Local advocates will march this weekend to call for Medicaid expansion to all Pennsylvanians during the pandemic.

Put People First! PA will hold an Altoona Medicaid March that will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday outside UPMC Altoona, 620 Howard Ave, and will end at Heritage Plaza.

UPMC is not affiliated with the event.

Jennina Gorman, health care rights coordinator for Blair County and the Altoona Healthcare Rights Committee, said the key message of the march is that health care is a human right.

“We want to make sure everyone has the health care they need regardless of income status,” she said.

The march will highlight three demands, according to the event’s Facebook page:

* The group wants Gov. Tom Wolf to apply for a federal waiver to expand Medicaid to all state residents during the pandemic.

* The group also wants the General Assembly to create an “Office of the Public Healthcare Advocate,” which Gorman said would help prevent health care providers from overcharging patients and reimburse the difference when overcharging has occurred. “This would put money back in the hands of the working class people,” Gorman said.

* The third demand is for restoration of the adult dental benefit in Medicaid that was cut in 2011.

The event’s page says “masks are a necessity for marching” and that participants will follow “strict safety and social distancing protocols.”

Gorman said the local march is associated with similar marches held this week in Pennsylvania and seven other states.

Mirror Staff Writer Dom Cuzzolina is at 946-7428.