1,800 Keystoners urge Congress to reform health care

Supporters of national health reform, including nearly 1,800 individuals from across Pennsylvania, rallied in Washington, D.C. June 25th.

Health Care for America Now (HCAN) organized the event, which drew an estimated crowd of 10,000.

PHAN activists from Pittsburgh, Erie, Harrisburg, Allentown, and the greater Philadelphia area participated in the rally and also visited the offices of congressman Paul Kanjorski, Charlie Dent, Patrick Murphy and Chris Carney. 

According to the Allentown Morning Call, two busloads of residents of the Lehigh Valley participated. The Center Daily Times reported that a contingent from the State College area also joined the grassroots effort.

Hill visits focused on the need to include a public health insurance option in the national reform plan.  President Obama has called such an option"necessary" but nearly all Republican members of Congress and some Democratic members have been reluctant to establish a public entity to compete with private insurance companies. 

Senator Bob Casey has strongly endorsed a public health insurance option.  "It would be a mistake to abandon the idea," the Senator is quoted as saying in the Bucks County Courier Times.

According to the Courier Times, Rep. Patrick Murphy and Rep. Allyson Schwartz also strongly support a public health insurance option.

Said Schwartz:  "The insurance industry does not want the public option.  They're concerned the public option may be able to offer more affordable premium rates.  That is a concern of theirs.  I don't think that is a concern of my constituents."