
{"id":6471,"date":"2009-07-16T06:45:43","date_gmt":"2009-07-16T14:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=6471"},"modified":"2009-07-16T06:56:18","modified_gmt":"2009-07-16T14:56:18","slug":"protesters-visit-bcbsnc-to-urge-a-public-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2009\/07\/16\/protesters-visit-bcbsnc-to-urge-a-public-option\/","title":{"rendered":"Protesters visit BCBSNC to urge a public option"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/p7132816.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/p7132816.jpg\" alt=\"Cheryl Moon and Jerry Thompson display the medical bills that have driven Thompson into bankruptcy at a rally for health care reform held in front of Blue Cross Blue Shield headquarters on Wednesday. Photo by Taylor Sisk.\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" align=\"left\" \/><\/a><strong>By Taylor Sisk<\/strong><br \/>\n<em>Staff Writer<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Fifty-plus passionate protesters gathered Wednesday morning in front of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina headquarters on U.S. 15-501 to protest the insurer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opposition to a publicly funded health care option. The public option is intended to provide a lower-cost alternative for quality health care and is a key plank in President Obama\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s health care reform platform. <\/p>\n<p>In recognition of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We Can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t Wait for Affordable Health Care\u00e2\u20ac\u009d day, state employees and other concerned citizens turned out to hear several speakers, voice their own concerns and wave signs to the commiserating horns of passing motorists. <\/p>\n<p>The event was sponsored by the State Employees Association of North Carolina in conjunction with the Service Employees International Union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Change that Works\u00e2\u20ac\u009d campaign. Blue Cross runs the state\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s health care plan for its employees and recently drew criticism after higher than expected costs for the plan led to higher premiums, co-pays and deductibles.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/p7132809.jpg\" alt=\"SEANC Executive Director Dana Cope holds up a photo of BCBSNC CEO \nBob Greczyn as he exhorts health care reform advocates to band together. Photo by Taylor Sisk.\" width=\"113\" height=\"150\" align=\"left\" \/>SEANC Executive Director Dana Cope exhorted those in favor of affordable health care in general, and a public option in particular, to band together\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and be heard.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need Blue Cross to stop using our premiums to prevent real health care reform and to stop standing in the way of a public option,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Adam Searing of the of the N.C. Justice Center\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Health Access Coalition. <\/p>\n<p>Searing was referring to advertisements Blue Cross has had produced, but that haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t aired, warning against the potential effects of a public option. Storyboards of those ads were published by The Washington Post. Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina has a 72.5 percent market share of individual and employer-provided health insurance in North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the protest, Blue Cross officials reiterated the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s position that while it supports many aspects of the reform legislation, it opposes the public option because it would create an uneven playing field for insurance companies who would have to compete with a public plan.<\/p>\n<p>At the protest, many were as angry with politicians as they were insurers. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The people are ahead of the politicians on this one,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said protester Lauri Hoyt of Carrboro. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Politicians need to start listening to what the people want and what they desperately need instead of to those who finance their campaigns.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nobody should work a lifetime and end up being in debt over medical bills,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Cheryl Moon, who was attending with her friend Jerry Thompson, both retired state employees. Thompson, who is a Vietnam veteran, suffers from an illness that has required 23 visits to Wake Medical Center in the past 20 months. Escalating medical costs have been a major factor in his decision to declare bankruptcy. Moon presented what she called a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153box of bankruptcy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d which contained bills Thompson has incurred for his treatments.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We want to let people know that just because you have medical care, you don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily have adequate coverage,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Moon said, adding that state employees need a public option.<\/p>\n<p>Moon said she wanted Blue Cross to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153recognize that their system\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not working for the average person. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to see a change.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m really energized,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Searing said of Wednesday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s turnout. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Blue Cross seems so powerful. But to see so many people out shows that people are angry,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he added, as a passing service van sounded its horn.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/p7132810.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/p7132810.jpg\" alt=\"Photo by Taylor Sisk.\" width=\"150\" height=\"113\" align=\"left\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Taylor Sisk Staff Writer Fifty-plus passionate protesters gathered Wednesday morning in front of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina headquarters on U.S. 15-501 to protest the insurer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opposition to a publicly funded health care option. The public option is intended to provide a lower-cost alternative for quality health care and is a key&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6471"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6483,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6471\/revisions\/6483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}