Senator Joe Lieberman has accepted over $110,000 from private health insurance company. Sit-In last Friday at Joe's office on Capitol Hill

WASHINGTON, DC – Dozens of people are holding a sit-in now at Senator Lieberman’s Capitol Hill office to demand that Senator Lieberman pledge to stop taking health insurance company campaign contributions and free up funds so they can be used to pay for patient care. Everyday Americans with signs that say, “Insurance $ is making America sick” are demonstrating in his office until forcibly removed. The sit-in is part of a national mobilization called the Mobilization for Health Care for All to end insurance abuse and win health care for all.

“Insurance companies are killing democracy and they’re killing us. They are killing democracy by throwing their big lobbying bucks around Congress, and they’re killing us by denying people the care they need,” says Kai Newkirk, an organizer who is putting himself on the line and risking arrest today. “Senator Lieberman should stop accepting so much money from insurance company lobbyists. Politicians must be held accountable.”

The Mobilization for Health Care for All demands that insurance companies re-direct their lobbying funds to pay for doctor-requested treatments for people with life-threatening conditions. In some states, one in five of these requests is denied by insurance company bureaucrats.

Since 1989, only 10 other current senators have brought in more cash from the health sector than Lieberman, who has collected $2.6 million in that time. Senator Lieberman has accepted over $110,000 from private health insurance Aetna in campaign contributions so far this year. In 2009, Aetna has already spent over $2 million dollars in lobbying for health care a system based on private coverage, while denying countless claims for patients who need treatment.

“There is nothing more important to the general welfare of the nation than healthcare. We need a system that places patients before profit,” says George Ripley from Washington, DC.

So far there have been 141 arrests at health insurance companies in 24 cities across the country with people who are fed up with the state of the health care system in our country and the health care debate in our country and are willing to put themselves on the line for real health care reform. So far four doctors have also been arrested, one in Los Angeles, one in Seattle, and two in Baltimore, MD. Sixty percent of doctors support aggressive health care reform, namely a universal health care system like Medicare for All, similar to what 37 other countries already have.

Sources: Center for Responsive Politics and OpenSecrets.org.

Background

MOBILIZATION FOR HEALTH CARE FOR ALL: 11/05/2009
Contact: Sarah Massey 202 445-1169
Lacy MacAuley 202 445-4692

On September 27, the Mobilization for Health Care for All launched a national campaign of "Patients Not Profit" sit-ins at insurance company offices to demand an end to a system that profits by denying people care. We want the real "public option": Medicare for All, a universal plan that cuts out the profit and puts patients first.

About the Mobilization for Health Care for All movement:

Launched the movement 9/29 in New York City with one sit-in

· have conducted 26 sit-ins at private health insurance company offices across the nation

· 150 Americans have been arrested, hundreds more have participated in the actions

The core messages are: Medicare for All, Patients Not Profits, We Want Universal Healthcare, like 37 other developed countries

Why target Senator Lieberman?

“Since 1989, only 10 other current senators have brought in more cash from the health sector than Lieberman, who has collected $2.6 million in that time. Reid has collected only slightly less than that at $2.3 million. Lieberman is also among the top 10 senators to collect cash from the industries that generally oppose a government-run health insurance program, including health insurers and pharmaceutical companies.” Source: OpenSecrets.org, http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2009/10/capital-eye-o pener-wednesday-o-3.html,October 28, 2009.

Senator Lieberman has accepted over $110,000 from private health insurance company, Aetna, in campaign contributions.

In 2009, Aetna has already spent over $2 million dollars in lobbying in Congress to shape the health care system to their benefit, while denying countless claims for patients who need treatment.

What is the focus of the movement?

“There is nothing more important to the general welfare of the nation than healthcare. We need a system that puts patients before profit,” says George Ripley from Washington, DC. We are everyday Americans who are fed up with the state of health care in this country and fed up with the state of the health care debate in this country. We want to see real health care reform, reform that addresses the real cause of the health care crisis, the insurance companies. Congress must stop taking private health insurance money.

Insurance money makes democracy sick.