In the first press event since the passage of the House health bill, H.R. 3962, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi joined Congressmen Jim McDermott (WA-7) and Jay Inslee (WA-1) at Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center. That bill passed 220-215 in the House on Saturday.
“It’s important that we would come here, to Swedish, on the first public hearing for many of us since this legislation passed,” said Pelosi. “I say appropriate because Swedish has been in the lead, and what is being said here is nothing to be taken for granted. When we’re talking about admiration among healthcare professionals… when we’re talking about a Medical Home, when we’re talking about reducing infections, Swedish has been in the lead.”
The press event was not without disruption, though both were minor. A woman tried to enter the press briefing while McDermott spoke, shouting, “I have Stage 4 kidney cancer – arrest me!” At the end of the conference, a man shouted to Pelosi, “Please don’t send me to jail for not buying health insurance.”
Both were in reference to the health insurance mandate that is part of the bill. Pelosi responded to a question about the mandate, saying, “Well, the point is that we want to make sure people have access to healthcare.”
When pressed, she continued, “I think the legislation is very fair in this respect. It gives people an opportunity to have healthcare, access to quality healthcare. If they can’t afford it, it provides subsidies for them to do so. But do you think it’s fair if somebody says, I’m just not going to have any if I get sick and I’ll just go to the emergency room and hand the bill to [taxpayers]?”
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Posts Tagged ‘Seattle’
Speaker Pelosi joins McDermott and Inslee at Swedish in Seattle
Monday, November 9th, 2009Interview of the Week: Max Vekich brings history in healthcare to Seattle Port election
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Max Vekich, candidate for Seattle Port Commission Position 4, has been active in healthcare issues since he began his political career.
He has been a political activist since the age of 18, when he first became a precinct committee officer for the Democratic Party.
At 28, he was elected to the Washington State Legislature as a Democratic representative from the 35th district, which covers parts of Grays Harbor, Thurston, Mason and Kitsap counties. He spent eight years in the Legislature, 1983-1990, the last four of which he sat on the House Committee on Health Care alongside now U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell.
After being elected to the Legislature, Vekich says, he received a shocking and saddening introduction to healthcare issues when he saw five children in the Bremerton area with medical expenses that topped half a million dollars before they were even six months old.
This experience inspired Vekich’s “First Steps” legislation, passed into law in 1989.
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Healthcare insurance reform rally in Seattle
Friday, September 4th, 2009
On Thursday evening at Westlake Park in Seattle, around 3000 energetic people participated in a rally supporting healthcare insurance reform.
Many battled Seahawks traffic to make it to the event in downtown Seattle.
Reverend Lesley Braxton led the crowd in a moment of silence for the late Senator Ted Kennedy and United States Congressman Jim McDermott spoke to many of his Seattle constituents.
Congressman McDermott said, “I’m sure it must make [Kennedy’s] heart feel good to see that the dream has not died. It is our dream to have health insurance that can never be taken away. I’ll do my part in the Congress, but he and I need you to keep showing up and making people aware.”
Though many “teabaggers” were to attend and disrupt the event, their numbers were comparatively negligible.
For more photos of the rally, visit healthcareWA on Facebook and click the Photos tab.