Protesters Disrupt Health Care Hearing (VIDEO)

A series of protesters demanding single-payer health care coverage disrupted a Senate Finance Committee roundtable on health care reform Tuesday. At the beginning of the hearing Tuesday morning, a man stood and yelled, "So let me get this straight -- you have 15 seats at the table and not one for single payer? Why is that?"

Committee chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) banged his gavel and said the committee would stand in recess until police restored order. It wasn't long after the disruption ended before another began.

"We need more police," Baucus said, to laughter.

"Is there some place they can watch it on television?" asked ranking committee member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), apparently wanting to offer the protesters a seat on the couch, if not at the table.

The protest was organized by a coalition of groups, including Physicians for a National Health Program and Healthcare-NOW!, that advocates a single-payer or universal health care plan. "Other methods of communication with elected officials have failed in delivering the demand for single-payer national health care as evidenced by the exclusion of single-payer advocates from official hearings on health reform," said a release about the event.

"It's only when people who are living in the park and people who are living on Park Avenue have the same health care that everybody will have high quality health care," said one man. "Single payer now!"

Baucus begged for cooperation.

"Everybody on the committee and everybody in the Congress deeply deeply respects the views of all members of the audience, and all Americans who feel deeply about health care reform, especially those who are worried about a single payer system or public option who really do fervently believe that is the proper result," Baucus said. "We are going to get the best result here the more we can have an orderly discussion as to how we can best reform the health care system, so I want to say to everyone, especially those of you who might be inclined to stand up, I urge you not to so we can proceed with the hearing."

UPDATE: Katie Robbins, assistant national coordinator with Healthcare-NOW!, tells the Huffington Post that eight people were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and disruption of Congress.

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Comments

[RightsGuy]

IF YOU HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE, DOES YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE COVER OSELTAMVIR (TAMIFLU) OR ZANAMIVIR (RELENZA), THE MOST COMMON TREATMENTS FOR H1N1 FLU (SWINE FLU)? These treatments should be started within 48 hours of illness.

The potential H1N1 flu (swine flu) pandemic in America offers yet another example of the health risk that 1500 fragmented private health insurance corporations place on Amercians. Not all private insurance corporation formularies offer Tamiflu (oseltamivir) or zanamivir (Relenza), to patients. These treatments, the only treatments that have been shown to have any effect on H1N1 flu, may be denied outright by your insurance carrier.

Or, physicians and patients may be required to go through the standard lengthy and expensive pre-authorization process in order to beg the bureaucrats who control the insurance company pharmacies for the most appropriate antiviral treatment for H1N1 flu.

In addition, the disconnected electronic medical records and disease monitoring and billing systems of the 1500 separate American private health insurance companies prevents timely epidemiological diagnosis and targeting of pandemics, thereby delaying the response of doctors and public health officials.

WITH SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH INSURANCE FOR ALL, INTEGRATED WITH A SINGLE EMR AND BILLING SYSTEM, FOCI OF DISEASES OR BIO-NUCLEAR TERRORISM COULD BE INSTANTLY IDENTIFIED, ISOLATED AND TREATED WITH AN AFFORDABLE COMPREHENSIVE DRUG AND THERAPEUTIC FORMULARY.

This possible H1N1 flue (swine flu) pandemic demonstrates yet another dangerous deficiency of private insurance companies which serve no real purpose in the health and well being of Americans.

[wdw505]

Zyvox was prescribed to me for MRSA , it took one phone call to receive coverage..­.....i'll keep my insurance thank you

[MossyOak]

I voted for Baucus, a Montana Democrat, because he promised to be active in health care reform. He just voted against the mortgage cramdown legislation to help homeowners, nixed the Gitmo deal for Hardin, and now he's backing off any meaningful health care policy... the turncoat will be voted out next round.

[cinesimon]

Primary though - a Republican will make it worse, I'm sure you realize...

