On Wednesday, June 29, SEIU HealthcarePA Members traveled to Harrisburg and joined with supporters from all over the state to pressure Governor Tom Corbett and legislators working on the state’s budget to expand Medicaid in Pennsylvania.
With a June 30 deadline looming, our members and others held a “sick-in” at the governor’s mansion Wednesday afternoon. Holdingsigns reading, “Governor Corbett, You’re Making us Sick!” demonstrators filled the lawn at the mansion pretending to be suffering from severe injuries. In fact, many of the demonstrators involved were suffering from dire medical conditions. SEIU Healthcare PA member Cheryl Jones was one of them.
“I’ve been in the ER twice for high blood pressure” said Cheryl, a home care worker from Erie. “My bills are over $40,000 and I have no way to pay that back. This never would have happened if I had insurance.”
Cheryl and others set up a “health emergency tent” to illustrate that actual lives are on the line. The group shared their experiences of being uninsured in Pennsylvania. Cheryl was quick to point out that their situation was no way to live.
“If I get sick, I pray I get better,” Cheryl said. “Prayer is important but it’s not a good healthcare policy.”
Later that evening Cheryl and Mary Lou Camery, another home care worker, joined a handful of uninsured Pennsylvanians dedicated to focusing attention on Medicaid Expansion in the Capitol Building. The group, calling themselves the Faces of Medicaid, vowed to stay at the Capital until legislators took up the cause and passed a MedicaidExpansion bill.
The group stayed late into the night and spoke with state Senators, reporters and others about their personal stories and about how Medicaid Expansion wouldn’t just help them, but hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians who currently go without healthcare insurance.
Sixty one-year-old Guy Anthony, of Souderton, noted that conservative governors across the country have accepted Medicaid Expansion because they know it’s the right thing to do for their constituents. Guy suffers from congestive heart failure and high blood pressure and says expanding Medicaid is a matter of life and death for him and those like him.
“I’m not prepared to die so that Governor Corbett can win some partisan political [battle] with the President,” he said. “Pass Medicaid Expansion now.”
For the next few days and through the weekend, the Faces of Medicaid demonstrators continued to tell their stories and act to bring attention to their cause:
- They joined forces with religious leaders for a faith vigil on the steps of the Capitol;
- They slept on the steps of the Capitol and sung songs of solidarity from the Civil Rights era;
- They met and talked with supporters in the legislature like Sen. Vincent Hughes, Sen. Jay Costa, Sen. Anthony Williams, Sen. Wayne Fontana and others;
- The created paper “broken hearts” to deliver to supporters of a bill against Medicaid Expansion;
- Made a public picnic for Gov. Corbett, who left the Capitol for a GOP-sponsored picnic while lawmakers worked through the weekend.
On Sunday, June 30, the Pennsylvania Senate heard the public’s cry for help, and thanks to the leadership of Senators Hughes, Costa and others, voted yes on HB 1075 in a bipartisan effort, amending the Welfare Code to include Medicaid Expansion.
Unfortunately, our victory was short lived. Less than 24 hours later, the House Rules Committee, led Republican House Majority Leader Mike Truzai, voted to strip the Medicaid Expansion provision from the Welfare Code.
But our fight is not over.
The legislature will reconvene in the fall and for the next few months we will continue to push our elected officials and Governor Corbett to accept Medicaid Expansion for Pennsylvania, bringing billions of dollars to the state budget, tens of thousands of new jobs and healthcare coverage for up to 700,000 thousand uninsured Pennsylvanians.