Dems Rally for Health Care

A group of about fifty student members of the Harvard College Democrats turned out yesterday morning for the “Health Care Can’t Wait” Rally in Boston Common in a show of support for the comprehensive reform bill expected to come before Congress this fall.

Several thousand people turned out for the rally, which included presentations from four Congressmen and testimonials from a janitor, a doctor, a security officer, and a nurse. The event was sponsored by Organizing for America, which President Obama founded in Jan. to advance his administration’s policy agenda, and the progressive advocacy group, Health Care for America Now.

In Washington, moderate and progressive Democrats are still wrangling over the details of the bill, but the speakers at the Saturday event invoked the memory of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy ’54-’56 to push for keeping the controversial “public option” provision in the final bill.

The Dems gathered in the morning on Monday carrying signs, coffee, and bagged lunches. They departed for Boston after a brief stump speech by President Eva Z. Lam ’10 in front of the John Harvard statue.

Lam encouraged the students to avoid engaging with protestors, in reference to the raucous protests that dominated the town-hall meetings held by members of congress in August. She joked that the group should “stash their guns,” before the rally.

But not all shied away from a heated debate. Jason Q. Berkenfeld ’11 welcomed engagement on the bill, calling the health care debate “the fight of our generation.”

“The status quo is literally not an option. We’re here to support Barack Obama and his push for change,” he said.

Lam emphasized the significance of health care coverage for young people, as she said the 18-29 age bracket is the most likely group not to have health insurance.

“I think that people are starting to realize that this matters to us, and this is the best chance we’ve had in making a significant change to the health care system since 1994,” she said.

At the rally, the Harvard contingent was particularly boisterous during a speech by Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, who has not publicly come out in favor of a public health insurance option. Harvard students were among the first to begin a chant of “Public option: do we have your vote?” that eventually drowned out the Congressman’s speech and led him to leave the microphone.

The student turnout was brought about by an intensive, week-long effort by the Dems to ensure Harvard’s involvement in the rally. According to Lam, members of the Dems knocked on every freshman door to encourage attendance. They also pushed members of the Dems to bring “roommates, friends, neighbors, and random people they met in the dining hall,” Lam said.

­— Staff writer Evan T. R. Rosenman can be reached at erosenm@fas.harvard.edu.