Residents rally for health care

Health care costs and bringing universal health care to Indiana were the topics of the hour as 20 members of the IU and Bloomington communities gathered Thursday near the Sample Gates.

The group, Change that Works, in cooperation with the Service Employees International Union, spearheaded the event. About 50 people were expected to attend, and three speakers were scheduled to discuss their experiences with the health care system.

Only one of those speakers, Karene Kidwell, attended the event.

Kidwell, owner of Delilah’s Pet Shop, spoke about her personal experiences with providing health care for employees and herself and said she supports the Change that Works movement because the plan they propose would help her in her business and personal dealings.

“I wish that it had gone a little longer,” said Bloomington resident Su Cowling. “I wish that they had had more representatives from the community talking about all of their stories. I think that would have been more powerful.”

But members of Change that Works said they still believe they got their message across.

“While the turnout wasn’t as large as we had hoped, a lot of media did show up, so we are getting the word out there,” said Lindsey Lucenta, an IU graduate and Change that Works volunteer. “I think it was a great success.”

The main issue Change that Works is trying to tackle is health care’s cost and impact on state funds.

“As a university, we are competing for funding with every other state funding draw, like transportation,” Julie Popper, a member of Change that Works, said. “If a quarter of the budget is already going to a broken health care system, it’s going to be hard to compete for funding for the University. If we fix health care, we are actually setting ourselves up better to provide for education and keep health care costs down.”

In 2007, the median yearly wage in Indiana was $27,330, whereas the average health care premium for a family was $12,153, according to a Change that Works press release. Still, some believe the plan Change that Works supports is not the best solution.

“There are problems with the health care system,” Jim Billingsly, who protested at the event,  said. “But turning to government health care is the lentil soup America would be selling the birthright of liberty for.”

The “lentil soup” to which Billingsly refers is from a passage in the Bible, where Esau sold his birthright – his father’s inheritance – to his brother Jacob for a bowl of lentil soup.

Change that Works said its  “grassroots movement” is the best solution to the problem and that congressmen and congresswomen need to look at the issue more closely than they have been.

“We’re getting the word out,” Lucenta said. “Grassroots organizing is all about spreading the word and raising awareness, and that’s exactly what we are
doing.”