THE CIGNA 7 SPEAK
Some of the members who were arrested on October 8 wanted to tell of their experience and the reasons they put themselves on the line that day. Here is what they had to say.
Marilena Marchetti
Remember Baucus' Raucous Caucus?! The 13 doctors and activists who were arrested on May 5 for interrupting Max Baucus' senate hearing designed to exclude the voice of true universal health care—single-payer, Medicare for all? Like many people who are passionate about health care reform, I felt revitalized in keeping up the fight for Medicare for all when I saw blasted all over the media that 13 people had put their safety on the line to resist the massive forces of the medical-industrial complex that are systematically dismembering the health care reform initiative taken up by congress and Obama. For me, getting arrested with the "Cigna 7" at a non-violent sit-in at Cigna corporation in downtown Chicago on October 8 was about injecting the single-payer movement with a good dose of momentum like the Baucus 13 had back in May.
Breaking into the mainstream media—an entity so tightly guarded by the Wall Street execs who stand to lose a great deal of wealth from the demise of the medical-industrial complex—wasn't easy, but we did it. By enabling people to witness our level of commitment in fighting for Medicare for all, my hopes are that our actions buoy the fighting spirit of fellow activists within the movement and strengthen the confidence of those still on the outside. Studies show that millions of Americans want a government-run health care program, 75% of the population in fact. Thanks to our fastidious organizing and personal sacrifice, we were able to show all those folks who know health care is a human right and may feel alone in their belief that indeed, the health care justice movement is flourishing and waiting for them to join.
I knew getting arrested was going to be scary, but I was willing to risk it because I'm so sick of health care being treated like a pair of Air Jordans. It's not a commodity. It's something all people need. Shortly after we 7 activists entered Cigna and made our demand that the corporation immediately approve all doctor- recommended treatment, my fear subsided. Chanting in solidarity with my fellow activists in the marble, castle-like atrium of the headquarters of Cigna gave me courage. I remember looking in the eyes of police who expressed support for our claims and lamented having to drag us out of the building as we resisted arrest non-violently by letting our bodies go limp stating we refused to leave volitionally until Cigna met our demand. I felt sorrowful that we live in a society where we have to suppress the generous empathy implicit in our shared humanity in order to carry out violence against each other on behalf of the bosses so we don't lose our jobs. The time spent at the booking stationand the soreness in my shoulders and upper back were worthy sacrifices to make to give people a glimpse of the virility of the movement to make health care a human right.
I am grateful to have had the resources and ability to participate in the action and hope it inspires people to get involved in the fight 'cause it ain’t over yet!
Timi Papas
Two things—statistics and the news—got me to the point of deciding to be part of the Cigna 7.
The statistics included a doubling of the number of unnecessary U.S. deaths per year directly attributable to lack of heath care (now 44,000+ according to Harvard Univ. research) and the reported $1,400,000 spent PER DAY by the insurance industry lobby to prevent real reform. (They don't mind fake reform, as in the case of either a non-existent public option or a public option so watered down that it will be useless. In either case, that's what it looks like Congress is about to do.)
The news came via various media—the networks and cable, both standard and progressive. And then, on Monday and Tuesday, October 5 and 6, I watched the Senate Finance Committee debate on C-SPAN. Apart from some fairly decent amendments put forward by a few Democrats, the whole procedure was just appalling, especially in light of the fact that in other parts of Capitol Hill (let alone the White House) men and women are debating the possibility of INCREASING military spending and sending more troops to Afghanistan! The hypocrisy and the outright lies (from certain Democrats and all Republicans) became just too much to bear.
When I learned, the previous week, that Chicago Single Payer Action Network (ChiSPAN) was going to hold a demonstration and even a sit-in to raise their voices against the injustice of the current US health care morass, I knew I'd go. Two days before the event I went to one of ChiSPAN's weekly meetings, saw the commitment of those around the table, learned that they had been advocating intensely for a single-payer system for quite a few years, and decided that this was where I belonged. What was surprising (gulp!) was that I volunteered to actually sit-in and risk arrest! Why did I do it? Because when you know, clearly, how terrible things are, you just have to speak up. Like the Steve Goodman song says, "I've got to do it now, because it will be too late when I'm gone."
So yes, it was scary. We fully expected not only to be arrested, but held overnight in jail as were the New York protesters last week. But if our action helps build momentum for the next sit-in on October 15, and onward to the next demonstration, and then helps more men and women in Congress find some strength in their backbones, it was worth it. I hope President Obama was watching too…
Helen Redmond
My three top reasons to get arrested at the offices of Cigna:
1. I hate the insurance industry. They kill people. In fact, they are responsible for the unnecessary deaths of 45,000 people every year in this country: That's 122 people every day! I want them put out of business. My sense of outrage inevitably led me to the enormous, shiny granite and marble atrium of the building where Cigna has offices. It's ground zero for life and death decisions, the place where bureaucrats make the call to either approve or deny coverage and medical treatment. And it's where the executives grow fat and rich off of our premium dollars. Last year the CEO of Cigna, H. Edward Hanway, took home—no way did he earn it—22.7 million in compensation. It makes me sick.
2. I have worked in health care for over 15 years and every year the crisis gets worse, the numbers of uninsured increase, and my patients suffer more. I work at Fantus Clinic, which is part of the Cook County clinic system. A few weeks ago I saw an undocumentedand uninsured elderly patient. She needed oxygen. The patient had a tank of oxygen given to her from a medical supply company when she was discharged from another hospital, but she was running out and they refused to deliver more unless she paid. I thought to myself, What kind of a country do we live in that would deny oxygen to a human being because they couldn't pay? It makes me sick.
