Pearl Jam guitarist speaks out for affordable health care

Pearl Jam's Mike McCready

By Robert Gleim

Proving that access to affordable health care is something that affects everyone, Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready is urging voters to support the Affordable Care Act. McCready was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease — which affects the gastro-intestinal tract and causes a wide variety of symptoms — when he was 21. As a result, he has been denied health care coverage twice since then, even though he was a member of an incredibly successful rock band.

“The people who don’t have those kind of resources, they are stuck, they have no choices,” he says. “But now, we can’t be denied insurance because of something we can’t change—our illnesses. We have choices, we can be insured, and we can focus on having a life.”

The Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, is designed to decrease the number of uninsured Americans and prevent health insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and from setting premiums based on people’s health status.

McCready started this petition on SignOn.org where people can pledge their votes to back candidates who support the Affordable Care Act. He points out that “life is a pre-existing condition,” and affordable health care should not be denied to those who need it most. He also created the video below, urging people to vote to support it and explaining what’s at stake.

SignOn.org is the non-profit, online campaign platform from MoveOn.org that lets anyone start and run their own online campaigns.

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