'Listen to Us -- Not the Insurance Companies': Thousands Head to D.C. to Protest Big Insurance

Health Care Reform Supporters to Gather Outside Ritz-Carlton

WASHINGTON, March 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- USAction members will come together Tuesday and demand that  big insurance companies and their CEOs be held accountable for their efforts to thwart health care reform.

The protest, organized by Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation's largest  health care campaign, will include 25 survivors of health insurance industry abuse and more than 50 major labor, grassroots and religious leaders. Note to media: A march to the Ritz-Carlton will begin at 10:30 a.m. at Dupont Circle. Once the expected crowd of 3,000 protestors arrive at the hotel, they will participate in a mass "citizens' arrest" of big insurance industry leaders.

"The moment of truth is approaching," said USAction Executive Director Jeff Blum. "This month will determine the future of health care reform. Will Congress listen to those who have been harmed by big insurance or will it listen to CEOs who have reaped millions in profits by jacking up rates while providing less medical coverage or dropping policy holders altogether?"

"We are coming to Washington from Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania," said USAction President William McNary. "We're coming to D.C. because we've had enough – enough of insurance companies' denied claims, enough of their inflated profits and enough of their soaring premiums."

USAction is a co-founder of HCAN and serves as co-chair of its steering committee. In 2009, USAction affiliates and partners, with the help of their state HCAN coalitions, generated nearly half a million grassroots contacts to Congress, organized or supported 480 town hall meetings and forums and turned out 70,997 supporters to 1,785 Congressional outreach activities, including town halls, lobby visits, grassroots call-in days, petition deliveries, press conferences and letter-writing campaigns.

SOURCE USAction