MEMORANDUM

Date: July 12, 1994
To: Senator Dole
From: Alec Vachon
Re: FYI/Possible Health Care Protests/Sit Ins by Disability Activists Next Week 
(End of Letterhead)

Next week, several thousand people with disabilities are expected in Washington for various ADA celebrations, including the Reno event on Monday and a White House event on Wednesday. We should expect visits, and possibly protests and a sit in by disability activists over health care reform --especially on Tuesday, July 26, when a rally is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. on the Capitol steps and a briefing on health care reform is set for Hart 216 (organized by Senator Harkin's staff). I hear "Hall Raiders" will fan out afterwards. 

Health care reform is a highly emotional issue for many people with disabilities --however, over the past year, other protests have been successfully diverted, which has kept the temperature down on this office. 

N.B.: People with disabilities have not been well served by their own leaders on health care reform --for example, when one talks cost controls as the President does, the first people to be hurt are likely disabled since they use more health care (on average three times the expenses of a non-disabled person each year). However, most disability lobbyists are liberal --and signed onto the President's health care bandwagon uncritically. On the other hand,opponents of the President's plan have not offered any criticisms regarding its impact on the disabled. 

cc: 	Dan Stanley/Sheila Burke