Thursday, August 9, 2007
In this Washington CAN! e-newsletter, you will find:
- Annual Social Justice Breakfast (Reserve your ticket today)
- Hundreds march to protest Regence premium increases
- Medicare Advantage is a boondoggle
Wednesday, September 19th
7:30 - 9:00 AM
Swedish Cultural Center
(1920 Dexter Ave N, Seattle)
Keynote Speaker:
WA State Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown
Tickets: $60
Table Captain (10 seats): $600
Table Sponsor: $1500
Event Sponsor: $2500
Space is limited. Reserve your space today by contacting Tony Moralez at tony@washingtoncan.org or 206-389-0050.
2) Hundreds March to Protest Regence Premium Increases
On Saturday, 500 people joined Washington CAN! to march on the wealthiest health insurance company in Washington State - Regence BlueShield. Despite holding massive reserves pushing $1 billion, last month Regence raised individual rates as much as 40 percent. At the event titled "Pirates of the Health Care-ibbean," activists condemned the rate increase and called for universal health care.
The Seattle Times profiled Washington CAN! member and rally speaker Karen LaCasse of Ballard who is dipping into retirement savings to pay her health care premium which increased 42 percent last month.
Are you a Regence policy holder? Tell us your story of how the rate increase has affected your life.
3) Medicare Advantage is a boondoggle
In an op-ed in last Wednesday's Seattle PI, Will Parry of the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans and Washington CAN! member Pat Scott warn us (and Congress) that the privatized Medicare 'Advantage' program is designed for the advantage one group, and one group only - insurance companies.
When President Bush tried to privatize Social Security in 2005, we were proud that Washington Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and others in our congressional delegation stood with the American people in overwhelmingly rejecting a policy that put the financial interest of Wall Street over the people's interest on Main Street.
Now Medicare is headed down a similar path, and Congress again needs to take a stand to ensure that our public health care dollars go toward people's health care, not into health industry CEOs' wallets.
Get the whole story today at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/325979_medicare02.html
With
over 30,000 members across the state, Washington CAN! is the
state’s largest grassroots community organization. Washington CAN! fights
for progressive social change at the local, state, and national levels,
with a
focus on issues that most directly affect the lives of Washington
residents.
Our mission is to achieve economic fairness in order to establish a
democratic
society characterized by racial and social justice, with respect for
diversity,
and a decent quality of life for those who reside in Washington State. www.WashingtonCAN.org
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