Honk & Waves and Vigil (Brattleboro, Burlington and Montpelier)

Saturday, May 30th

HONK & WAVES: 10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m., Burlington, corner of Church Street & Main Street
10:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon, Montpelier, Farmers' Market at intersection of State Street & Elm Street

VIGIL: 10am - 12noon, Brattleboro Post Office

BRATTLEBORO/BURLINGTON - On Saturday, May 30th, the Vermont Workers' Center's "Healthcare is a Human Right" campaign will join thousands of other single-payer advocates from around the country in a coordinated, nationwide day of action to support improved Medicare for all, (H.R. 676), and say "healthcare yes, insurance companies, no." The demonstration is also a show in solidarity with the demonstrations at the AHIP (American Health Insurance Plans, a private health insurance lobby) conference in San Diego, California.

On May 1st 2009, the Vermont Workers' Center's "Healthcare is a Human Right" campaign held the largest day-time rally of its kind to demand that healthcare be treated as a human right rather than a system to generate corporate profits for insurance and pharmaceutical companies.

As a part of this action, the Vermont Workers' Center and other Vermont labor leaders will send a letter (attached) to Senate Judiciary Chair Sen. Patrick Leahy asking him to convene committee hearings to investigate the conditions facing those who file for bankruptcy because of crushing medical costs. Half of all personal bankruptcies in America are caused by medical debt, and there is a strong connection between people's personal physical and financial suffering in relation to the larger economic crisis.

The Vermont Workers' Center will also be working to alert and inform the public of the upcoming FEAR based videos that Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina is preparing to release. According to the Washington Post, as part of what it calls an "informational website, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina has hired an outside firm to make a series of videos to terrify the public about the "public option," of President Barack Obama's plan to reform the nation's dysfunctional health care system.