HARRISBURG—
Healthcare reform advocates are making their case for change at the State Capitol.The activists spent nearly 16 hours reading more than 1000 pages of health care legislation aloud.
"There are some parts that are really tedious," organizer Antoinette Kraus with the Pennsylvania Health Access Network says. "There are a lot of numbers, but, in general, it's understandable in sections."
Sixty-four volunteers are taking turns sitting at a card table set up on the capitol steps. They each spend 15 minutes reading through a section of House Resolution 3200. They say they're doing it to raise awareness of the bill.
"People say it's so hard to understand and that no one's been reading the bill," Kraus says. "We wanted to put that to rest and say, well, we read the bill. We read it publicly at the State Capitol."
The reading began at 5 a.m. Wednesday. They turned the last page around 9 p.m.
Every volunteer has a reason to sit down with the massive piece of legislation.
"It's mainly going to effect the students now," Imeime Umana says. Umana is a senior at Susquehanna Township High School. She stopped by the Capitol early before heading off to class. "Students are going to be the future who are directly impacted by this bill. So, I figured it is really important for kids my age in high school to get involved."
By noon, the activists were almost halfway through the bill that includes the controversial "public option," which would create a government health insurance alternative to compete with private plans.
"The public option simply gives people a choice," reform advocate Alison Hirsch explains. "If they like their insurance plan the way it is now, they can keep their insurance plan."
Many conservatives and those in the healthcare industry dismiss a government-run public option as wasteful and expensive for taxpayers. The leading congressional reform bill, the so-called "Baucus Bill" that just passed the Senate finance committee, has no public option. That's why the demonstrators at Pennsylvania's Capitol say HR 3200 is better.
The activists capped the day-long reading with a candle light vigil where they shared healthcare horror stories.
"You actually get sick trying to deal with the insurance companies because they just deny everything over and over again," Hirsch says.
