Cedar Rapids rally calls for Medicare for all

CEDAR RAPIDS - Seven rallies were held across the state over the weekend to call for 'Medicare for all” following heated national debate over health care legislation that passed in the U.S. House earlier this month.

The Cedar Rapids rally in Greene Square Saturday, despite the rainy weather, drew about a dozen people calling on the federal government to offer Medicare - the health care plan for those ages 65 and older - as a part of their advocacy for universal health care.

More than 55 million Americans are covered by Medicare, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

'(The rally) is about making sure that everyone in America can have health care, whether or not you can pay for it and whether or not you have a pre-existing condition,” said Kelsey Landhuis, organizer of the Cedar Rapids event. 'You shouldn't have to rely on the whims of an insurance company or Republicans in Congress ... That shouldn't be something you have to lie awake at night thinking about.”

Events similar to the one in Cedar Rapids were taking place Saturday and Sunday in Des Moines, Dubuque, Iowa City, the Quad Cities, Sioux City and Waterloo, Landhuis said.

The rallies were hosted by the Iowa chapters of Our Revolution, a politically progressive organization that was formed out of the Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.

The rally comes weeks after the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed legislation that repeals and replaces part of the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as 'Obamacare.” The legislative action is one piece to the GOP's plan to pass the American Health Care Act.

Iowa Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, was among the speakers who denounced the Republican bill, saying ACHA jeopardizes health care for millions of Americans - including Iowans.

'Why that's important today is one of the things the national bill would do is allow states to wave out of essential benefits, and if you look at what (Gov. Terry) Branstad and (Lt. Gov. Kim) Reynolds have been doing in Iowa, that's something Iowan's should be worried about because the way they're going, they probably wave us out of a lot of essential benefits and really hurt our health care in the state,” Hogg said.

Scott Foens, 52, of Marion, said he attended the rally Saturday to express his frustration over the uncertainty of health care in the United States.

'This is a worry, not for me personally, but for a lot of Iowan's out there who don't have health care coverage,” Foens said. 'There are times you have to take a step back and say, ‘Just because it doesn't affect me, doesn't mean it doesn't affect somebody I know or somebody down the street.' They have to have that coverage also.”

Our Revolution organizers promote HR 676, the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act that was introduced in the House in January by Michigan Rep. John Conyers, according to the group's website. The bill has not moved out of a subcommittee, where it has been since early February.

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