Shield for All

Protesters demanding that Blue Shield stop lobbying against health-care reform blocked an entrance to a Mission Valley office of the California insurance company on Monday, November 2. Company officials initially refused to meet the protesters, saying — through police — that they might negotiate over the phone.

Jerry Malamud, a 79-year-old protester who joined two others to block the office's entrance, said he supported an extension of the federal Medicare program to all Americans.

"I have Medicare," Malamud said. "They've replaced two of my hips, they've replaced two cataracts, they've given me good health care."

Police eventually arrested Malamud and the two other protesters who joined him in blocking the Blue Shield entrance.

"They only kept us in the lock-up for about an hour — interrogated us — then released us, with a ticket to appear in court for arraignment on January 4," Malamud wrote in an e-mail. "So we will have another opportunity to video and make a statement!"