November 14, 2009

About 100 people waved signs and chanted “Kill the bill” as they marched through downtown Springfield Saturday in protest of the recently passed U.S. House health-reform bill and other proposals under debate in Congress.

“The majority of Americans are against this,” said Robert Moon, 33, a Decatur resident and regional coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots for Illinois, which organized the midday rally. “I think this would have already passed Congress if there weren’t such visible outrage at this at every turn.”

Many marchers carried American flags and homemade signs that said: “Save Choice in Health Care,” “No Socialism,” “No Bama Healthcare,” “Our Republic is Under Attack” and “I Can’t Afford Everyone Else’s Health Care.”

Pamela Johnson, 55, of Decatur, looked out over the all-white group and she and her fellow demonstrators are not mean or racist.

“They’re not against poor people,” she told The State Journal-Register. “Please don’t present us as radical nut-bags.”

She said [Alleged] President Barack Obama and his Congressional supporters are pushing for too many changes and too much governmental intrusion in society in the name of health reform.

Johnson gets health coverage through her husband, a retired Caterpillar Inc. project manager, but she said the couple will have to pay more because of changes Caterpillar is making in its nonunion retiree benefits.

Still, she doesn’t see the House bill or similar proposals as making life easier for her.

“It’s not up to the government to provide us with health care,” she said.

Moon, a writer who said he is insured through his wife’s job as a research scientist, said federal tort reforms and simplification of the tax code would go a long way toward making health insurance more affordable.

Robert Sexton, 70, a retired Decatur police officer, said he marched because he fears the proposals in Congress will cut his Medicare benefits. “We’re dealing with a bunch of unknowns,” he said.

Russell Tartock, 48, recently was laid off from his job as an engineer for Honeywell Hobbs’ Springfield plant and is paying high health insurance rates for himself and his wife through the federal COBRA law. But the couple said they see no benefit in expanding the government’s involvement in health insurance.

“We believe strongly in personal responsibility,” Russell Tartock said.