Boy who lost mom takes health-care story to D.C.
Marcelas Owens may be the only health-care lobbyist around here who needs an excused absence from school. The fifth-grader at Seattle's Orca K-8 school has been campaigning for health-care changes since, when he was 7, his mother died after she fell ill and lost her job and insurance coverage.
Ten-year-old Marcelas Owens has lived with his grandmother, Gina Owens, since his mother died in 2007.
WASHINGTON — Marcelas Owens may be the only health-care lobbyist around here who needs an excused absence from school.
The fifth-grader at Seattle's Orca K-8 school has been campaigning for changes in the health-care system since his mother died after she fell ill and lost her job and insurance coverage. He was 7 at the time.
Owens has told his story to Sen. Patty Murray, who, in turn, has retold it on the Senate floor as well as to President Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden.
On Tuesday, Marcelas is taking part in a protest rally in Washington, D.C., against insurance companies organized by Health Care for America Now, a nationwide lobbying campaign. He also is planning to buttonhole lawmakers, speak at a hearing and wage a sit-in as the yearlong congressional debate on health care approaches what may be a final showdown.
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