Barack Obama: AFL-CIO address

From AFL-CIO Convention

President Obama electrified the thousands of attendees at the AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh. He spoke powerfully about the importance of unions, and our urgent need to rein in insurance company abuses and for real health insurance reform. Building on this momentum, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Rich Trumka exhorted attendees to heed the president’s words and take action.

Delegates and activists responded by getting started right on the convention floor.

They are making calls to their friends and local unions asking them to put together actions to expose the big insurance companies that are blocking meaningful reform. It is truly inspiring to see so many union members in one place taking action together.

President Obama said:

"We’ll grow our middle class by finally providing quality, affordable health insurance in this country. Few have fought for this cause harder, and few have championed it longer than you, our brothers and sisters in organized labor. You’re making phone calls, knocking on doors and showing up at rallies—because you know why this is so important.

You know this isn’t just about the millions of Americans who don’t have health insurance. It’s about the hundreds of millions more who do: Americans who worry that they’ll lose their insurance if they lose their job, who fear their coverage will be denied because of a pre-existing condition, who know that one accident or illness could mean financial ruin."

President Obama knows we need health care reform. You know we need health care reform, but the insurance companies and their corporate front groups are fighting desperately to stop it. We're not going to let them do that. We need health insurance reform so that no one is ever denied coverage because of a "pre-existing condition." We need health insurance reform so that no one is ever dropped by their insurance company simply because they are too expensive.

Rich Trumka told the convention:

"Health care reform—our time is NOW! And we are FIRED UP! What we do in the next two weeks is going to make the difference between winning and losing on health care reform. Today, we’re going to kick off a campaign to really hold insurers accountable—for denying care and shutting people out and using our members’ premium dollars to try to kill a public health care option."