Medical Emergency in Pennsylvania Capitol; Uninsured Activists Begin Occupation for Medicaid Expansion

Harrisburg, PA – A dozen uninsured Pennsylvanians have set up a camp inside the State Capitol to support Senate Democrats in their fight to pass Medicaid expansion in the state budget. The group wants to serve as a 24-hour a day reminder to legislators that the decision whether to expand Medicaid could have a life-or-death impact on peoples’ lives. They say they will stay until their voices are heard.

The group is thankful to Senate Democrats in their efforts to pass Medicaid expansion in the state budget.

“The Senate Democrats are fighting for us,” said Mary Lou Camery, a homecare worker from Erie. “The prescription on my glasses is 15 years old because I cannot afford new ones. That’s just not right, and we need our lawmakers to act now and pass Medicaid expansion.

Aside from the 700,000 Pennsylvanians who would have health care coverage under Medicaid Expansion, the group points to the $43 billion in federal funding it would bring to our state, and the 40,000+ jobs it would create in Pennsylvania over the next ten years.

The demonstrators are part of a larger group engaged in multiple days of action seeking to make sure an expansion of Medicaid is included in the state budget currently being negotiated. The actions began with a “sick-in” outside the Governor’s Mansion.

UPDATE: “We are the Faces of Medicaid Expansion” – SEIU video from inside PA Capitol