Group hits streets for health care

Arthur Foulkes

Nov. 6, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Professional community organizers with Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, were in Terre Haute on Thursday attempting to put grassroots pressure on Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh to support an overhaul of the U.S. health care system.

Nine canvassers with the organization arrived from Indianapolis at Seventh Street and Wabash Avenue around 4:30 p.m. They quickly fanned out and started asking pedestrians to call Bayh and ask him to support health care legislation featuring -- among other things -- a "public option."

"We're here because there is an emergency with our health care system," said Dan O'Malley, director of the Indiana office of Working America. Health care "is unaffordable for many working families," he said. "People can't wait any longer."

The canvassers, some carrying red bags with white medical-style crosses, were planning to work downtown for about an hour and then go door-to-door elsewhere in the city until about 9 p.m., O'Malley said.

"I'll send [Bayh] an e-mail," said one pedestrian who had attempted to contact Bayh on his cell phone at the behest of Working America organizers. The phone lines were apparently backed up and the call would not go through, O'Malley said.

The canvassers also were handing out small fliers reading "911 Health Care Emergency!" that included a telephone number to call to contact Bayh. The goal was to generate between 200 and 250 telephone calls Thursday from Terre Haute, O'Malley said.

This is not the first time Working America canvassers have been in the city. In March, about six Working America canvassers, mostly from Ohio, were in Terre Haute urging residents to ask Rep. Brad Ellsworth and Bayh to vote in favor of President Barack Obama's 2009 budget. The group also has been in Terre Haute several times in recent weeks urging passage of a health care bill including a public option, O'Malley said. Working America canvassers were in the city as recently as last Thursday, he said.

In addition to seeking a "public option," Working America also favors a health care bill that would keep employer-provided health care benefits tax-free and would require employers to pay "a fair share of costs by providing health care to their employees, or paying into a system to make sure everyone is covered," according to the Working America flier being distributed Thursday afternoon.

"People in Terre Haute have been wonderfully responsive," O'Malley said. There are 50 million Americans without access to affordable health insurance, he said.

Bayh is seen as a possible swing vote in the health care debate, O'Malley noted. "Senator Bayh needs to listen to the people he represents."

Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0383-39494747