GBIO: “The call has gone forth, the commonwealth and powers of eternity are waiting, now is the time to act!”

No organization is more responsible for the historic passage of health reform than GBIO, the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization. GBIO’s 70 institutions include religious congregations, community development corporations, unions and other civic organizations. GBIO injected the moral imperative into the health reform debate that so often centers around pure economics, making universal coverage a sacred attempt to bring the holy to our society.

Now GBIO President Rev. Hurmon Hamilton has joined the call for Governor Patrick’s shared responsibility funding bill for health reform in a prophetic post on WBUR’s Commonhealth blog.

Rev. Hamilton expressed confidence that Speaker DiMasi will stand with the GBIO and the goals of health reform by quickly putting a fair funding measure before the House. He linked to this video of the Speaker’s appearance before over 1700 people at a GBIO rally in May, as the Speaker pledged to continue to stand with the most needy in our state:

Reverend Hamilton reminds us that poor people have already made significant sacrifices; now is the time for other stakeholders to contribute to our shared goals:

The collective contribution of consumers through increased premiums and co-payments is roughly 30 million dollars. These are families with limited resources struggling under enormous economic burden in a deepening recession. Surely if these families are assuming their fair share of responsibility and sacrifice – you can also. And specifically to the business community who have verbalized some opposition to coming to the table of shared responsibility and sacrifice, the Governor’s proposal simply calls you to act by keeping your “word.” The Fair and Reasonable agreement was designed to generate 103 million dollars in the first three years. To date, because of loopholes created by the previous administration this agreement has only produced 15 million dollars. Surely this is anything but fair.

The tens of thousands of GBIO activists will continue to be a formidable force for justice in Massachusetts.
Brian Rosman