3. As a medical social worker, I try to adhere to the Social Work Code of Ethics. It's damn hard in a health care system that daily denies delays, and rations care. There are two ethical principles that stand out for me in the Code of Ethics. The first is: Social workers challenge social injustice. Our health care system is clearly unjust and has to be challenged. The second is: Social workers’ primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems. Getting arrested is one of the most radical ways to address the social problem of people in need of medical care and dying from lack of access to it. It makes me sick.
The decision to do civil disobedience was endorsed by the group and thoroughly planned by everyone. I was constantly amazed by the intelligence, commitment and organizational abilities of the members of CSPAN to make the action happen.
On the morning of October 8, we were confident in the plan and ready to execute it.
The 7 of us risking arrest exited a café across the street from Cigna a little before 10 a.m. We all had our bright yellow t-shirts on that declared on the front, “Victim of Private Health Insurance” and on the back, “Medicare for All,” but they were hidden under our jackets. We would take them off once we got inside and sat down for maximum affect.
There was a group of single-payer protesters rallying on the other corner that distracted the attention of building security goons. As Tom Wilson and I walked down the sidewalk toward the building, I was anxious and asked him to hold my hand. Being with Tom made me feel secure, he’s an old pro at civil disobedience and is one of the most calm, centered persons I know. We easily entered the side entrance revolving door and motioned to those behind us to follow. We faked the security guards out—they thought we would try to get past them at the front entrance. Our first victory: All 7 of us got in the building!
We went up to the lobby desk and asked that a top executive from Cigna come down and meet us and accept our demand to stop denying care to all patients. The rest of the conversation with security, the building manager—her nametag said Heather—and the police was pure theater. Scripted, laughable, but necessary.
We all sat down in a circle and took our jackets off. Marilena Marchetti started the chanting and that helped us focus and stay calm. The atrium acoustics were perfect and our loud voices ricocheted off the walls and were heard by workers on the upper floors of the building. As I looked around at the 6 people with me, I felt so much pride and power. And then one by one we were dragged away. We had made the decision the night before to go limp, to not walk out in order to dramatize the seriousness of the issue. We could face more serious charges like resisting arrest but every one of us was picked up and carried out. Our second victory. I was the last one and it felt lonely to be sitting by myself in the huge lobby so I was actually glad when the police came back for me.
I had never wanted to be arrested more in my life. The cause was, without a doubt, worth it. I will never regret getting arrested in the struggle to make health care a human right for everyone in the United States.
Interestingly, several of the police officers who arrested us agreed with our cause. One of the officers who approached us in the lobby said his union was fighting with management over the cost of health coverage. When we were at the station another officer told us we had “good points” about how bad the insurance industry was.
The sit-in and arrest got lots of media attention. Our third victory.
We have many more victories to win. Next time we need 70 people getting arrested. After that, 700. And after that, 7000. But it started with 7. You have to start somewhere, right?
Tom Wilson
Last Thursday, I was nervous as a cat but determined to make a point. I knew we had a wonderful support group around us, that we had discussed most probable scenarios, and had a fairly good plan. We had also done civil disobedience training with 8th Day Center and had prepared ourselves psychologically. We were to meet at 9:00 a.m., but I was so pumped I got to the Cafe Bacci, our meeting spot, at 8:30 after a quick stop at the office. We were busy talking about the action, remembering the talking points, writing lawyers, media and support peoples phone numbers all over our arms and making sure our bladders were empty.
A little after 10:00, we could see that a sizable group had met across the street from Cigna, so we, the seven intending to do the sit-in, walked a block away so as to not be identified with the protesters. There were several building security people out front. Then we waited for the call to do our thing. It was not long and we broke up into 3 groups to go in inconspicuously and then meet at the reception desk, actually a huge counter covered in marble.
Because we had a lot of news coverage before the action, I had thought it might be tricky to get in the building, but it was a cinch. Once inside, Helen asked for Cigna. They asked if we had an appointment. We said no, but that we had demands to deliver to them. These were 1) That we get to talk to the boss and 2) That Cigna agree to immediately pay for all doctor-recommended treatments.
These were immediately denied by the building staff. They said they would not call up, but there was an automated system we could use. We said we would sit down and wait for them. At this point, we all took off shirts or jackets covering our bright yellow "Medicare for All" shirts. Marilena led us in chants and we were doing 3 different ones, such as "Cigna profits, Patients die! Medicare for All!" With all the marble we sounded pretty loud. Building security was there, and in fairly short order, so were the Chicago police.
The police showed up quite quickly and gave us 2 warnings, but we rejected their opportunities to leave without arrest and they clearly knew it would end in arrest. They dragged us across the marble floors easily with only one officer pulling us by our arms. The cement outside was a different story and it took two to lift us until we were at the paddy wagon where we all voluntarily went up the steps.
During the arrests they didn't handcuff us, which can be quite uncomfortable. The police clearly didn't fear us and were fairly sympathetic—but they did manage to drop me. I was about 6 inches off the ground, though I was in no danger or had no pain. I was prepared to be in jail all day and all night if necessary, so it was a pleasant surprise to be released so quickly.
After we were released we all went back to Cafe Bacci and met with our support team. After a lot of hugs and high-fives all around, we discussed the action. I summed up that our only real mistake was to go at 10:10 into Cigna because we were already hauled away when NBC arrived. I heard the rally outside was great and I was happy that state representative Mary Flowers came. She called me later to thank us for what we did. I think we kept momentum going nationally and set the stage for an even bigger impact on October 15.