Health Care for America Now launched the South Dakota piece of its $40 million, 44-state campaign for health-care reform Tuesday at a news conference in Sioux Falls.
"I'm excited to be starting a conversation about quality, affordable health care for every American here in South Dakota," said Chas Jewett, a community organizer on staff with Health Care for America Now. She is based in Sioux Falls and hopes to have a West River director on board in the near future.
Health Care for America Now is a coalition of 32 national organizations, each of which committed $500,000 to the effort to convince the American public that health care is too important to leave to insurance companies and medical providers only.
Health care crosses all lines - economic, social and political, Jewett said. "Everyone has to go to the doctor. Republican or Democrat, you have to go to the hospital."
She appealed to South Dakota residents to share their stories and testimonials with the campaign in the coming weeks and months. "This issue has sort of been hanging around, election cycle after election cycle, and nothing has really been done about it," she said.
Jewett can be reached at 605-431-3594 or by e-mail at chasjewett@gmail.com.
Between now and Election Day, Health Care for America Now plans to spend $25 million in paid media and have 100 organizers, such as Jewett, in 45 states.
Jewett said she has heard from South Dakotans who are paying $800 per month in health-insurance premiums for their family, which buys a policy with a $5,000 deductible.
"They call them 'skinny policies'," she said. "You pay a lot for them, but they don't pay much. That's just ridiculous. Affordability is the issue here in South Dakota.
She hopes to pull together a broad coalition of local and statewide interests, including agricultural groups, that might have an interest in offering more health-care options, including nationalized health care.
"A lot of people in South Dakota - especially farmers, ranchers and small business people - want to be able to pay for what they get, but they can't. The health-insurance system is broken."
