Medicaid Marches: We have to stay in the streets!

We have to stay in the streets!

Join Put People First! PA and partners for our statewide week of action: Medicaid Marches!

Below are basic details and links. Please RSVP on facebook and share the event so we can get a strong turn out across the state and country!

Johnstown March for Medicaid, Against Police Budget Increases
When: Tuesday, September 29, 2020 at 4 PM – 6 PM
Where: Johnstown Central Park
Johnstown City Council has plans to increase the police department’s budget by $250,000 and hire new officers, at a time when the city can barely balance its budget and despite the department’s track record of violence. We don’t need more cops! We need our city and state elected leaders to put our tax dollars into healthcare, housing, Covid19 testing, and other resources for poor and dispossessed people to get through this crisis!
Event page: RSVP now and spread the word!

Pittsburgh & Mon Valley: UPMC Gets Rich, We Get Sick: Pittsburgh March for Medicaid!
When: Thursday, October 1st, 2020 at 4 – 6 PM
Where: 501 Grant St.
UPMC got a billion dollar bailout to help fight Covid19, yet we are no closer to stopping the pandemic in Allegheny County and thousands of us are unemployed, uninsured, and behind on rent.
Event page: RSVP now and spread the word! 

Philadelphia Medicaid March
When: Thursday, October 1st, 4 – 5:30 PM
Where: The Philadelphia Medicaid March will begin at the old Inquirer Building at 400 N. Broad St. The city is spending $300 million to renovate the building for the new Police Headquarters. Marching to former Hahnemann Hospital that now sits empty. 
Event page: RSVP now and spread the word!

Northeast PA Medicaid March
When: Friday October 2nd at 3:30 – 5 pm
Where: Beginning at the Public Square in Wilkes Barre and then march to the Police Headquarters and end at the County Assistance Office. We march to raise up the story of Shaheen Mackey, who died in police custody during a medical emergency in Wilkes Barre. We march for all those who have been victims of state violence including the nearly 190,000 and counting dead from the coronavirus pandemic.
Event page: RSVP now and spread the word!

Montgomery County Medicaid March
When: Saturday October 3rd, 12 – 5 PM
Where: Car caravan to Aetna, Norristown State Hospital and Einstein Medical Center Montgomery. Because this action is a car caravan with a few more logistics, please register here for meeting location and other details. 
Event page: RSVP now and spread the word!

Altoona Area Medicaid March
When: Saturday, October 3rd, 2 – 4 PM
Where: The Altoona Medicaid March will begin at 620 Howard Ave UPMC Altoona and end at the Heritage Plaza.
Event page: RSVP now and spread the word!

South Central Medicaid March
When: Saturday, October 3rd, 3 PM
Where: Begin in front of St. Joseph’s hospital at 250 College Ave, Lancaster, PA. We will march around St. Joseph’s Hospital that currently sits empty, sharing information and powerful testimonies along the way.
Event page: RSVP now and spread the word!

More information to come about our national partners who are also participating in the Medicaid Marches Week of Action across the country!

More information:

Masks are a necessity for marching and we will be following strict safety and social distancing protocols.

More on goals for Marches:

  • Make visible a collective expression of anger and outrage at the state violence on a mass scale represented by the over 170k deaths and counting from COVID19, which are disproportionately impacting poor and dispossessed people, unhoused people, low-wage and essential workers, Black, Latinx and Indigenous people.
  • The ruling class treats us as disposable while maintaining their profit as we are forced back to work and have austerity budgets, privatization and permanent elimination of jobs imposed upon us.
  • Call attention to the crisis that preceded COVID with 700 people dying every day in this country due to poverty.
  • Take action together as the leading social force that has a program to address the prolonged crisis that we are in, drawing on and from the Jubilee policy platform of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and using healthcare as a rallying point for our class.

The platform can be found here: https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/about/jubilee-platform/

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