Oregon Public Broadcasting

A new coalition of health care reform advocates kicked off a $40 million advertising campaign in over 50 U.S. cities Tuesday.

In Northeast Portland, local members of the “Health Care for America Now” coalition gathered outside a clinic.

Mary Botkin is with the AFSCME Council, a union representing over 20,000 Oregon workers.

Mary Botkin: “It is time for us to demand the answers to basic questions -- how much profit is enough?  Where’s the ceiling?  To every elected official and every politician we ask you today -- which side are you on?”
 
The new coalition wants to see Congress pass health care reform legislation in 2009.  The group wants people to be able to keep their current private insurance, get another private plan, or choose a public insurance plan.

And the group is calling for increased oversight of insurance companies and their profits.