Sen. McCain Refuses to Meet with Workers Struggling with the Healthcare Crisis

For Immediate Release            Contact: Steve Smith & Alison Omen
                                                                   202-637-5018

Sen. McCain Refuses to Meet with Workers Struggling with the Healthcare Crisis

McCain Invited to Sit Down With Workers, Chooses Fundraiser

(Jacksonville, FL, Apr. 3) Sen. John McCain today declined to participate in a roundtable with Jacksonville workers dealing with the healthcare crisis and instead chose to host a $2,300 a plate fundraiser. The roundtable participants took their message on health care to his fundraiser, and called on him to meet with working families struggling in Jacksonville instead of the wealthy few.

Participants also detailed what healthcare $2,300 could provide for a family. In general, it would cover 33-57 percent of what a family pays—on top of any premium—for the most common type of employer provided plan. According to participants, this is a type of plan that workers would be at risk of losing under Sen. McCain’s healthcare proposal.

At the roundtable, participants planned to discuss how the healthcare crisis is impacting their families and communities and ask Sen. McCain what specific steps he would take to remedy it.

Fran Benso planned to ask about retiree benefits and Sen. McCain’s votes to decrease Medicare and Medicaid spending. She said, “Retired workers are often confused and unable to deal with the intricacies of healthcare today. When policies change and premiums go up, retirees can’t afford to pay the increase and are left in the cold. Sen. McCain needs to hear how much retired workers need help now.”

Ken Carter, a union worker, struggles with healthcare costs. “Every year, our healthcare benefits are chipped away more. We need healthcare for all, and nothing less. Sen. McCain’s plan doesn’t deliver.”

The roundtable was to take place immediately after Sen. McCain’s campaign event as part of his “Service to America” tour. 

AFL-CIO working families issued invitations to Sen. McCain in the cities where he is visiting this week. The purpose of the roundtables is to further the dialogue about how to help families struggling in the economy and to give Sen. McCain an opportunity to hear how the economic crisis is impacting the real lives of America’s workers.

“McCain Revealed,” is an AFL-CIO national campaign to expose Sen. John McCain's economic record and plans to continue the failed Bush economic agenda and to generate public pressure on him to support policies that advance their interests. To learn more, go to www.mccainrevealed.org.

###