You would have thought it was an old-fashioned summertime tent revival at Portland’s Bagdad Theater last night. The heat had the audience fanning themselves nonstop and our preacher of the Good (Democratic) Word was full of fire and brimstone for the do-nothing GOP and even more for the foot-dragging Blue Dogs.
Only this time, the preacher got his religion from the flock, not the other way around. My friends, we now have a loud, proud and daily voice of support for single payer healthcare in the Media- our friend Ed Schultz.
Allow me to tell you how it happened…
Our friend Ed came to Portland, Oregon last night for a healthcare town hall, along with his sidekick NorMAN GoldMAN, sponsored by the Plymouth Rock of Progressive Talk Radio, KPOJ. Big Ed was on fire, and so was the crowd, packed to the rafters and ready to hear the good word on healthcare.
Big Ed told us how tired he was with the GOP whiners, and Blue Dogs like Nelson (D-NE) and Baucus (D-MT). He said he was willing to lose friends over healthcare, that if he needed to turn on some Democrats to make things happen, he was willing to do it. Trouble is, in politics, friendship is always an illusion.
Ed talked about how important it was for all of us to come out for the public option, that we can’t let the insurance companies keep setting up the game for their own benefit anymore. This is where the Portland audience turned on him.
A mother of a teenage son with cerebral palsy told their story of being denied physical therapy for more than two visits a year, simply because her son was over the age of 12. He used to walk, and now he can’t. Single payer is the answer, she said.
A diabetic nurse came to the microphone wearing a t-shirt saying “Dead Woman Walking”, because when she lost her job for 18 months in a layoff, she lost her healthcare too. When she lost her healthcare, she lost a kidney and is now on dialysis with a foot-long tube permanently sticking out of her stomach. Single payer is the answer she said.
Ed was not yet moved by this. The public option is do-able, he said. He wanted to work for what was achievable. He acknowledged that single payer would be the best way to go, but flatly stated there was not enough support.
Then Oregon’s newest senator, Jeff Merkley took the stage. Jeff spoke in favor of single payer, and talked about others who supported it too- like Bernie Sanders. The audience was getting really whipped up by this point.
A man from the UK came up to speak about the healthcare system there, which saved his brother from cancer recently. How long did he have to wait for care, Ed asked? No time at all, was the answer. The tumor was discovered and the brother was in the ER within a day. 16 weeks of chemo followed, and all was covered by the UK’s single payer plan. Ed suggested to Merkley that once he’s back from his upcoming field trip to Canada to check out their healthcare system, that he and Merkely should arrange a trip to single payer countries with other members of Congress. Merkley agreed, and I hope this trip will materialize, along with a CBO report of the impact of single payer.
The tide was starting to turn for Big Ed.
We heard from more audience members promoting single payer. People from Jobs With Justice andMad As Hell Doctors came and spoke up for workers who lose care because its tied to their jobs and patients that need care who can’t get it. A US expat gal spoke who was injured in Japan right when her visa was expiring and got the Japanese government to allow her to stay there so she could have surgery and recovery under their national single payer plan. She knew if she came home she would never be able to get insurance due to a pre-existing condition and no insurance in the US for the last 8 years. The Japanese government showed more care and compassion for this woman than ours would ever consider. Every single GOP head (not to mention Lou Dobbs entire self) would explode if a non-citizen was allowed to stay in our country just to take advantage of free healthcare.
And then Dr. Frankel, a Portland pediatrician since 1965 took the floor. The good doctor talked about how he and others like him just want to help their patients. He said that the co-op/exchange system is already a known failure in Massachusetts. The plan costs and deductibles are too high, pushing people into the zone of $20K+ in medical bills that result in over 62% of all bankruptcies in this country today. Dr. Frankel strongly urged that single payer was the only way to go, the only way to force the insurance companies to release their grip from the throats and wallets of all Americans. He asked Ed and all of us to not give up hope for single payer, that we could make it happen if we just pushed it as hard as we pushed for Obama last year. He said that we needed Ed’s voice to be the clarion call to stand up for all of us on single payer.
Then he told Ed that just hours before, Speaker Pelosi guaranteed that a single payer amendment to the health care bill, HR 676, would get a full debate and vote in the house after the August recess. Dr. Frankel got a standing ovation from the overheated packed house.
This was the final turning point for Ed Schultz. He had heard enough. Ed promised everyone in that room that he would start pushing for single payer on the radio, on TV and at his appearances. He swore he would become the voice for this movement to single payer. Over 600 people heard his oath, and we will all hold him to it.
We have our voice in the media, folks, let’s use him wisely. Let’s get others like MoveOn to start running ads supporting single payer this month. Let’s change the frame, control the game and make single payer happen!