Issued July 16, 2008

 

 

 

 

SEIU's Road to American Health Care bus tour is a little over halfway through its nationwide journey - and every mile that ticks by on the odometer brings us that much closer to the goal of a new, American health care system.  Since hitting the road in Cleveland on April 29, the Road to American Health Care bus has truly been a vehicle for change, giving a voice to the millions of people across the country who are struggling with health care costs:

 

From the Erie, Pennsylvania child care worker who spends nearly a quarter of her take-home pay on health care costs, and prays she doesn't get sick

 

To the Charlottesville, Virginia doctor who is seeing more and more middle-class families come to his free health clinic because they can't afford anything else...

 

From the Vietnam veteran in Toledo, Ohio, who waited three months to see a doctor at the underfunded, understaffed VA center - worrying that the spot on his lung was cancer

 

To the Iraq War veteran in Springfield, Missouri, who wonders whether the VA will be around at all if John McCain becomes President

 

From the hospital nurse in Madison, Wisconsin who sees patients delay the care they need because they have no insurance

 

To the school nurse in Albuquerque who sees children who get sick over the weekend but wait until Monday to see her - because even though their parents work 2 jobs each, they can't afford the doctor's visit.

 

These are the people whose stories are fueling The Road to American Health Care.

And when the bus pulls into Denver and the Twin Cities for the Democratic and Republican National Conventions, it brings their stories with it - sending the message that the time for real, comprehensive change is now.