Soggy Spirited Health Care Rally Reaches Common

BOSTON - Yesterday a rally for universal single payer health care drew a crowd of 200 in Monday afternoon's pouring rain to the sounds of Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello who played from the Parkman Bandstand on the Common. The rally marked the soggy ending of a day of health care action which began that morning with a series of workshops and teach-ins at the Marriott Courtyard in South Boston and continued through a showing of Michael Moore's Emmy-nominated documentary 'SiCKO' at the State House's Gardner Auditorium from 1:30 - 4:00PM. Two years after the passage of a health care law in Massachusetts hailed as universal the educational forums and rally highlighted the ongoing health care crisis in the state as well as difficulties accessing and affording care for those with insurance coverage - a social policy issue not yet addressed by state legislators. Speaking at the State House showing and the health care rally were Donna Smith now of the California Nurses Association and Adrian Campbell both of whom are featured in Michael Moore's 'SiCKO' - Donna Smith for having to sell her house and declare bankruptcy due to medical costs even while insured and Adrian Campbell for traveling to Canada to purchase affordable prescription drugs. Donna Smith spoke of her initial hesitancy to send her story in to Michael Moore's web-site assuming the film would want to focus on the uninsured and not the travails of the underinsured. Adrian Campbell while featured in the film for her trips to Canada is a former Massachusetts resident who discussed her inability to qualify for MassHealth for herself her husband or their child and the thousands of dollars in medical debt they incurred while in the state before returning to Michigan. Tom Morello's show on the Common is the second-to-last stop in his national Justice Tour which will finish on May Day in Chicago IL. Morello was joined on stage by Boots Riley of the Coup Outernational Wayne Kramer of MC5 Popparoc The U-Liners Collective and Ryan Harvey of Riot Folk. Benjamin Day is Director of Mass-Care: The Massachusetts Campaign for Single-Payer Health Care Bookmark/Search this post with: Delicious Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Newsvine Facebook Google Yahoo Technorati