U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius and SEIU president Mary Kay Henry visited Pittsburgh on Tuesday, Sept. 10, to announce a new partnership between the nation’s largest union of nurses and healthcare workers and HHS. The pair joined with local nurse leaders and SEIU Healthcare Pennsylvania President Neal Bisno to outline a major national outreach initiative on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Our members will be “Champions of Change,” supporting the new healthcare law.
“Let there be no doubt, the new healthcare law is working for working people,” Henry said. “We are not seeing the long-predicted ‘rate shock,’ but we are seeing ‘Republican shock’ as extremists fail in attempts to repeal or obstruct the Affordable Care Act and its landmark protections and benefits for working Americans.”
Nurses, nursing home caregivers, home care attendants and other healthcare workers who are members of SEIU Healthcare PA will join SEIU members across the country in reaching out to hundreds of thousands of working Americans in 30 cities. Nurses like Allegheny General Hospital’s Cathy Stoddart, R.N, who was present for the joint announcement, will lead the way in Pennsylvania to educate patients, community members and other healthcare workers about the benefits of the ACA (also known as “ObamaCare”).
“Of all the things I do as a nurse and a mother, making sure the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented is the most important,” said Stoddart, whose family was once was forced into bankruptcy due to medical bills. “We are determined to make sure that no family will ever have to go through the kind of experience that my family endured to have access to quality, affordable and safe healthcare.”
Across Pennsylvania, Stoddart and hundreds of other SEIU members will work to educate fellow citizens on the benefits of the ACA through community and press events and will meet with state legislators to urge the full implementation of the ACA, including Medicaid expansion.
“The Affordable Care Act will transform the lives of thousands of working Pennsylvanians, allowing them to access life-saving care despite pre-existing conditions and without the fear of medical bankruptcy,” said Bisno. “We must continue to move forward to enable hundreds of thousands more Pennsylvanians to benefit through full implementation of the law.”
In addition to Pennsylvania, SEIU members nationwide will focus their outreach efforts on communities in 13 states (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas, and Washington) that have the highest rates of poverty and where the working poor, particularly African American and Latino residents, are most likely to go without insurance because they can’t afford it. Going door-to-door in their communities, spreading the word in their facilities and hosting community education events with partner groups SEIU members will connect with hundreds of thousands of Americans.
“It’s our moment to build power for working people by empowering them with the facts about the new healthcare law,” Henry said. “SEIU members worked for more than two decades to win affordable healthcare and stop the worst insurance industry abuses. We’re ready to give it all we’ve got once again.”