Thousands rallied at the Boston Common Monday in support of President Barack Obama’s health care reform.
Participants from 30 organizations and advocacy groups all across the state gathered around the gazebo, holding signs demanding ‘health care and public option,’ chanting slogans and marching to Copley Square after the rally.
‘[Health care reform] is a lifelong dream for us,’ Cape Cod resident Robert Gaughran said. ‘Many Republicans have raised their voice against health care and people would think everyone is anti-health care, but we want to show there are thousands of us who are here to support.’
The rally was originally scheduled for Park Square, a historical site where politicians interact with Boston community and have a traditional Labor Day breakfast. But the rally moved to the Boston Common after thousands of people responded in support, according to organizers.
‘Our country can’t sustain the way it’s going now,’ Leslie Vensel, a member of Doctors for America and a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital, said.’ ‘Our health care system is failing way too many Americans. Forty-six million Americans don’t have health insurance and half of our bankruptcies in our states are because of health care.’
John Spears, the state director for Organizing America, said there will be many rallies across the country supporting health care reform.
‘We need to ensure that all the Americans have accessible and affordable health care,’ Spears said. ‘Health care costs are growing three times faster than the rate of the wages.’
‘People are really struggling now,’ he said.
Organizers said they scheduled the rally for Labor Day because there are only a few days until Obama will address a joint session of Congress about health care.
‘The delegation is going back to the Congress tomorrow,’ Health Care for America Massachusetts organizer Joy Depina said. ‘We want to show them that we are supporting President Obama and we want our voice heard.’
The rally lasted about an hour, but the crowds shouted the loudest when state Attorney General Martha Coakly, who announced Thursday she will run to succeed the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, stated her support for a public-run or government-run insurance option, according to The Boston Globe.
‘This is a frontier that cannot wait,’ Coakley said. ‘We need health care for everyone.’
U.S. Reps. Michael Capuano, Edward Markey and John Tierney also spoke passionately in favor of health care reform and public option.
‘There’s no other way to keep cost under control,’ Rep. Capuano said to the crowd, in an address broadcasted by The New England Cable News.
Crowds booed when U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, a South Boston Democrat who may also run for Kennedy’s seat, refused to sign a pledge supporting the public option.’
‘Public option! Public option!’ the crowded chanted over his address.
‘My fear is that we spend trillion on a program and a public option that doesn’t do what we want it to do,’ Lynch told NECN News.
Almost every speaker invoked the memory of Sen. Kennedy, who was a strong supporter of a universal health care system. Mayor Thomas Menino paid tribute to Kennedy with a moment of silence.
As Obama’s address to Congress approaches, many said they are hopeful for his plan.
‘He’s got a wonderful vision for the country,’ Vensel said. ‘His mission of affordable health care for all Americans is not only possible for our country but also a moral imperative.’
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