‘Protect Our Care’ bus tour advocates for better, affordable healthcare

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) - A nationwide bus tour kicked off in Bangor Monday advocating for better health care and lower costs.

The Protect Our Care group has organized the tour.

At each stop, national and local elected officials, healthcare advocates, and more will speak.

They’re advocating for lowering the cost of prescription drugs and expanding Medicare and Medicaid.

The bus tour will reach 19 states and travel over 8,600 miles.

Senate President Troy Jackson was one of the speakers. ”In this country, we should have a system where healthcare is a right. It’s not something that’s out for the highest bidder. Unfortunately, that’s what we have right now because Washington is broken and has not fixed it.”

Laura Packard, a stage 4 cancer survivor, says the Affordable Care Act helped save her life, but there is more to be done.

“We live in a moment now where change is possible. We need to expand the protections of Medicare to include vision and dental and hearing. We need to fill the Medicaid gap so that millions of Americans that can’t afford healthcare can get it, and we need to lower the cost of prescription drugs. So if you care about healthcare, if you think we need to provide more services to more people, contact your legislators today.”

Attorney General Aaron Frey, State Rep. Joe Perry, and Lee Humphrey of Consumers for Affordable Health Care also spoke at the event.

The bus continued on to Portland Monday and will be in Burlington, Vermont August 10th.

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