Occupy Healthcare Rally/Progress PA Recap

On Sat Feb 11, dozens braved the bitter cold to protest near the fenced off Occupy Pittsburgh encampment.  We marched from UPMC to Highmark headquarters.  Julie Sokolow has a good video summary of the event.  Duquesne student Trenita Finney has an upcoming post on her experience of the rally.

At the same time the PA progressive summit was going on in Philadelphia.  Jerry Policoff of the statewide organization gave a talk on statewide efforts to enact single payer.  His presentation can be seen below.

Policoff state single payer

View more PowerPoint from jpolicoff

Walking back to my car afterward I met a man named Joe Vodvarka in the Strip District who was collecting signatures to get on the ballot for a Senate bid to challenge Bob Casey in the April 24 primary.  He said his main reason for doing so was to oppose Casey's support for trade deals with China.  I asked him what his position on single payer was and he gave me a vague answer that he supported health insurance for everyone which told me he didn't understand the question.  I suggested to him that he learn more about single payer and gave him a handout from the rally.  His webpage on the issue sounded like he's dissatisfied with 'Obamacare" but he needs to be informed that there is a better alternative.  Mr. Vodvarka is typical of many small businesspeople who may not realize that a single payer system could save their business a lot on health care costs. Below is his campaign video.

 

Calls to his office to discuss single payer were not returned.  His focus on trade with China runs the risk of having his campaign portrayed as 2010 Tennessee Gubernatorial candidate Basil Marceaux.
 

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