For four months this summer the Cover America Tour RV pulled up to the homes of people across America who opened their doors, invited us in, and told us all about their experiences with the health care system.

But this fall they came to us.

Twenty of the story-sharers on this summer’s road tour excursion gathered in Yonkers, NY for Consumers Union’s second annual Activist Summit.

For the three tour crew who spent the summer on the road, it felt like a big reunion with the people got know as we worked our way from state to state. But just about everyone else was meeting for the first time.

Diverse as the range of their stories trying to get quality, affordable health care, the group had (at least) two things in common: outrage with the current system and a readiness to fight for change.

After spending three days together doing everything from honing advocacy skills to sharing meals to touring Consumer Reports labs, these strangers left NY as a charged-up group, inspired by each other’s stories and ready to seize the rare opportunity for change in Washington with united voices.

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1 Posted by Dianne Parker at 02/22/09 03:02 PM

What a wonderful gathering this was in NY; if only our Congress would sit and listen to heartbreaking stories and see that we indeed have a problematic health care system that is not on in-accesible to many - but is also very unorganizaed, as well as dangerous with out the proper organizational standards to make it safe. I've experienced the dangerous world of medical care - I watched my husband die because of incompetence, arrogance and dis-organization - Seeking medical care in our country should not be dangerous or harmful - but in more than 50% of the cases it is; I have friends who have gone bankfupt becuase of injuries and deaths suffered through seeking medical care in the United States of America - aren't we proud? Thank you Consumers union for standing up with those who do and fight for all of us.

2 Posted by Kathie Bauer at 03/13/09 10:19 PM

My son Todd died June 30, 2007. He was awaiting a decision regarding his 3rd request for SSI which would have given him the health care he so desperately needed for a kidney disease he had since childhood. After his death my husband, Todd's father, represented him and 6 months later(much too late for Todd) He was awarded SSI. After the Lawyer's fee, his 17 year old son Jaymie was the beneficiary of a lump sum of $10,000. His mother and Todd had never married and his Mother was already receiving a monthly check for his care, so Jaymie asked us to keep the $10,000 in the bank for him for future needs or education. We made the request to SSA on Jaymie's behalf and they refused. We asked them to talk to Jaymie and they refused. In February of 2009 Jaymie said he hadn't received the money yet and asked us to make a call with him on the speaker phone to SSA. He had turned 18 in September of 2008. SSA told us that they had sent the check to his mother in April of 2008. Jaymie was living with her and she never told him. When Jaymie questioned her, she said she had already spent $5000 of the money on"bills". When we told this to SSA they said we would have to produce PROOF that she didn't spend it on Jaymie. WE said"IT's GONE and Jaymie had no big expenses that couldn't be covered by her monthly check. They refused to look into it. First Jaymie loses his father because of their incompetency and then he loses the only inheritance his father left him. This is what our taxes pay for!

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