Above: Health Care is a human right protesters in New York.
As reported on the Raging Chicken Press last night, a dozen uninsured health care activists staged a sit-in inside the state capitol for medicaid expansion. If Governor Tom Corbett does not expand medicaid, his actions will leave over 700,000 Pennsylvania citizens uninsured and will cause the state economy to lose billions in economic windfalls.
Late last night, the demonstrators were escorted out of the capitol, and afterwards some of the demonstrators went back to governor’s mansion to continue their demonstration. However, while at the Governor’s mansion, a health care activist – AJ Marin – was arrested for “chalking” on a public sidewalk. According to his citation, he was arrested for writing a “derogatory remark about the governor on the sidewalk.” The “derogatory” comment that AJ was arrested for stated: “Governor Corbett has health insurance, we should too.”
To check out the group who is pushing for Medicaid expansion in Pennsylvania, please check out PA Health Access Network
According to a citation, Marin was charged with “disorderly conduct.”
More:
Huffington Post reported that this occurred a “A few days after a judge ruled that a San Diego, Calif. man must stand trial on 13 counts of vandalism over anti-big bank messages written in water-soluble chalk outside Bank of America branches — which together carry a maximum of 13 years in jail or a $13,000 fine.”
The root of the dispute is the governors refusal to expand Medicaid: “Corbett announced in February that he wouldn’t support expanding Medicaid rolls to at least 500,000 Pennsylvanians under President Barack Obama’s health care law. Democrats have been seeking to find a path forward, however, with lawmakers in the state Senate currently working to craft a bipartisan piece of legislation to offer health care coverage to more low income residents.”
Video of the sit-in that preceded the chalking arrest.