Health care rally in SF

Stars and Gears were out at the rally for health care in SF. We handed out materials, signed stuff, and talked with people there.

There were somewhere between 50 and 100 people, with several speakers outlining how health care reform is desperately needed.

There was a doctor who talked about difficult hospital conditions.

There was an insurance industry worker who described the "death spiral" of rising premiums - premiums are increased to raise revenue, but this eventually causes people to drop their coverage, leading to increased premiums to compensate, etc. in a degenerate cycle.

There was a cancer survivor with a health care horror story. She had been successful in the corporate world, but diagnosis with cancer led her to loss of job, hence loss of insurance, and eventually, to financial ruin. She warned: "it can happen to you."

The speakers wanted Senate Democrats to use reconciliation protocol so that their majority would tell. They recognized that a more comprehensive and aggressive health care reform would be ideal, but saw the bill in congress as an important partial victory.

At the end the crowd chanted "what do we want? health care! when do we want it? now!"