[RightsGuy]

Great Mossy Oak! Here's a group that may help you all in voting out Baucus in the next election:

A new advocacy group, Montanans for Single-Payer, has just formed.

Their website: http://montanansforsinglepayer.org/

[Jeany]

The membership of the Senate Finance Committee, the group that met this morning under the Baucus gavel is here: http://finance.senate.gov/sitepages/committee.htm

If one of your senators is on this list, please light up his or her switchboard.

[marinade]

What a government. Look at what is happening to our country. All the Congress does is cater to their biggest corporate donors. it makes me want to protest, too.

[unite4change]

Marinade, we the people are the government and we must force these politicans to do what's best for us for a change.

[PlaceboStudman]

Just curious here....Am I the only one who sees the Conservative based hypocricy of so called Progressives? Clearly not many people here have studied enough psychology or sociology to see what's going on around here. People are speaking with their emotions, and denying any attempts to point out facts that dont fit into their echo chamber of yelling and name calling. I find it amusing how many people are remaining loyal to the Conservative concept of the death penalty (of insurance providers in this case) over rehabilitation and making them accountable for the pain and agony they've caused. Why are we scapegoating the insurance companies and letting them get away with murder without a single word to even try to hold them acccountable for their heinous immoral actions??

[erinaceus]

I belong to one of the organizations that participated in this act of civil disobedience: Physicians for a National Health Program.

Their website is at http://www.pnhp.org

Check it out if you want to know more about why we feel so strongly about this issue, and consider joining if you support our goals. (You need not be a physician to participat­e.)

[hilary916]

Thank you.

[punk]

Thanks for the info! Here's another good website: http://www.SinglePayerAction.org

[RightsGuy]

And here's yet another good website: http://www.healthcare-now.org/

[kesmarn]

God bless you! (See my other posts in this string.) I work in health care and I know exactly why you protested and applaud your bravery in doing so. I'll head over to the website right away.

[erinaceus]

Thanks for your kind words. But to be clear, I cannot take credit for any heroism (I was nowhere near Washington, I had to work today). I am just a member of PNHP, that's all. I did not mean to give the impression that I was as brave as those who got arrested.

But the organization was referenced, and I thought people should have the information to follow a link to the organization's home page.

[Luvial]

The lbbyists still rul ein Washington. There is no room for the citizens. We want patient privacy in our medical records, too. The corporations are stealing our medical identities. We should have the right to take our medical records back from the medical corporations!

[SelenicMagick]

Ya well... your medical privacy is DONE for under Electronic Medical Records... ESPECIALLY if the Feds have anything to do with the collection and maintenance of the information in question.

[hilary916]

I saw a few empty seats at the table. Instead of sending the police after him he should have invited him to the table and give him the opportunity to join the discussion.

[freddiefreeloader]

Now you see the difference between a left-wing extremest and a right-wing extremist. The left-winger disrupts hearings. The right-winger gets his assault weapon.

[hilary916]

and his tea bags.

Sorry..I had to add that.

[freddiefreeloader]

I rather have the tea baggers.

[flossophy]

And the left-winger puts expl0sives at the pentagon and judge's homes...

Or they set fire to a fleet of SUVs... or pound iron stakes in redwood trees so the lumberjacks get injured...

so what's your point?

[punk]

The point is that Tim McVeigh and Eric Robert Rudolph kill people while Martin Luther King disrupted meetings and Rosa Parks disrupted a bus ride.

[Bernique]

sheesh, floss!

[helonias]

Whats George Bush's body count?

Please tell us oh knowledgeable one

[jinsei]

This has nothing to do with health care but you mentioned the "Civil Rights Act" but you do realize there have been 4 acts? The '68 Act was Lyndon Johnson's baby.

[Waitaminute]

This is our fault. If we see a candidate has recieved a lot of lobbyist money and have voted accordingly, Don't vote for them. Respond to them the way the man at the teaparty did. Turn your back, turn around occassionally and say using a bullhorn, "go hommmmeeee, go hommmmeee". They don't listen to us, we shouldn't bother listening to them.

