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A small but hardy band of people braved a stiff wind and ominous skies to rally in support of health care reform in Lancaster's Penn Square Saturday.
The rally was organized by Social Justice Advocates of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Lancaster. Some 30 people from that church, other local churches and groups including MoveOn and Organizing for America took part.
Congress is now working on legislation to reform America's health care system. Much of the debate has focused on whether reform should include a government-sponsored health insurance plan — the so-called public option. At the rally, many signs promoted the public option.
Beth Truman, a rally organizer, said the rally was intended to send the message that there is support in Lancaster County for health care reform. "I think we'll get reform," Truman said, adding, "I hope we get reform that makes a meaningful difference in people's lives."
City resident Barb Hoffman said she was driving through Penn Square when she spotted the rally. She said she believed God had led her there.
Her husband spent four days in a local hospital last week with pneumonia, Hoffman said. He was laid off from his construction job in September, she said, and they could not afford to pay for insurance. His hospital stay left them with huge bill and no money to pay for the medications he was prescribed, she said.
"I am sitting every day with my husband … hoping God will take care of him," Hoffman said, tearfully.
A moral issueThe Rev. Patricia Hart, co-minister of the Lancaster Unitarian Universalist Church, told those at the rally that she sees health care as not merely a political issue, but a religious, moral and ethical issue.
Hart said that the major religions may differ on some questions, but they all answer affirmatively to these: "Are we responsible for one another? Are we indeed our brothers' and sisters' keepers?"
Too many Americans are excluded from the health care system, Hart said, noting, "My religion teaches me that no one is left out."
And too many ordinary Americans are being scared away from talking about health care reform because of the harsh tone of the national debate over the issue. Hart cited a headline on a recent Wall Street Journal column that read: "Friends Don't Let Friends Bring Up Health Care."
She said people shouldn't shy away from talking about health care, lest the debate be left to those who want to make it political and divisive.
The rally signaled the belief of those gathered that "we have faith in one another, and we know a better solution is possible," she said.
Cost concernsAnother rally organizer, JoAnne DuBois, said the social justice group at her Unitarian church had become alarmed over the vast amounts of money being spent by insurance and health care company lobbyists to derail reform.
Churches helped to fight for civil rights in this country, DuBois said. "Now is the time to join this fight for health care reform."
Health care, she said, "is a basic human right."
Mayor Rick Gray, who stopped by the rally on the way to a family birthday party, said health care reform was also a crucial issue for local government.
Gray said that half of all the property tax collected by the city of Lancaster is spent on health care for city employees. The city pays $19,000 for insurance for each employee with a family.
This leaves the city with "an inability to provide other services," Gray said.
The mayor said there has to be "a better way to pay for health care."
Deb Illo, a self-employed real estate agent, said small businesses are being crushed by health care costs, too.
Illo told those at the rally that her husband owns a small architectural firm. He offers health care to his three employees because "it's the right thing to do," but the costs are exorbitant, she said.
"We are paying through the nose," Illo said.
Suzanne Cassidy is a staff writer for the Sunday News. Her e-mail address is scassidy@lnpnews.com.
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