Labor & Employment Law

Hundreds Rally in Washington State for Health Care Reform

By Seth Michaels

 More than 600 people rallied in Seattle this weekend as part of a statewide push for health care reform. Union members, religious leaders, community activists and elected leaders came together for the rally.

Jacqueline Hix, one of the speakers at the rally, told how she was hurt by our broken health care system:

My family and I were the status quo. We had nearly a million dollars in insurance coverage. We were middle class, we had stellar credit, we owned our own home and we were preparing to buy a farm so that we could start a new life as self-employed.

All of those dreams were destroyed in less than a second when I was broadsided by a vehicle on my way to work. I had to take a year-long leave from work?at the end of that year, I was let go from my job and my family lost its health and disability insurance. Our family went from middle class to bankrupt.

Hix’s story is all too commonplace. Across the country, millions of people hit by the economic crisis are losing health care coverage. It’s why we need to pass real health care reform now.

The Washington State Labor Council hosted the Seattle rally, along with eight other rallies across the state.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on December 15, 2009 (boomark / email).