Strike Debt, an offshoot of Occupy Wall Street, is planning a week of action around medical debt.
Here are some New York City actions you can join :
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March 21 (4 p.m.) : RSVP on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/events/104646713054956/
@Bryant Park (42nd Street and 6th Ave.), Manhattan
Join us for a demonstration against private insurance companies. A primary focal point of this week of action revolves around Strike Debt's successful Rolling Jubilee initiative, which purchases debt and absolves it. Strike Debt will soon announce a huge debt buy ; this time, they've purchased and abolished a large amount of medical debt. Come take part in this important action.
This rally and creative actions against the private insurance companies is a featured demonstration being coördinated by Strike Debt.
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March 23 (all day) : RSVP on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/events/147115705449521/
Join us for a day of free healthcare, radical education, and a march to highlight community hospital closings.
@Washington Square Park
9:30am – all day: Free education, legal advice, performances and music
2pm – March to highlight community hospital closings
@Judson Church, 55 Washington Square South, Greenwich Village
9:30am – 1:30pm: A health fair with FREE HEALTHCARE!
5:30pm – 7pm: Continuation of health fair
We also plan to have practitioners on call to answer medical questions live on the internet all day!
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March 24 (1 p.m.) : RSVP on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/events/223995181075326/
@St. John's Queens Hospital, 90-02 Queens Blvd., Elmhurst, Queens
Subway Directions : Take the R train to Woodhaven Blvd.
Join us for a protest to fight the debt that leads to hospital closings. St. John's Queens Hospital has been closed for about 4 years now. At the time of its closing, St. John's and its sister hospital, Mary Immaculate, had debts and losses in excess of $110 million. Our debt-ridden healthcare system, which gets squeezed by private insurance companies, drives hospitals into closure. We urge you to support a single-payer healthcare system, which would be a stable way to fund hospitals and healthcare. This is a demonstration in affinity with #strikedebt.
YouTube invitation video : http://youtu.be/DiFlikkYuO8
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If you won’t be in New York, join us in bringing this action everywhere ! Already, actions are planned in California, Maryland, Colorado, Vermont, and Minnesota. Wherever you are, please help us by organising in your community any of these actions :
· Protest a closed community hospital
· Support a struggling community hospital
· Protest a private insurance company
· Protest a pharmaceutical company
· Do a creative direct action !
· Organize a healthcare or debt speak out
· Organize a free health screening or health fair
· Organize free legal advice and debt/financial guidance
· Provide free education about debt and/or healthcare
Some helpful slogans and messages:
· Healthcare : a Matter of Life or Debt
· Debt on Arrival
· End Medical Debt
· Strike Medical Debt
· Healthcare is a Human Right
· Medical Knowledge Put Me into Debt
· Single-Payer Now
· Medicare for All
· Isn’t Being Sick Bad Enough ?
· Cause of Debt : [Heart Attack, Diabetes, Private Hospital]
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Fore more information about the Strike Debt week of action around medical debt, please visit : http://strikedebt.org/lifeordebt/
For information about the Rolling Jubilee, please visit : http://www.rollingjubilee.org
