Public Employee Press

Political Action 2010
DC Rally helps win health care bill

About 80 DC 37 activists joined thousands at AFSCME’s “mass citizens’ arrest” demonstration in Washington March 9 that targeted health insurance executives who tried to defeat the health care reform legislation that President Barack Obama signed into law March 23.

“We’re here to arrest the CEOs of Big Insurance because they have been devastating our families and businesses and getting away with it,” said AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee.

AFSCME, DC 37’s parent union, organized the protest for Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the 30-million-member national grassroots campaign for quality, affordable health care for all. Activists surrounded the Ritz-Carlton hotel, where the health insurance lobbying group held its annual policy conference.

“The insurance companies and their cronies in Congress did everything they could to prevent reform,” said Jackie Rowe-Adams, president of Local 299, “but Congress stood with us for real change.”