Hawai‘i Democratic Party to Rally for Health Care

State Capitol building. Photo by Wendy Osher.

The Democratic Party of Hawai‘i will host a Rally to Save Health Care on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2017 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hawai‘i Legislature Rotunda.

DPH State Party Chair Tim Vandeveer, US Senator Brian Schatz, health experts Dr. Reni Soon and Dr. Steven Kimble, and other health care professionals and elected officials will speak at the event.  Teh focus will be on preserving and improving health coverage and sharing how the public can get involved. There will be a sign waving event on Beretania Street following the Rally.

“At a time when the United States remains the only major country on earth not to guarantee health care to all as a right, the Republicans want to throw nearly 30 million people off of health insurance, make massive cuts to Medicaid and defund Planned Parenthood. What, if anything, they would replace it with has not been articulated,” the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i said in a press release this afternoon.

Senator Schatz said, “The ACA is covering more Americans and saving lives. It’s working. And while we can all agree that the ACA can and should be improved, leaving millions of Americans with no coverage, and no alternative, is just irresponsible. It’s time to stand together, organize, and fight every attempt to repeal the ACA.”

DPH Chair Tim Vandeveer said, “We gather not only to stand up for health care as a fundamental human right, but also to state unequivocally, that we will not compromise our values or go back on the rights we fought so hard to achieve.”

Vandeveer stated that the event will also, “Be a chance to thank President Obama for fighting to make heath care accessible and affordable to all Americans, especially the most vulnerable among us.”

The Rally will begin with a remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (upon his day of birth) and a reading of his quote: “Of all forms of discrimination and inequalities, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman.”