By
Roberta Hall, Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates of Corvallis
On
February 4, 2013, the first day of the legislative session, members
of Health Care for All-Oregon (HCAO), a coalition of more than 60
member groups from across the state will rally on the Capitol steps
in Salem. According to Joanne Cvar, communications chair for HCAO,
their goal is to demonstrate the breadth and depth of support that
the coalition has developed for an Oregon health care system that is
publicly financed and offers comprehensive services to all
Oregonians.
The
rally on the Capitol steps occupies only the middle part of a very
full day of activities that HCAO is sponsoring and is using to
inspire and unite its member groups. Supporters who arrive as early
as 8:00 a.m. will find an HCAO crew in Room 50 of the Capitol
building arranging packets to provide for supporters on the day’s
activities. By 9:00, equipment crew members will be setting up
canopies and tables outside near the steps, which will function as
rally central. When HCAO member groups from all over the state arrive
at 9:30, they will be greeted by organizers with specific
instructions for the day, which at this writing (Jan. 15) are still
being developed.
Read MoreBy
Allen Hallmark
When
some of us last saw Wes Brain at the CPJ business meeting on Dec.
18th, he was preparing himself for a tonsillectomy the next day. As
you know, it is quite unusual for a middle-aged person to need to
have his tonsils taken out, and Wes knew going in that the lab work
might produce a diagnosis of throat cancer.
I
spoke to Wes on the phone today (Friday, Jan. 4th) and he sounds
great – his voice is strong and his advocacy for health care reform
is even stronger than ever, if such a thing is possible.
The
good news is that he has completely recovered from the effects of the
surgery and was even joking about how it improved his voice and he
may launch a new career as a singer, like his buddy Julius Margolin,
the New York union organizer who took up folk-singing at the age of
79 and toured with George Mann for years until he passed away a few
years ago at age 93.
The
bad news, of course, is that Wes does, in fact, have cancer. More
tests, including a very expensive PET scan have to be run to
determine how serious this is, but in any case the treatment will be
long and tedious and will cost thousands and thousands of dollars that Wes & Brenda do not possess. Both have been
unemployed or underemployed for a long time.
Read MoreBy
Robert Fischer, HCAO-Bandon 1/7/2013
Health
care is a product when it is commodified and sold by profit-seeking
corporations. It is the product of a financial industry that makes
billions of dollars year after year selling people the promise of
access to doctors’ services and hospitals.
Health
care is a privilege when it is granted by insurance companies to
people who are in good health and earning a good salary. It’s a
privilege that insurance companies can revoke when people need it
most.
Health
care is a human right when people say it is, and have the courage and
determination required to make it so. These people do
Read More