[Artemis34]

In the systems we have set up, people have to do things to get power and keep power that we'd prefer they not do. Many politicians have a conflict of interests.

We need public campaign financing and a verifiable paper ballot b/c if they can't buy votes, they'd steal them.

We need to outlaw lobbying, period.

We need universal suffrage so corporations and conservatives can't disenfranchise those likely to disagree with them.

Election day should be on a weekend day and a national holiday.

[zius]

so... if you torture.. it's ok..... no biggie!!! ...but if you protest you get arrested!!! ...democra­cy my @ss...shee­eT

[firewmn]

Max Bacus was the one who quashed our state from housing the g.i.tm.o crew.. We have a federally regulated prison sitting empty. It can house over 400. Bacus said Not in MY STATE.. and nixed the idea/discu­ssion.. It would have provided jobs and supported the economy of a rural town who is quickly going broke due to using funds to build the p.r.is.o.n and it sits empty due to a technicality with the other state p.r.iso.n/­.con.tract­s..

[N3M3siS]

Be sure to send him an E-mail at least twice a week letting him know how we Montanans deserve better representation. We need jobs, not political pandering right now.
/Signed a permanently laid off CFAC steelworker.
http://sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Max_Baucus#Iraq_War

[flossophy]

Big hearted Pr0gressives & ardent single-payer supporters:

This is not the way to advance your cause... the protesters sound like whiny irrational people.

Rational people will disregard them. Just sayin'.

Our system is here for a reason... learn to use it, or be ejected from the societal debate.

Cheers!

[rosal]

The only whiny irrational one is U. Getlostneo. Cheers!

[helonias]

PAid by the lie

[hilary916]

How do you feel about the teabaggers and some of the offensive signs they were holding up?

[flossophy]

I didn't see any... not like the vic|0us bush-h|t|er or anti-rich-minority signs at the protests i've been to over the years.

The teabaggers were a nice crowd... lots of families and hard working small business owners.

[heartofdrakn]

Over 66% of the American people have supported universal health care for the past 30 years!!! This is the will of the people and the government is the representation of the people therefore government should enact universal health care. It is all about free choice and the people have spoken!!!!!

[PlaceboStudman]

So the rest of us should just sit down and shut up and not try to point out the flaws and faults that we see, that everyone else is ignoring?

[punk]

People like you said the same thing about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Mother Jones, and a whole host of labor and civil rights activists who were later proven right. You keep sitting on the couch and let REAL people do the hard work.

[flossophy]

Wrong... the left co-opted the civil rights movement. And in my view, they did this cynically. Because while they were supporting blacks in the south... they were silent on the h0locaust happening in the S0viet Union (where 20 million people were 'removed' because they didn't think correctly).

How can a civil rights movement be intellectually honest with itself in light of this?

There were more Republicans per capita who voted for the Civil Rights Act than Democrats. Conservatives are proud of that history.

So you were saying?

[Waitaminute]

Yes stay very quiet.....­...sheeeee­eeeh.They'­ll surely hear you then.

[flossophy]

No, learn to use the system... sitting in the back an yelling doesn't advance anything. It only makes the yellers feel better about themselves­... as if they're actually doing something. Which they are not.

Of course you understand this.

[GeorgeP922]

It's time for 50 state strategy part two.

We have the majority but with clowns like Baucus, its a thin majority.

Arogant remark after snide remarks only to end an admission he is 100% on for bending over the gop and lobbyists.

[hilary916]

Aren't these the same senators that gave Bill Clinton such a hard time? These blue dogs are starting to bug me.

[N3M3siS]

Absolutely!

[PlaceboStudman]

Bill Clinton, the man responsible for Dont ask Dont Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, yeah there's a real Progressive hero for ya

~Sarcasm off

[Waitaminute]

Single payer not on the table. senators on committee not for single payer. But they are "concerned" about single payer. No, they are concerned about the lobbyist money they get. And its on the table.