HCAN RALLY

On Thursday, June 25, thousands of people gathered at the Upper Senate Park in Washington, DC to rally for health care reform. Speakers including former DNC Chairman Howard Dean and actress Edie Falco, who played Carmela on HBOs The Sopranos, gave inspirational speeches and led the crowd into chants that echoed over the Capitol.

For more information visit: http://www.campusprogress.org/page/co...

The national rally took place in the early afternoon and was followed by lobby meetings and town hall meetings with constituents who traveled by the bus-load from around the country to demand health care for all from their members of Congress. The rally was organized by Health Care for America NOW (HCAN), a national grassroots campaign of more than 1,000 organizations representing 30 million people.

Among the unions, community organizers, and national and local advocacy groups, Campus Progress stood strong to represent young people and ensure that young people have a voice in the health care debate. We spoke to several young people about their personal stories with the current health care system and distributed facts about how young people are being affected by the health care crisis:




Young Adults Suffer from the Health Care Crisis More Than Most

• Young adults between the ages of 19 and 34 represent over one-third (34.7 %) of the entire uninsured population.

• Over half (54 %) of all young adults have low incomes (below 200% of the federal poverty level, $21,660 for a single person in 2009). Low-income young adults are more than 2.5 times as likely to be uninsured as higher income young adults.

Young Workers Get Screwed by the System

• 56 % of uninsured young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 are full-time workers.

• Over half of uninsured young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 (55 %) work for small businesses which are less likely to offer health coverage than larger firms.

• Young adult workers are half as likely to be covered by their employer as older workers.

Young Adults are Hit Hard by Skyrocketing Healthcare Costs

• Two-thirds (66 %) of uninsured young adults between the ages of 19 and 29 went without necessary care because of costs in 2007.

• Half (49 %) of uninsured young adults ages 19-29 and more than one-third (35 %) of all young adults report having medical bill problems.

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Tags:

• campus
• progress
• health
• care
• for
• America
• now
• HCAN
• rally
• protest
• june
• 25
• 25th
• 2009

[theredpillxxx]

a young single person can get good health coverage for about $1000 per year,the majority of young people do not insure by choice.

Because they are optimistic about their health,as the should be.

the first young lady's family makes only 20,000 per year? I doubt it.

You can always count on the great brainwashed.

[rchgoepp]

hmmm..... me and my girlfriend at the time we had our baby filled out an application through the county and got health care i didnt get approved but i bought a policy for about 100.00 a month. most people low income can qualify for a public option through their state or county that already exsist.

[UnFairShareMAINE]

Where does this attitude of entitlement come from? Is that part of what's being taught in today's new and very liberal public school system? I'm afraid to hear the answer on that...

[djbrye]

You're real smart, you can't even spell liar. Your opinion must be very wise.

[revelationhorsemen]

Democrats are ruining this country.They want every thing that is bad for this country.Democrats are the biggests liers.

[azcardzfan2005]

the healthcare will not be free!! we need to stop making claims for every little malady and have tort reform so that doctors won't have to do 12 tests to cover themselves. your champion, john edwards is worth hundreds of millions of dollars from suing doctors. you will continue to run business out of this country and stifle economic growth at the same time procedures like ultrasounds are unheard of in Canada and you grandparents will be given death sentences by rationing boards.

[NLBrindley]

It will not be free!