By Raanan Geberer
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN — A small crowd met in front of Borough Hall Wednesday in a rally for the healthcare “public option,� part of a series of rallies nationwide sponsored by the Democratic Party-allied advocacy group moveon.org.

The rally was highlighted by Borough President Marty Markowitz, who gave listeners a rare look at his childhood.

Calling himself “a child of poverty� whose father had died and whose mother was unable to work, he remembered that when he, his mother or his sisters got sick they had two choices. Either they could go to the emergency room or to a public health clinic on Flatbush Avenue.

At the latter, he said, people weren’t even addressed by their names — they were only given numbers. And if the clinic didn’t get to them by closing time, they’d have to come the next day, pick a number and start all over again.

Although he declared himself “in favor of capitalism,� the borough president pointed out that the U.S. is the only industrialized democracy without any form of generalized government healthcare. He listed the nations that do, one after another: “Singapore, Spain, Iceland, Japan, Portugal, England.�

He, like the others at the rally, praised Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) for leading to fight to include a public option (meaning an option to participate in a government-run healthcare plan for those who can’t get healthcare through their employers) in the upcoming healthcare bill in Washington.

“Like me, he’s as Brooklyn as they come,� said Markowitz. The borough president closed by chiding representatives and senators — most from the South or the Midwest — who oppose the public-option idea.

Those who don’t understand the idea, he said, referencing Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changing,� should just “step aside.�

Deputy Borough President Yvonne Graham also spoke. A registered nurse who has spent most of her life in the public health field, she said, “I’ve known people who’ve given birth at home because they had no insurance. I know cases where people died at home because they’ve had no insurance.�

Next to speak was Dr. Manel Silva, a Brooklyn physician who works with adolescents at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan.

Although physicians get paid more from private insurance companies, she said, the majority of them support the public-option idea because they believe it would be better for their patients. She often has to argue with the insurance companies on behalf of her patients, and does so on her own time.

“I knew one young man who had been in the foster-care system and then got a job but was laid off,� she recalled. “He then got unemployment, but was making six dollars a month too much to get Medicaid.�

This would have been a problem in and of itself, she said, but it was made worse by the fact that he was a diabetic who needed insulin. “Fortunately,� she said, “I was able to find a free clinic.� Brooklyn Republicans have criticized the public option, saying the main factor driving up the cost of healthcare is the high cost of legal fees and lawsuits.

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