For Immediate Release – AUGUST 5, 2011
Contact: Avram Goldstein 202-744-1925
agoldstein@healthcareforamericanow.org

Washington, DC – Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nation’s leading grassroots health care advocacy organization, asked members of the WellPoint Inc. board of directors today why the company is misusing premium dollars on political contributions targeted at the extraordinarily contentious legislative recall efforts now under way in Wisconsin.

In the letter, sent to WellPoint Chairman and CEO Angela Braly and 12 other members of the health insurance giant’s board, HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome said supporters of workers’ rights are facing off against opponents of collective bargaining, and that one of the Republican organizations to which WellPoint contributed has declared that “Big Labor has made Wisconsin their Waterloo.”

“Why is it in the interest of WellPoint to take away the ability of workers to bargain for a better life?” Rome wrote. “We question whether WellPoint is fulfilling its fiduciary obligations to its investors by alienating organized labor in this manner since such a large percentage of your company’s enrollees are union members.”

Rome asked WellPoint directors to explain why the company is taking this reputational risk. You can view the letter here.

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Health Care for America Now is the nation’s leading grassroots health care advocacy organization. HCAN led the fight over the past two years to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.