As leaders of America’s health insurance companies meet today, inside the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Washington DC , hundreds of AFSCME members joined thousands of demonstrators in the nation’s capital for a mass citizens arrest.  Health insurance executives are planning to fight back against the healthcare reform legislation by convincing Congress that reform is a bad idea.

AFSCME President Gerald McEntee stated, “ We are here to arrest the CEOs of Big Insurance because they are devasting our families and businesses and getting away with it.”

AFSCME activists from Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York joined thousands of union members and supporters to protest in front of the Ritz Carlton Hotel chanting “ A Union United We Will Never Be Defeated” and “ Healthcare Now”.  As members carried a yellow police barrier tape issusing the front of the hotel as a crime scene, on the yellow tape “ Corporate Crime Scene” was inscribed.

Inside the hotel the health insurance companies were hosting America’s Health Insurance Plans annual policy conference.

AFSCME members urged Congress to stand up to the insurance companies and do the right thing for the American people.