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Wednesday, June 21, 2017
June 20th-HAPPENING LIVE NOW: Occupation of Senator’s Office to demand Medicare for All!
HAPPENING LIVE NOW: Occupation of Senator’s Office to demand Medicare for All!
“We’re protesting Simcha Felder’s role in blocking the passage of the NY Health Act. “The political establishment of New York had an opportunity to guarantee healthcare to all New Yorkers at a time when we are fighting against the threat of Republican healthcare reform in Washington. They failed.
“We can’t let that happen again. We need mass protests. We need a systematic campaign, led by the main progressive organizations and the unions, that aims to mobilize thousands of people into action, starting with a mass demonstration on day one of the next legislative session. Let’s build a fight to demand the passage of the New York Health Act.”
- Tyler Hassan, mental healthcare worker, Socialist Alternative member, and resident of Senator Simcha Felder’s district in Brooklyn
“Young people face a future of skyrocketing tuition, rent, and healthcare costs, and we are fighting back. The for-profit healthcare system is completely rotten and we’re tired of politicians making excuses for why people have to keep dying. We want to know where Senator Felder actually stands. Is he on the side of the predatory insurance companies? Or is he on the side of the uninsured and the sick?”
Today, members of Socialist Alternative, Socialist Students, the Green Party and others occupied Democratic Party State Senator Simcha Felder’s Brooklyn office. Jabari Brisport, the socialist running for city council in Brooklyn as a Green Party candidate also joined the protest
Felder is the only Democrat in the State Senate who has not come out in support of NY Health Act S4840, which is a Medicare for All plan for New York state supported by healthcare unions and Physicians for a National Health Plan.
The Democrats technically have a majority in the Senate, but Felder and other Democrats choose to caucus with the Republicans and give the GOP a majority to block the health bill.
For the third year in a row, the NY State Assembly passed the act, and for the third year in a row the NY State Senate has sided with the insurance companies.
This year is different because the stakes have never been higher. Trump’s election has put the Republicans in a position to gut the Affordable Care Act, a real threat to millions of people who could lose their insurance. The NY Governor’s office estimates that 2.7 million residents of NY state could lose coverage.
Passing the NY Health Act now would ensure nobody loses their healthcare because of Trump, and it would also extend healthcare to the more than 1 million people in NYC who still lack insurance despite Obamacare. Passing the NY Health Act would also give confidence to people around the country that it’s possible to defeat Trumpcare.
Support for Medicare for All is growing. A May 2016 Gallup poll showed 58% of Americans support “replacing the ACA with a federally funded healthcare program providing insurance for all Americans.”
Nobody should have to rely on the patchwork of competing, predatory, for-profit insurance companies who are more interested in profiting off the sick than delivering high quality care.
Unfortunately, Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and other establishment Democrats are not backing Medicare for All legislation, preferring to uphold the prestige of “Obamacare”. The ACA extended care to millions of people and we defend that, but it hasn’t been enough to stop rising costs or provide everyone insurance.
Meanwhile, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo has not said if he would actually sign the NY Health Act. NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, who organized a rally of 25,000 to protest Trump’s inauguration, has done nothing to mobilize support for passage of the NY Health Act. This was a huge opportunity and the entire Democratic political establishment completely failed.
The hesitation and opposition of establishment Democrats reflects the huge pressure of the insurance industry who will not be passive in the face of threats to their power and profits. They have spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying politicians over the decades and have bought off entire sections of both parties.
New Strategy Needed
That’s why we can’t rely on the politicians to simply “do the right thing.” We need a new strategy in the fight for health care that mobilizes the power of working people.
We call on the powerful unions of New York and all the progressive organizations who are already working hard in the fight to pass the NY Health Act to build for a united mass demonstration in Albany at the start of the next legislative session.
We should systematically build for the protest, with local actions building up to the main demonstration, to ensure the widest participation.
The for-profit healthcare system is failing. Under capitalism, every service is turned into a cash making operation for the billionaires at the expense of the needs of working people.
There are so many issues to fight on -- healthcare, racism, sexism, poverty, housing, transit, jobs, the environment. But the key underlying issue is power: the billionaires have too much and working people don’t have enough. The fight for Medicare for All can be a starting point for changing that. Join Socialist Alternative today!
Socialist Alternative calls for:
Pass the NY Health Act now! No more delays.
A mass demonstration on day one of the next session of the NY state legislature demanding passage of NY Health Act
A united mass movement to escalate pressure on the political establishment, led by progressives organizations like Physicians for a National Health Plan, healthcare unions, and the broader labor movement
Free quality healthcare and public services for all, paid for with a massive tax increases on Wall Street and the billionaire class
An end to for-profit healthcare - democratic public ownership of the predatory pharmaceutical industry and the largest medical supply companies, hospital chains and healthcare providers
For an ongoing mass movement against poverty, inequality, racism, sexism, and all forms of oppression
For independent candidates and a new party of the 99% that reject corporate cash and fight for the urgent needs of all working people
A democratic socialist society organized to meet the needs of people and the environment, not profits
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