[COMM-ORG] Arrested!: Organizer story of health care reform

Tue Jul 28 14:46:03 CDT 2009

[ed: this is VOP's regular newsletter, but it includes a first person 
account of a community organizing action on the national health care 
national issue, so I thought it was relevant to the list.]

From: Joe Szakos <szakos at virginia-organizing.org>

Forward this newsletter to a friend

703 Concord Avenue
Charlottesville, VA 22903-5208
(434) 984-4655 • (434) 984-2803 fax
www.virginia-organizing.org

Dear Friends,

Have you ever had really bad customer service? Then you will love this 
story...

I asked to speak to a representative of VOP’s health insurance company 
in person Friday and I got arrested for trespassing!

Last Friday, the last thing I expected was to get arrested. But there I 
was, a little after noon, getting my mug shot taken and being 
fingerprinted in the Henrico County Jail.

So what was my crime?

It all started last month when Anthem raised our health insurance 
premiums 14.1 percent — with no additional risks and no new health care 
services to justify the increase — and we also discovered that Anthem 
was spending millions of dollars to lobby Congress against health care 
reform.

We wanted to find out how much of our premiums were being used for 
lobbying, and ask for that money back.

So on Friday, I accompanied three VOP State Governing Board members in 
an attempt to meet with Anthem officials. But as we approached the 
building a little after 11 a.m., they locked the front door and would 
not let us in.

VOP Chairperson Jay Johnson called through the locked door, “We want to 
meet with someone about our rate increase.”

“We are your customers. Can someone meet with us?” I added. “We want to 
know why our rates were increased 14.1 percent.”

The two men inside told us to call our customer service representative. 
They were not going to let us in. They gave us the number and I took out 
my cell phone and called it. I told the woman who answered that we were 
an Anthem customer and we wanted to know why they increased our premiums 
14.1 percent last month. She asked me to hold on, she needed to check. 
After about four or five minutes on hold, she came back and said she 
wanted to connect me to a Scott Holden, who we later found out is their 
public relations representative.

“OK, thank you,” I said.

Before we knew it, at least six police officers arrived. One of them got 
off his motorcycle and the two Anthem employees let him in the front 
door. Then they locked the door again.

Soon, the police officer came out and said we had to leave.

“But they told us to call the customer service representative and I am 
on hold,” I said.

“You have to leave or you will be arrested,” said another police officer.

Within minutes, my hands were handcuffed behind my back, and I was 
sitting in the front seat of a police cruiser, with the doors locked and 
the windows closed. Two police officers took a statement from an Anthem 
official as I waited. Boy, was it hot!

After my mug shot and fingerprinting, a magistrate eventually let me go, 
as long as I promised to show up on Monday morning for my arraignment.

On Monday, the judge set my trial date for September 22 at 11 a.m. I am 
charged with trespassing, which is considered a Class 1 misdemeanor and 
carries a possible jail sentence of 12 months and a fine of up to $2,500.

“As we reach out in support of health care reform, our own insurance 
company uses their increased premiums to lobby against it,” Jay Johnson 
said. “We pay over $25,000 in premiums every month to Anthem. We expect 
that our money will go to pay for health care and not for corporate 
lobbying.”

Not only is Anthem spending our premiums to directly lobby Congress, but 
they are trying to get their customers to do so as well. VOP recently 
received an e-mail asking us, as customers, to call our members of 
Congress to oppose a public health insurance option.

Getting locked out of the Anthem headquarters is an excellent example of 
the relationship the health insurance industry has with its customers. 
They don’t feel that they have to explain or account for anything. 
Anthem has little competition and they know their customers have few 
choices. Anthem and other health insurance corporations are spending 
$1.4 million per day lobbying Congress to make sure that Americans don’t 
have any other choice.

That is why we need a public health insurance option that forces the 
private health insurance industry to compete. The private health 
insurance industry has given us a greedy health insurance system where 
customers have to deal with skyrocketing premiums, denied claims, and 
even trespassing charges for asking to speak to a representative in 
person. We all deserve better than this.

The Virginia Organizing Project has been working hard to push for a 
public option. We have canvassed more than 140,000 doors all across the 
state, and four of five people tell us they agree that there is a real 
need for health care reform. We have held more than two dozen community 
meetings asking people to share their experiences with the current 
broken health care system. The horror stories keep coming.

So what can we do about it? There are two things you can do to help:

First, please call Senator Mark Warner and your member of Congress with 
this toll-free number:

1-888-436-8427

Ask them to support a public health insurance option that will provide 
quality, affordable health care for everyone.

Second, please donate to the Virginia Organizing Project so that we can 
expand our field staff and get more people active in the fight for 
health care reform. You can donate by going to:

http://www.virginia-organizing.org/donation.php#1

or by sending your donation to:

Virginia Organizing Project

703 Concord Avenue

Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-5208

Thanks for all your help.

Take care,

Joe Szakos

Executive Director

Virginia Organizing Project

434.984.4655 x222

szakos at virginia-organizing.org

P.S. You can see some videos of the events last Friday at Anthem 
headquarters by going to: http://www.virginia-organizing.org/.