Crowd of 300 win commitment from Rep. Loretta Sanchez to support health reform

August 05, 2009

On August 2, over 300 community members from Orange County, CA participated in a prayer vigil with Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, a Blue Dog Democrat from Santa Ana, to highlight the community's desire and need for comprehensive health care reform this year.  

Organized by PICO affiliate Orange County Congregation Community Organization (OCCCO), clergy from various faith traditions participated in the event, and Orange County Diocese Auxilary Bishop Luong prayed in English, Vietnamese and Spanish for better health care for all.  The recent cuts to California's SCHIP - Healthy Families - has left many parents and children afraid of where their health care will be in the future, and so a bold call was made to Congresswoman Sanchez to commit to moving forward on national health care legislation and standing firm in her support for an Affordability Standard that helps families up to 400% of the federal poverty level to buy insurance.  

Congresswoman Sanchez responded to her constituents with a strong "yes," and committed to send a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing her support for inclusion of an Affordability Standard in health reform legislation.

OCCCO leaders also signed a letter to send to Sen. Dianne Feinstein to urge her to support health reform.  View the letter here.

For more information about OCCCO, visit www.occcopico.org

Media Coverage

300 gather to pray for affordable health care, Orange County Register