On Thursday, March 24, members of the grassroots Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign cheered on as the Vermont House of Representatives voted 92 – 49 to pass the universal healthcare bill, H.202.  The House bill passed as a result of thousands of Vermonters speaking out and demanding that healthcare be treated as a human right and provided as a public good.

“This bill puts Vermont on a path to a system in which every Vermonter can get the healthcare they need when they need it, and the financing of that system is shared equitably by all. This is a huge step forward,” says Peg Franzen, President of the Vermont Workers’ Center.

The Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign still hopes to strengthen the bill in the Senate based on its human rights principles of universality, equity, accountability, transparency and participation.

“This bill is a road map and it gets Vermont started down that road. We are fighting hard to have human rights principles be the guidelines for this bill, because we must have a system that works for everyone,” says Franzen. “We’re asking the Senate to specify

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After a rally supported by the Kentucky AFL-CIO, Ironworkers, Kentucky Jobs with Justice, Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Nurses Professional Organization, Kentuckians for Single Payer and more on Thursday, October 29th, more than a dozen activists took over the lobby of Humana headquarters in downtown Louisville to show their support for universal health care. After being locked in the Humana building overnight and awakened at 5AM by local news media, the 24-hour take-over ended on Friday, October 30th as eight powerful people exited the Humana building and were greeted by a welcoming crowd of folks gathered for a closing rally.