that these are HMO plans that usually can be had only by people who have certain kinds of employment. I understand that there are HIP plans available to people without this employment, but they are still far too expensive for the unemployed and the working poor. It seems clear that it would be worse for these companies to be completely privatized, but they are still HMOs, and if we support single-payer, we don’t want any of that crap anymore. (And anyone who reads this, if you think my perception about this is wrong or inaccurate, please inform me about it.)
All that having been said… A protest out in the street is better than nothing, and this is one of the issues of the day most worth protesting about here in the U.S. I’ll probably be there (unless I get called off on some temp job, which will do nothing for my healthcare but might help me to pay the rent)…
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**Thursday, June 19th, 5:00 pm – Protest: “National Day of Protest Against Health Insurance Companies”
Join New Yorkers on Thursday June 19th for a day of protest against health insurance profiteering. We will speak-out against the proposed privatization of GHI and HIP and claim Health Care as a basic human right! We will mourn the countless victims of the health insurance industry while marking Juneteenth – a day commemorating the emancipation of slaves in North America. The NYC action is one of 17 others nation-wide in solidarity with activists in San Francisco, CA who will be protesting the annual meeting of 38,000 health insurance executives. On June 19th, join fellow New Yorkers in declaring our emancipation from for-profit healthcare and support for the single-payer national health insurance bill H. R. 676.
Bring friends & signs.
5:00 pm – Meet at Office of GHI, 441 9th Avenue (34th & 9th)
5:30 pm – March to United Health, One Penn Plaza (34th St. btw. 7th & 8th) (A/C/E or 1/2/3 to 34th Street)
March Organizers
Healthcare Now!, The Coalition Against Privatization, Private Health Insurance Must Go!, Physicians for a National Health Program
Greetings! Thanks for running the announcement. Regarding the GHI/HIP privatization, I would say that it is linked in some ways with the struggle for single-payer healthcare. The most obvious way is that single-payer would eliminate the controversy entirely. In the interim, I would say that it is essential to defend these HMOs not because they are HMOs (HMOs generally provide inferior care) but because they are non-profit. Non-profit status provides some public oversight and restrains the companies from acting like other private health insurance companies. In addition, 4 million people in New York are enrolled in the plans. Many, 500,000, are city workers but the plans also assist folks receiving Medicaid access care. So, I would be happy to meet up on the 19th but also understand the need to pay the monthly scourge! All the best.
By: Billy on June 15, 2008
at 10:08 pm
The American, for profit healthcare insurance program is a disgrace and a slap in the face to every American.. The fact that we are held hostage by insurance companies who pu tprofits before the well being of our citizens is nothing more than a crime against all Americans..Countless independent studies have shown that a single -payer system would cover every American for far less than the current for profit system does.. Our shameful system exists because our government is bought and sold by lobbyists.. The congressman in my district,PA3, receives the majority of his politcal contributions from healthcare insurance and pharmeceutical companies.. He also has one of the lowest ratings in Congress on healthcare issues..Unfortunately, he is like a huge number of our representatives..On the take at the expense of the people they are supposed to represent.. Single payer would put the healthcare insurance industry out of business..Insurance companies are not part of our healthcare problem.they are the problem!!!!!!
By: Tom on June 19, 2008
at 5:42 pm
Hey Richard… have I mentioned where I work lately? So depressing that in order to get by financially in any real way in this world, you kinda have to sell your soul, even if it’s as a temp proofreader…
But thanks for all your informative posts here. Did you transfer the articles from your other blog over to this one, or do we have to go there to see them all?
By: James on June 21, 2008
at 10:50 pm
Hi, James, glad to have you onboard at my “new” blog,” and with such an amusing comment, no less… Yeah, it’s depressing whom we’ve had to work for, but proofreading is so low on the information assembly line, that we can take consolation in the fact that we don’t actually participate in the practices of these companies, nor benefit from them. (It must be particularly irking if you’re doing “permatemp” work for a medical insurance company and can’t get any medical benefits!)
Though I should be careful what I say here – hope there aren’t any potential employers reading this (who can figure out who I am, etc.). As you know, I haven’t been working for anyone for a while now, and that isn’t the result of a conscious choice…
Thank you for the good word regarding my posts here. I’ve decided not to transfer a whole lot of posts from my older blogs, though; for various reasons, I want this to be sort of a new start (which is the main reason I started yet another blog)…
By: Richard S. on June 22, 2008
at 12:14 am
Well, there is some good stuff on the old blog, so maybe you could transfer at least a few pieces… that way it’s less trouble for ME than than to go back and forth!
Also I saw the Cure tonight! And yes they did Screeching Halt and I thought of you, from that email awhile back. Man, they were fantastic, I hardly have the words for it… so here’s some photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=44375&l=2f945&id=733858453
I know, maybe I should have posted this on your music blog, but it’s late and I”m tired…
By: James on June 22, 2008
at 7:30 am
Hi, James. Would that be “screeching halt” or “grinding halt”?
It’s OK mentioning it here, because the music blog is presently so focused on the Bollywood stuff and the wonderful little blogging community that I’m connecting with through that.
Though Goth music and Bollywood aren’t always that far apart, especially when you look at the really old movies, especially some of the South Indian ones; they are so Goth!
But all that aside, the “music blog” is beginning to look a little schizophrenic now. Maybe time for a third new blog?
By: Richard S. on June 22, 2008
at 8:05 am
Grinding, you’re right… I must be tired, just saw them few hours ago. Have you ever seen them? They were so fantastic. Hard in a way to consider them to be Goth, considering how fun and upbeat so much of the stuff was, and yet if the Cure isn’t Goth, then who is?
I’ll be checkin the music blog soon, sooner still if it’s not firewalled at that corporate giant I work for…
By: James on June 22, 2008
at 8:19 am