In the third-floor meeting room of the Marshall Student Center overlooking the sprawling University of South Florida campus, students from two universities united to work toward health care reform, a lofty goal for those in attendance.
On Thursday evening, over a half-dozen enthusiastic College Democrats (CD) from The University of Tampa collaborated with nearly two dozens USF counterparts to write letters supporting proposed legislation for health care reform to Senator Nelson and various newspaper editors.
The UT and USF chapter presidents, Kristen Bell and Ralph Reid, rallied and co-presided over the assembly.
Robin Rosenbaum, regional director of Organizing for America (OFA), was also present at the meeting.
The atmosphere of the meeting was lively; Reid began the meeting with a light-hearted icebreaker in an effort to ease any discomfort within the unfamiliar group and introduced each attendee to their peers.
Participants received supportive fliers for President Obama’s health care reform plan and a sign-up sheet, both provided by OFA. A brief outline of Obama’s proposal, a “myths vs. facts” sheet about the reform and a three-page packet of letter-writing examples advocating the plan were among the OFA handouts.
Before members broke off into small groups to either discuss their composition ideas with others or start writing individually, Rosenbaum expressed her gratitude and encouragement for all the students’ participation.
Bell, Reid and other CD officers were available to offer support or advice to their peers.
Ultimately, few people had utilized the OFA handouts or “talking points,” said Bell.
Instead, they mostly wrote their own personal stories and reasons for supporting the proposed legislation.
In Megan Shebosky’s letter, the UT CD secretary wrote of how her brother, diagnosed at age eight with leukemia, was lucky enough to have health insurance coverage through the Geisinger plan in Pennsylvania.
Without that coverage, her family could have faced financial ruin from medical bills.
She noted that Obama, in his recent address to Congress, praised the plan and encouraged the adoption of its cost-reducing elements.
Most UT students interviewed expressed concern about obtaining insurance after graduation.
“Eventually I’m going to have a job of my own,” said Leslie Gaarder, a UT sophomore, “and I’m going to have to pay for stuff like that [coverage] myself. And with just the ridiculousness of the way the [health insurance] system works right now, it’s something we need to work to change now– before it’s too late for us.”
“Health care reform,” said Reid, “is about reforming the entire health care insurance system. To make sure: a, we’ve got better quality insurers; b, it’s more affordable; c, it’s accessible to all people.”
Future efforts in support of health care reform will also be made with campus petitions, circulated by the UT CD chapter, Bell said.
In addition, she suggested trips “down to the OFA office, which is in Ybor … [and] calling people to say, ‘call Sen. Nelson, write some letters, and talk to neighbors.'”
For more information on Organizing for America, visit http://www.barackobama.com.