Labor Solidarity

By Fred Gaboury

People's Weekly World

CHICAGO - August may not be the best time of year to embark on a 167-mile walk, no matter what the reason.

But don't tell that to Dr. Quentin Young or former Illinois Treasurer Pat Quinn. The two are walking across Illinois - from Rock Island on the Mississippi River to Chicago and the shores of Lake Michigan - in support of a campaign to make decent, affordable health care the right of every person in the state.

Their trek will end Aug. 26 with a march through the Chicago Loop and a rally at Lincoln's statue in Grant Park.

"Our goal is to generate support for the demand that the Illinois Legislature allow the people of Illinois to vote on a constitutional amendment mandating that the state provide decent health care for every Illinois resident," Young told a crowd of well-wishers at a kick-off rally Aug. 12.

The amendment, popularized as the "Bernardin Amendment," in tribute to the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, says health care is "an essential safeguard of human life and dignity" and that Illinois has an obligation to "ensure that every citizen is able to realize this fundamental right."

The wording of the amendment is taken from one of Bernardin's last Pastoral Letters.

The amendment requires the legislature enact a plan for universal health care coverage that "permits everyone to obtain decent health care on a regular basis."

If approved in the 2002 general election, the Illinois legislature would have to act by May 31, 2004.

Pointing to the overwhelming support of the amendment in non-binding referenda from around the state, Young said the people are way ahead of the politicians when it comes to demanding decent health care for everybody.

"It's time to make every officeholder and candidate squarely address the Bernardin amendment."

Studs Terkel, who led the list of speakers, said the campaign for universal health care was a campaign "to liberate, to emancipate people from a medical system where people can become seriously ill and not be able to afford the necessary care. Where better to begin that fight than in the home state of the Emancipator?" he asked.

William McNary, president of National U.S. Action, drew cheers of "everybody in, nobody out" when he said the movement for health care will fight "group by group, piece by piece and, if we must, body part by body part. We are for anything that brings us one step closer to our goal of universal, affordable and comprehensive health care."

McNary blasted insurance companies who "spend too much money on advertising and not enough on care" and HMOs for spending "too much effort on delay and denial. There is something wrong with a system that will pay to amputate the leg of a diabetic but not for the insulin to treat the disease."

Andrea Raila was holding her infant son with one arm and a "Walk for decent health care" placard in her other.

"I'm here because people like us can't afford decent health care," she said, relating the story of her nephew, Byron. He suffers from Crohn's disease and had been treated in the emergency room the night before.

"The bill was $1,500," she said. "And we had to pay $10 each for the 10 pills the doctor prescribed. That's more than his college tuition."

Despite overwhelming support in non-binding referenda - 83-17 percent margin in Chicago and Cook County and 71-29 elsewhere in the state - and the required 60 percent margin in the Illinois House of Representatives, the state senate has twice refused to consider the matter.

Under Illinois law, both houses of the legislature must approve a constitutional amendment with a 60 percent supermajority before the measure can be submitted as a referendum.

Larry McGurty contributed to this story.