Healthcare Summer Kicks Off in Florida
On Tuesday, June 9, SEIU Florida launched Healthcare Summer at a press event in Miami at the Borinquen Health Care Center. Elected officials, community health leaders and healthcare workers spoke about the need for healthcare reform that includes a public option which will guarantee quality, affordable healthcare for all.
Take action today and
tell your healthcare story!
Joining SEIU local presidents Monica Russo and Martha Baker RN were Mayor Manny Diaz, Miami City Commission Chair Joe Sanchez, State Representative Ronald Brisé, Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman, State Representative Luis García, former State Representative Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, Chief Administrative Officer of Borinquen Health Care Center Paul C. Velez, and representatives from Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Congressman Kendrick Meek.
A variety of media outlets reported on the event, including:
Telemundo Ch 41
NBC 6
Univision 23
ABC 10 WPLG
WPLG Fox 7
WLRN radio
Miami Herald
WIOD radio
We have to keep the pressure on Senator Bill Nelson!
Call or email him today and tell him healthcare reform must include a public health option that would compete with private insurance plans and bring down costs for consumers.
Sen. Bill Nelson (202) 224-5274
Send an email via his online form: http://billnelson.senate.gov/contact/email.cfm
Read the letter to the editor in the Miami Herald by Daniella Levine, Human Services Coalition President:
Healthcare reformTue, Jun. 09, 2009
We have entered the eagerly anticipated ''healthcare summer,'' in which comprehensive healthcare reform finally seems possible. Yet our nation will need the wisdom of Solomon to balance interests of consumers, employers and insurance companies.
The challenge is how to preserve consumer choice and protect established relationships with physicians and providers, while maintaining quality, cutting costs and increasing access to the
uninsured and underinsured.
The American Journal of Medicine's recent report underscores the challenge: Medical bills are involved in more than 60 percent of U.S. personal bankruptcies. Three-fourths of those involved families with health insurance.
Healthcare is not just a matter of personal necessity, it is a public-health priority and a national bottom-line issue relevant to the country's competitiveness in a global economy.
We cannot afford to lose this opportunity to create a ''public option,'' an insurer of last resort, as part of the overhaul. Only then can we relieve the burden on hospitals and the insured that
currently bear the costs of the uninsured through inflating prices and escalating premiums.
Healthcare reform will redeploy trillions to save a struggling system from itself: More insured, lower costs, greater access and increased rationality and fairness will be our reward.
DANIELLA LEVINE, president and CEO, Human Services Coalition, Miami
