"May 2008" Posts
Toledo veterans say no to McCain
Year after year, Sen. John McCain has voted against fully funding Veterans' Affairs. This year, veterans are saying: enough.
"I don't understand why Sen. McCain would vote against vets' health care," said Toledo-area veteran Bob Stewart, who served in Vietnam. "I'd like to say to him: We never gave up hope on you. Why would you take away our hope for a decent life?"
Veteran Michael Friedman said he was appalled by how the Bush administration has turned its back on veterans by refusing to fund the VA. "John McCain is a fellow veteran, he is a true war hero. But unfortunately, I believe if he is elected, it will be just like a third term of George W. Bush."
In their remarks May 21 in Toledo, the veterans took McCain's record to task. They pointed out:
-- Sen. McCain voted against full funding for veterans' health care in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.
-- Sen. McCain voted against making veterans' health benefits a mandatory program.
-- Sen. McCain is even proposing to dismantle the VA by outsourcing care -- abandoning veterans to the HMO and corporate-dominated health care system that is failing tens of millions of Americans every day.
"It shouldn't be this hard," Friedman said. "It shouldn't be this hard for anyone in America to get the care they need -- let alone someone who risked everything and put his life on the line defending our country."
Posted By: Stephanie Hoo on 5/29/2008 6:43:00 AM
Cincinnati calls for change
Health care, food or rent? That's the decision too many Ohioans have to make in the face of rising costs, janitor Dina Smith said at the Road to Health Care event in Cincinnati.
"In the past when I haven't had health insurance, there have been plenty of times when I hesitated to bring my kids to the doctor," she said. "How would I pay for it? How much would the medicine cost? All kinds of things would run through my mind."
Yet, John McCain's health care proposals would actually make it harder for Americans to get coverage, SEIU Local 3's
Matt Ryan told the crowd outside the city's Elm Street Health Clinic. "McCain's plan is worse than doing nothing -- for millions of Americans, it will make a bad problem worse."
Posted By: Chris Holt on 5/16/2008 4:20:00 PM
Hello, Columbus
In Columbus, the Road to Health Care was honored to hear from Ohio State Sen. Sue Morano, who has been a registered nurse for 26 years and continues to work the night shift in an intensive care unit on top of her duties as a legislator.
"I have seen the failings of our current health care system," she said. "I have seen the patients who could not afford their health care and end up in the intensive care unit."
She told the moving story of an elderly man who couldn't afford his water pills and tried to make them last longer by taking only half his needed dosage. He ended up in intensive care on a breathing machine after water accumulated around his heart and lungs. "How sad that this is happening in a country called America," Morano said.
Posted By: Chris Holt on 5/14/2008 11:41:00 AM
West Virginia points the way to better health care
Huntington, W.Va.--As the West Virginia primary loomed, the Road to Health Care bus tour rambled into Huntington -- "The River City" -- to press voters to keep health care reform in mind as they headed to the polls.
"We need to send a message to Washington: The time is now to build a new American health care system that works for everyone," said
Sherri McKinney, West Virginia political director of
SEIU District 1199, as union members cheered and a local TV camera crew caught the action.
The event Monday, May 12, on the banks of the mighty Ohio River came just a day before the West Virginia primary. With both
Hillary Clinton and
Barack Obama in the state courting voters, it was a good day for health care voters to make themselves heard.
Posted By: Chris Holt on 5/12/2008 9:24:00 AM