Lauri Anderson?s friend died of pneumonia. But her friend didn?t really die from pneumonia, Anderson said; her friend died from not having health insurance.

Anne Besser, a stock clerk at the Wal-Mart in Fridley, waves more than $1,100 in medical bills that she has to pay out of her wage of $10.94 an hour because Wal-Mart?s health insurance won?t cover the bills. Union Advocate photo

Without health insurance, her friend didn?t get treatment early enough, and couldn?t afford the antibiotics that could have saved her life, Anderson said. ?It?s not time to speak out ? it?s time to yell out,? she said Tuesday at a rally outside Regions Hospital. ?It?s time for all of us to have affordable health care.?

Anderson?s union, UFCW Local 789, spearheaded the rally, intended to keep pressure on the Minnesota Legislature to make health care a priority and to hold employers who don?t provide adequate health insurance accountable.

Workers, taxpayers pick up the tab.
The emergency room at Regions is the only health insurance some workers have when corporations like Wal-Mart fail to provide decent health coverage, said Local 789 president Don Seaquist. He pointed to a study released earlier this year by the Wake Up Wal-Mart campaign, which calculated that Wal-Mart alone shifts $30 million a year in health costs onto Minnesota taxpayers.

Despite Wal-Mart?s well-publicized claims that it is improving insurance, 57 percent of its workers still lack company health insurance. Even for workers who have insurance, it?s ?garbage,? said Anne Besser, a stock clerk at the Wal-Mart in Fridley.

Besser waved medical bills totaling more than $1,100 ? bills her Wal-Mart health insurance won?t pay, including physical therapy, lab work and more. With a wage of only $10.94 an hour, she said, it?s taking her more than two years to try to pay the bills off.

Beyond that, she said, Wal-Mart?s health plan fails to cover even some basics ? such as annual physicals, immunizations for anyone older than 6 years of age, and routine preventive exams for women.

The campaign against companies like Wal-Mart will last ?as long as it takes for every job to provide decent wages, affordable health care, and secure retirement and the right to organize,? said Tom Woodruff, international vice president for SEIU and head of Change to Win Federation?s Center for Strategic Organizing.

Tuesday?s rally was part of a coordinated campaign by Change to Win unions to ?Make Work Pay.?The campaign, featuring rallies in 35 cities, newspaper ads and television commercials, wants to raise awareness and change trends that are making a middle-class life out of reach for many workers.