LOCATION: The RAM free Clinic at The Forum, Inglewood, California - August 14, 2009

TITLE: To Your Health...

INTROS: "Hello America, My name is Oscar..." "My name is Dr Jessie..." "My name is Leonard..."

MESSAGE: 47 million Americans have no health insurance.

LEE: I don't have money for health and dental - medical and dental.

OSCAR: My wife's a diabetic so keeping up on her medical needs is such an important priority in my life.

ALICIA: I broke my leg about 8 years ago and the cost at the time with having really decent health coverage really took me down. I was no longer able to afford health insurance, subsequently.

MESSAGE: The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without a universal health insurance system.

NICK: I turned 50 and my health insurance went up to 500 bucks a month so it was like a good time to get rid of me (laughter)

DR JESSIE: I have health insurance and I have medical insurance and dental insurance but my co payment is so high that working out of my retirement is almost prohibitive.

LEONARD: My deductible is high... In order for me to get dental work, now I have to pay like 700 and if they don't get you going to work within a month then I have to come up with another 700 and I don't get that much money a month to start with... along with other bills... It's kinda hard... Times are hard these days.

MESSAGE: While the CEOs of America's largest health insurers are making record salaries, the average American is priced out of health insurance and healthcare.

RENE(Heath care volunteer): I don't see the doctor regularly -- I buy my own medical insurance and generally speaking, I don't go to the doctor unless I'm seriously injured.

ALICIA: I've put all my resources into bettering my health, but what that has meant, is that literally, I have no money now.

RENE(Heath care volunteer): I'm an emergency nurse and an emergency care nurse by trade...Some Doctors don't accept Medical, some doctors will only accept private pay -- if you don't have the cash, you're not going to get in. So, you don't get normal physicals. The fact that you don't get this kind of preventive medicine then end up costing our entire system -- A much greater issue because now instead of taking something to prevent a problem, we wait till that problem happens and is more expensive to treat.

MESSAGE: Half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills. Three-quarters of those filing are people with health insurance.

ALICIA: We've become so profit centric that we've almost lost sight of how to build community around helping each other deal with our health in a productive, long-term beneficial way.

LEONARD: It shouldn't be all about money.It seems like this world is based on money - what you got. If you got nothing, you get nothing.

MESSAGE: 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance every single day. LEE: Right now we have denial of care and that denial of care is paying for the multimillion dollar salaries of executives and CEOs and the shareholders of private health insurance companies.

DR JESSIE: I think that people are an important resource especially today when there's so much confusion going on - Any help that you can give to people only helps make it better for the next generation. And that is important to me.

MESSAGE: More than 9 million children lack health insurance in America.

DR JESSIE: I don't have any grand children myself, but for the people that I... My brother and his grandchildren...my friends and the children that come to my center,I consider them my children and for my children, health care is important.

MESSAGE: A baby born in El Salvador has a better change of surviving than a baby in Detroit.

DR JESSIE: And I think... you can call it what you want -- fascism, socialism... People can call it a name, but a name doesn't help the people... Put a label and then you put them on a shelf -- so I think that it's important that we look at people and give them the help that they need right now.

MESSAGE: Healthcare in the U.S. is ranked 37th in the world, after Columbia, Morocco, and Slovenia.

OSCAR: This country really needs health care reform.

LEE: This country needs medical care and health care is a human right and we're a rich country -- I think we're the only industrialized country that doesn't have health care for everyone.

OSCAR: Sometimes I feel like maybe my wife and I should just maybe pick up and move to Canada -- Just become Canadians or something!

ALICIA: I am adamantly in favor of a single-payer health system. I really believe in freedom of choice and I believe in a free market and I think there are a lot of misconceptions out there that somehow, if we advocate for a single payer health system, and succeed in putting one in place that it's somehow going to limit choice and that's just not... That is not what happened in Canada. I don't think that's going to happen here.

OSCAR: Like I said... just become Canadians or something.

MESSAGE: Health care can't wait...

OSCAR: What is there to debate about? Health care... We all need health care...It should be a non issue. That's.. that's it!

THE END

A video by Meena Nanji and Ofunne Obiamiwe. -- MoviesforChange.