Mary Gallagher gave up a warm, dry chair at her flea market booth to go door to door in Lincoln for health care reform on Saturday.

Gallagher, a registered nurse with the Lincoln Regional Center and a member of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees union, said braving the snow and chilly temperatures was the least she could do to push for health care reform.

Members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sponsored rallies and canvassing events in nine states on Saturday, said Philip Freedman of AFSCME.

Nebraska, along with Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, North Dakota and Ohio, is considered a "battleground state" because its representatives in Washington have not taken a firm stand.

On Saturday, nurses and AFSCME members from Lincoln and Omaha planned to canvas door-to-door, asking people to sign a postcard calling for a public health insurance plan option and opposing efforts to tax health care benefits as income.

However, snowy, wet and cold conditions hampered the event. Only about 12 AFSCME members showed up, and Gallagher was the only nurse in the group.

Still, her passion was not diminished.

"There are many problems with the system," Gallagher said.

"We need real reform that keeps my patients' health in the hands of their nurses and doctors and not their insurance companies. I'm asking Congress for the choice of a public health insurance option that will lower costs, improve quality and keep insurance companies honest."

As a Lincoln Regional Center employee, Gallagher says she has great health insurance -- something she feels very guilty about.

Swallowing back tears, she said it bothered her that the very people who do not have health insurance and cannot afford to get needed health care are paying the taxes that help provide her health insurance.

And she is bothered by the growing number of stories she hears from people whose jobs no longer provide health insurance benefits because they work part-time or because employers have reduced benefits packages.

Health insurance costs have doubled since 2000, said Gaelynn Dooley, director of Working America, a part of the AFL-CIO office in Omaha. "A recent survey found that 54 percent of employers plan to cut or drop health insurance for their employees in the next year."

Gallagher said many of the patients at the Regional Center suffer from medical problems as well as mental health problems. Most do not have health insurance. Nearly all cannot afford to pay for the medical care they need, she said.

So they wait until things get so bad that they have to go to a hospital emergency room and are usually too sick to continue working their jobs.

"And people just want to work," she said.

Reach Erin Andersen at 473-7217 or eandersen@journalstar.com.