Pocono News Section

Healthcare Reform Push in Scranton

Healthcare Reform Push in Scranton - Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 5:35PM EST

Reported by: Eric Deabill
Tuesday, Oct 20, 2009 @ 05:35pm EDT
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY -- Roxanne Pauline has been working for months to bring about healthcare reform. Tuesday night's vigil is just her latest effort.

ÒWe want to point that out tonight, that there are people in those emergency rooms that could be taken care of with good primary care," she said.

Supporters of healthcare reform plan started early Tuesday. They held a demonstration outside of Senator Casey and Senator Specter's offices.

Now they're moving on to all three of Scranton's hospitals. They want to talk with people and clear up any misconceptions about the bills currently in congress.

Barb Zangre of Pittston said, ÒThe health insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies have a lot of money and they know how to get it out there. Many of them are sending out scare tactics, especially to the seniors."

This group says two people die everyday in Pennsylvania because they lack access to healthcare. ÒYou can give millions of statistics, or even just if itÕs one, one is too many deaths that are unnecessary," said Pauline.

ÒThere's a lot of money in these bills for training for new physicians, training for nurse practitioners and different types of people to take care of you," added Zangre.