There's this huge win against Big Health Care, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times this week:
Attorney Tom Geoghegan will announce today a preliminary settlement of a class-action suit he brought six years ago against Advocate Health Care that will result in free or reduced-price care for low-income patients at Advocate hospitals in Chicago.
"They were charging uninsured or under-insured people the full sticker price instead of the lower rates that people with insurance pay," Geoghegan said. For example, a birth that would have cost $1,800 for a Blue Cross patient would have cost $5,000 for an uninsured patient, Geoghegan said.
Under the settlement, someone living at twice the poverty line or less would be charged nothing, he said.
Then there's this potentially huge win for city workers, as reported this week by the Chicago Tribune:
Victory may be near in workers' pay suit
Retirees say city owes employees back wages
Chicago Tribune
Retired city workers who think the Daley administration cheated them out of back pay are closer to getting money they say long has been owed to them.
Four retirees filed a federal lawsuit against the city in January 2006 alleging the city actively encouraged them and other workers to retire through an early buyout program but "concealed a plan" to deny them retroactive pay for hours they worked before leaving the payroll.
Since then, they have won a series of crucial legal decisions: The retirees defeated the city's attempts to get their lawsuit thrown out, succeeded in getting class-action status and persuaded the court to find that they were entitled to receive the back pay.
A lawyer for the retirees, Thomas Geoghegan, said the city has a moral obligation to pay. "They ought to pay people the money they worked for," he said. "That is especially important at this time, as the value of people's homes and investments has declined. They should not be trying to nickel-and-dime these retirees."
Defending uninsured people and ripped-off municipal workers aren't glam cases - these are the tough slogs that are the hardest to fight, but they are the routine cases Tom takes on because they make the most difference for the kinds of people who get routinely ignored by the political class. This is why I've said it before and I'll say it again: Having even one Tom Geoghegan in Congress would be a major step forward for the progressive movement.
Obviously, Tom's career choice in advocating for regular folks is not the career path of a guy looking to make lots of connections to big donors. That's why grassroots fundraising is key for his candidacy - and why I keep asking folks to donate to his candidacy through the Better Democrats Act Blue page. If you can, throw Tom some money if you have a little - believe me, as a journalist, I know it's tough out there right now, but if you can spare something, this is about as good a cause as there is for the progressive movement. |
