Philly 13

Today, thirteen brave people sat in front of the entrance of Independence Blue Cross (IBC), in order to demand that IBC change its practice of pretending to be a non profit, while spending millions lobbying against real health care reform.  They were arrested for exercising their constitutional right to protest.  A hundred more chanting protestors singing "We Shall Not Be Moved" circled in front of Independence Blue Cross, the largest insurer in the Delaware Valley.   About half of those arrested were students active in the Student Healthcare Action Network.  Among those arrested were Jeff M., an organizer with Healthcare NOW, Rhone F., an organizer with PDA, and Paula B. with Health Care for All Philadelphia.  Their letter to Joe Frick, CEO of IBC said the following:

Dear Joseph Frick,

We recognize that Independence Blue Cross was founded with the social mission of providing affordable healthcare to citizens in the Philadelphia area.  We know Independence Blue Cross is concerned about the 200,000 Philadelphians and 46 million Americans who cannot afford health insurance.  We also know that you're concerned about the rapidly rising costs of healthcare in this country.

We are concerned, however, with the fact that Independence Blue Cross continues to deny its members life-saving care and is currently funding efforts to kill meaningful healthcare reform in this country, which would bring more affordable healthcare to more people.  You have done well at cloaking your efforts behind the slogan "get healthcare reform right," but your scare tactics and  accusations that even a public health care option will have "dangerous consequences" are not benefiting your policy-holders.  You are using millions of dollars worth of our insurance premiums to spread that message, too.

The information is in, and it shows that the best option to insure all Americans and provide the best quality care is a single -payer universal healthcare plan.  The time has come for Independence Blue Cross to stop blocking the meaningful reform that Americans need and to carry out its mission of serving the "public good", not its own  bottom line.

We are demanding, therefore, that you agree to the following:

1.  Until the passage of either a nationwide or statewide single-payer healthcare system, Independence Blue Cross will agree to cover all doctor-ordered procedures and care.

2.  IBC will immediately stop using our insurance premiums to fund efforts to quash meaningful reform, such as the fake grassroots ("astroturf") organization GetHealthReformRight.org

3.  You will join us at a press conference in one week to announce IBC's support for both state and national efforts to create a single-payer health insurance system.

Sincerely,

Student Healthcare Action Network

Healthcare NOW!

Mobilization for Healthcare for All

I, Joseph Frick, in order to fulfill Independence Blue Cross' mission  to provide affordable healthcare to residents of the Philadelphia area, agree to the aboe demands.  I will join you at a press conference in front of Independence Blue Cross offices one week from today to confirm that we have met your demands and to announce Independence Blue Cross' support for a single-payer healthcare system.

Signed, 

__________________  (Frick never came down to sign this)

Today thousands more called Speaker Pelosi's office demanding that the Kucinich and Weiner amendments be put forward for a vote as previously promised.  Their office was apparently instructed to transfer all such calls to an answering machine.  We should be appalled at this effort to dismiss single payer advocates.  Short of single payer, this 1,990 page effort to reform health care will be indecipherable for the American public and will quickly become unaffordable.  We will be trying to build a house on a crumbling foundation.  It will not work and we will be back here again in four years asking what went wrong.