Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) ATLANTA — Top religious, community, and elected officials gathered Tuesday, August 11, 2009, at Grady Memorial Hospital to increase pressure on US Congress to pass comprehensive healthcare reform this year.

US Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) argued helping every US citizen obtain health insurance is “a moral obligation” and “a mandate from God.”

“The quality of [a] person’s healthcare should not be determined by that person’s bank account,” Lewis said.

The Congressman–who has repeatedly sponsored single-payer universal health care in each of the last few Sessions where it has been introduced–said the pressure is on Democrats, with their large Congressional majorities and hold on the White House, to get health reform done.

“If we cannot do it, we don’t deserve to be in the majority,” Lewis said. “We cannot wait, we cannot be patient.”

The prayer rally, sponsored by Atlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment (ABLE) and HealthCare For America NOW! (HCAN), was one of many similar events that took place around the nation as part of an effort to reach 100 Members of Congress. HCAN, as previously covered by Atlanta Progressive News, was formed in the last Presidential Election cycle to demand general principles of health care reform; it is not to be confused with Healthcare-NOW!, which focuses on the need for single-payer.

Debra Greenwood, Gwinnett Vice President of ABLE, said US citizens “feel a rising tide of anxiety” about losing their healthcare if they lose their jobs. Others, she noted, have partial or no coverage at all.

“Our families are suffering from a lack of affordable quality healthcare,” Greenwood said. “[Reforming healthcare] protects all of us form the high price of emergency room based care and helps stem potential infectious disease.”

“Right now, for the families in our pews and in our communities, the time is ripe to pass comprehensive health care reform,” Beatrice Soublet, member of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, said.

Soublet’s husband, Larry, spoke about the need for comprehensive health coverage. A retired senior on a fixed income, Soublet suffers from many health ailments. Even with insurance coverage and access to care through the Veterans’ Administration, Soublet still had $9,000 in out of pocket expenses for prescriptions last year.

“With the current healthcare system, we don’t just need coverage for everyone; we need quality, affordable coverage for everyone,” he said.

Atlanta City Councilman Ceasar Mitchell, a candidate for City Council President, said the nation has to stop looking at healthcare “from a Darwinist perspective.”

“[Healthcare] is a human right,” Mitchell said. “It’s something that makes our community better, something that makes our community safer.”

“The discussion is possibly about universal care but we have universal care and that’s the emergency room,” State Sen. Gail Buckner (D-Morrow) said. It should be clarified that emergency rooms only provide care, however, when someone is having an emergency; they do not provide routine or preventative care.

The healthcare discussion goes to “the next level” when we consider how local health departments are facing cuts in Georgia, she said.

“The local health departments are where the rubber meets the road,” Buckner said. “We should be increasing services rather than cutting.”

Larry Pellegrini, a leading organizer for HCAN, spoke of the importance of debating the healthcare issue, calling on “the shouters and screamers” to calm down.

“You don’t shut down debate about life and death in this country,” he said. “We will die out as a society unless we… engage in a civil conversation.”

The Rev. Tim McDonald, pastor of the First Iconium Baptist Church, said healthcare reform “is about having an option.”

“There is no Presidential mandate and there is no Congressional mandate,” he said. “Nothing is being imposed on the American people.”

To be sure, some versions of legislation under consideration in the US House and Senate would create a mandate for US citizens to have health insurance; however, people would be able to choose from public and private plans. There would be no mandate to be on a public plan, except that those below the poverty line may receive Medicare, which is public. Others may receive subsidies to help pay for private health insurance.

McDonald also addressed the tone of the healthcare debates taking place across the nation.

“You have a right to be heard, but what you don’t have is a right to suppress my right to be heard,” he said. “They can holler, they can scream, they can buy advertisements, but we are not going anywhere.”

About the author:

Jonathan Springston is a Senior Staff Writer for Atlanta Progressive News and is reachable at jonathan@atlantaprogressivenews.com.

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