For Immediate Release
Contact: DrewChristopher Joy
drew@maineworkers.org
207-699-9269
On Thursday, May 7th at 11am, the Southern Maine Workers’ Center will make a symbolic delivery of a letter to Gov. Mills calling on her to take action to provide more people with health care coverage during the COVID-19 crisis.
The delivery action will take place in cars outside of the Blaine House, in order to maintain proper social distancing. The action will include a large rally of paper dolls, symbolizing the wide-spread support for providing health care for all people during this pandemic, while recognizing that thousands of Mainers continue to stay at home to protect their health and the health of others. There will be speakers.
The letter to Gov. Mills demands that she take more concrete steps to ensure that everyone has access to health care during the current emergency, and states that the long term solution is universal health care in Maine and across the country.
The letter reads “We believe healthcare is a human right. With the spread of Covid-19, we will all not be safe unless we remove all economic barriers to healthcare and create a universally accessible system that provides screenings, testing, and treatments without cost.”
The letter has been signed by thirty organizations around the state that represent organized labor, immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ people, and Black, Indeginous, and other People of Color.
“This combined public health and economic crisis so clearly illustrates that a health care system based primarily on employment is not just insufficient, it’s dangerous. Now, more than ever, we need to demand a health care system that truly protects individual and public health” said Robby Lewis-Nash, a member of the Southern Maine Workers’ Center who will be taking part in the action.
Full text of the letter is available in this online petition signed by several hundred individuals.
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/tell-gov-mills-during-this-pandemic-we-need-universal-healthcare