Reported on Sept. 26, 2009

When Alex Blum started his career in pediatric medicine he had no idea that it would lead him to standing on a street corner across from Madison Square Garden, championing for health care reform.

Dr. Alex Blum protesting for health care reform. Photo: Ashley Harris

Blum and others gathered on the corner of 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue on Tuesday to protest UnitedHealthcare’s practices and customer service. The Service Employees International Union organized the protest in conjunction with Moveon.org as part of a 150-city nationwide stance against the current state of health care. The timing of the rally was no coincidence. It comes on the heels of proposed health care legislation by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. Complaints of poor customer service and coverage denials have been lobbied at the company.

Years of dealing with insurance company red tape left Blum discouraged that the people he set out to help would ever really receive the care they needed. Like the 12-year-old patient he saw last year. When the boy arrived to Blum he had suffered a major seizure. It wasn’t the first one. The mother told Blum that after her son’s first seizure at the age of 7, the doctor recommended her to brain and blood specialists, but neither was covered on her insurance.

“At first I couldn’t help but be angry with the mother for her choices,” he said. “But then I realized something has to be done about our broken health care system.”

Hector I. Figueroa, the secretary-treasurer of 32BJ SEIU, said, “Our turnout today was great because it’s about time that the voices of everyday citizens be heard.”

Figueroa estimates that more than 500 people showed up for the mostly peaceful protest. When satirical street theater group the Billionaires for Health Care tried to form a human chain to stop a SEIU delegation from walking over and giving a list of demands to UnitedHealthcare’s offices just a few feet away, they were escorted away. But, a media relations manager for the industry giant did briefly speak with an SEIU organizer and then returned to his office.

Repeated calls to UnitedHealthcare media relations were not returned.

Protesters out on the lines all had their own story. Therese R. Revesz, known as Te’ by the other protesters, saw her insurance premiums rise from $6,100 to $8,200 in the course of a year. Her insurer, The Entertainment industry Trust, increased rates by 35 percent.

“I’m over 60 and it’s difficult to pay for my expenses and needs with these premiums,” said the Manhattan native. “And I’m in relatively good health.”

Other protesters were far more colorful. Laurie Wen, a 38-year-old HealthCare-NOW! volunteer, walked around with a ratty hospital gown and black fuzzy slippers. The gown opened in the back to a large, pink, plastic rear end with a sign that said, “Make sure you have your back covered.”

Some attendees of the rally see health care as a state issue and not an Obama issue.

“There is no Obama health care plan,” said Susan Spedalle, a 51-year-old volunteer with MoveOn.org. “Senators and Congress will create it. He just signs it or vetoes it. If we want real reform we need to hold our officials’ feet to the fire.”

That’s what Sally Kohn, 32, senior campaign strategist for the Center for Community Change, thinks is happening.

“The conversation in the national media is about the twist and turns of the Washington debate,” she said. “What we’re seeing here is a real grassroots movement to make change happen.”

Blum agrees.

“It’s going to take more doctors like me getting out here and spreading the word for these companies to see that change has to be made,” he said.