'Die-in' seeks Matheson's attention on health reform

A group of medical insurance reformers who wanted an audience with Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, tried to get his attention instead Monday evening with a group "die-in" for health care at the intersection of Wasatch Drive and 3800 South.

About 150 people at 6:30 p.m. — on the count of three — "died" en masse in protest of Matheson's refusal to hold any health-care reform town hall meetings. The event was to intersect with the congressman's scheduled route to Log Haven in Millcreek Canyon for a fundraiser Monday evening.

"He's going to meet with people who can afford to attend his fundraiser," said rally organizer Stephanie Bailey-Hatfield. "But we'd just like him to know while he's having wine and cheese, the people who are serving him are the people he needs to serve but isn't, people like us."

People like 9-year-old Bridget Phillips, who was carrying a placard and standing with her parents as rush-hour commuters on Wasatch Drive honked their support.

"I think everyone who isn't healthy or who gets sick and who needs to see the doctor should get to," the young protester said when asked why she was standing around in the hot sun with her mom and dad.

Tim and Leslie Phillips said they are among the newest members of Utah's 400,000 and growing group of uninsured by dropping their coverage last week because they no longer can afford the premium.

"I'm tired of being punished by being charged more and more because I have Crohn's disease," Leslie Phillips said. "We could get insurance, but the deductible is $7,500 and it was always a big fight."

"And we haven't even been to the doctor once in the past year," Tim Phillips added, saying that he was at the rally to show there are a lot of people who are doing their best to make it, "but it's not good enough to keep their insurance coverage."

Psarah Johnson said she wanted Matheson to know that "he and a lot of other people just don't know what it's like for people like us. I spend half my life on the phone trying to get my insurance company to pay for what they said they would pay for."

Another rally attendee had a message for Matheson as well. Former Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson, a fellow Democrat and possible challenger for Matheson's seat in Congress, said the Utah "Blue Dog is a yellow-belly on health-care reform. He hasn't upheld the ideals of party and he has betrayed they very people he represents, the people like those here today."