Posted at: 11/22/2009 11:53 AM
Updated at: 11/22/2009 12:14 PM
By: Dan Bazile

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Protesters fight to 'kill the bill'

COLONIE -- Protesters gathered Saturday at the corner of Wolf Road and Central Avenue in Colonie, a busy intesection anyway, to rally support against the national healthcare overhaul.

New York Liberty Council protesters lined the sidewalks with signs rejecting the healthcare reform bill.

"Because I feel strongly what this is doing to the country, how it's going to change the American way of life," said Eileen Wood of Clifton Park. "How our children are going to pay for this for the rest of their lives and never get out of debt."

Wood has a different perspective on the issue. She's originally from England, a country with a national healthcare system in place. She says it doesn't work well.

"I know the preventative treatment isn't there like it is over here and if it were for not being over here, I would probably be dead right now," Wood said.

Wood did say the British have a higher life expectancy than Americans, but she credits that to lifestyle choices. She and the rest of the protesters at the "Kill the Bill" Rally agree something needs to change in the American healthcare system. They just don't think President Obama's healthcare overhaul is the right medicine.

"There's no reason why I should not be able to buy my healthcare insurance across state lines and have businesses compete across state lines," said Mike Galvin of Troy.

Aside from competition, they also mentied tort reform and claimed those measures would keep costs down and make healthcare more affordable for everyone. But their main focus now is on the Senate and find any way possible to keep the bill from moving forward.

"2000 pages to me is government take over," said Daniel Smith, another protester. "There's a lot of things in there that's government take over. You don't need 2000 pages to fix something."

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