enlarge Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal

Proponents of health care reform take their message down State Street in Augusta on Thursday. Several Democratic legislators joined the march and rally.

AUGUSTA — Supporters of federal health care reform marched through the streets of Augusta on Thursday to urge Republican U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to vote for major change to the system.

Chanting "Health Care Now!" and carrying signs that read "Healthcare Not Warfare" and "No Public Option = Unaffordable Health Care," the group of about 100 made their voices heard at the Kennebec County Courthouse and outside the Edmund S. Muskie Federal Building.

State Rep. Rob Eaton, D-Sullivan, got the crowd going.

"Today the message you and I will send is, it's time to get the fox out of the henhouse," he yelled from the courthouse steps. "Are you ready to stand up for affordable health care?"

The rally and march were organized by Health Care For America Now!, which delivered more than 1,500 postcards to Snowe's Augusta office urging her to support a public insurance option.

Snowe has said she doesn't support a public option; she has suggested other ways to bring competition to the insurance industry.

During a visit to Waterville on Wednesday, Snowe said she doesn't want the Senate to rush to a vote because it's too important an issue to push through without careful consideration.

For those who rallied in Augusta on Thursday, the cry was for a public option that will bring competition to the states in an effort to lower costs and provide access to health care for all who need it.

"Whatever comes out is going to benefit us, but not as much as a public option will," said Jessica Roy, a field organizer for Change That Works. "I believe it's a human right. Everyone should have access to health care."

The group repeatedly criticized Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Maine for appealing the state insurance superintendent's ruling on its proposed rate increase, saying the appeal shows what's wrong with the health insurance industry.

Anthem asked for an 18 percent increase in premiums for some of its products – an increase that was reduced to 11 percent by the Bureau of Insurance. Anthem is appealing that decision.

"We understand and strongly share our members' concerns over the rising cost of health care services and the corresponding adverse impact on insurance premiums," Anthem spokesman Christopher Dugan said in a prepared statement. "Unfortunately, the individual market premiums are merely the symptoms of a larger underlying problem in Maine's individual market – rising health care costs."