Health Care Civil Disobedience & Progress

The week's Philadelphia Inquirer describes the "foot soldiers" in the fight over health care reform and ways people on all sides of the issue are getting involved in this struggle. In the article, the Center for Media and Democracy's own Wendell Potter is called a "gift" to the reform effort, with leaders noting that "Because of Wendell, we know their entire playbook." The article describes civil disobedience in Philly and cities across the country in which Americans are going to corporate headquarters, like CIGNA's, and CEOs' homes, to peacefully demand reforms. Unlike the wide coverage of the "tea baggers," the stories of civil disobedience by conscientious doctors and nurses and other Americans in favor of a single payer system has received little coverage. Despite the distorted coverage, however, a new poll shows that "57 percent of all Americans now favor a public insurance option, while 40 percent oppose it....(and) if a public plan were run by the states and available only to those who lack affordable private options, support for it jumps to 76 percent."