Advocates march for 'Medicare for All'

July 25--The tombstones at Rose Hill Cemetery served not only as markers of the past on Monday evening, but as a visual glimpse of a bleak future without proper health care during the start of the Medicare for All march.

The march began at the entrance of the cemetery with about 75 people before heading to the Monroe County Courthouse square, where the number of attendees swelled to nearly 120 and local advocates and candidates for political office spoke about the benefits of a single-payer health care system.

The rally was organized by Democracy for Monroe County, in partnership with Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan. Bloomington's march coincided with a nationwide campaign called Millions Marching for Medicare for All, according to Democracy for Monroe County Chairman Robert Deppert, with marches occurring around the state in Evansville, Valparaiso, East Chicago and New Albany.

"We all realize that this issue of health care coverage is completely up in the air right now," Deppert said to the crowd, referring to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's latest effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act. "We've got to stop playing games."

A single-payer national health insurance program, also known as "Medicare for all," is a "system in which a single public or quasi-public agency organizes health care financing, but the delivery of care remains largely in private hands," according to advocacy group Physicians for a National Health Program. All U.S. residents would have access to doctor's visits, vision, dental and mental health care, medically necessary surgeries and medications covered by the system, among other medical needs, according to the physicians group.

Many of the marchers said they were in favor of a single-payer system because they want to stop corporate greed from crippling the coverage and availability of health care for poor Americans. "Health care, not wealth care," they chanted as they marched down West Fourth Street and the B-Line Trail on the way to the courthouse. At times, marchers blocked a single lane of traffic while cars honked in support in the opposite lane.

Adrian Ziepolt strapped his accordion on at Rose Hill and played "This Land Is Your Land" and the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" during the march.

"The only thing that accomplishes something this major," Ziepolt said in regard to major health care reform, "is when this many people show up. You have to show the politicians that this is what you stand for, and give them no other choice but to support it."

Rob Stone, a local physician and director of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan, spoke to the enthusiastic crowd, which included four congressional candidates, several local officials, including Mayor John Hamilton, and Shalom Community Center Executive Director Forrest Gilmore.

"It is a crying shame that in this country we put for-profit insurance companies between people and health care," Stone said as the occupants of more passing vehicles honked their horns in support. "You've got to understand that the health insurance companies have to make a profit for their shareholders. The only way they can make a profit is to collect premiums from healthy people and then to avoid, as much as possible, taking care of sick people. That's the business model that they run on."

Stone said those same for-profit companies not only control the health care system, but control Congress, as well. That needs to change, he said.

"We have a better model -- it's called Medicare," Stone said, before repeating the Medicare for All mantra being chanted around the country. "Everybody in. Nobody out."

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