Channel 12 WBNG
Binghamton, NY
http://www.wbng.com/news/local/53973692.html
Health care
advocates hold a rally for reform in front of the Federal building in Binghamton.
Multimedia
Watch The Video And as Action News reporter Gabe Osterhout tells us why they say a public health insurance option should be just that, an option.
Peggy Schadt of Johnson City is rallying with the group Health Care For America Now.
She canceled her health insurance when premiums got to high.
Recently, she had to have surgery to remove polyps.
Because it was considered a pre-existing condition, she couldn’t get new insurance coverage for treatment.
Schadt believes there should be a public health
option.
“I would be able to get the preventative testing. I wouldn’t have huge premium fluctuations that every time you take a pill or something goes on, you get a letter the next day that they raised your rates. That’s what happened with my former policy,” Schadt says.
This group wants to remind the public there are many people like Schadt.
They’re pushing support for a public health insurance option.
“I think there’s a lot of misinformation out there where people really think somehow the government’s taking over health care and the reality is it just becomes one option,” says Mary Clark from Citizen Action.
Clark says people can keep their private insurance.
But this group believes a public option would keep private insurance companies in check against raise rates or denying care to people like Schadt.
In Binghamton, Gabe Osterhout, WBNG-TV Action News.
Health Care for America Now and Citizen Action will hold a forum called Health Care Reform and You.
They say it’s a chance for people to learn about each of the health care proposals in Congress.
The forum is Thursday, August 27th from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm at the Tabernacle Methodist Church.
That’s at 83 Main Street in Binghamton.
