A coalition of advocates for health care reform traveled from Scranton to Wilkes-Barre to Hazleton on Thursday in a Care-A-Van with a message to major insurance corporations calling for a healthcare cost freeze. The group was led by an ice cream truck and featured heart-shaped popsicles and ice sculptures with the message to executives: “Warm your hearts, freeze our costs.” Patients, community members, health advocates and caregivers spoke about their struggles with unaffordable healthcare, along with the spiraling cost of groceries, gas, housing and utilities. They delivered a petition to each of the insurance corporations with over 650 signers calling for a cost freeze. The Care-A-Van was led by an ice cream truck and featured heart-shaped popsicles and ice sculptures with message to executives: “Warm your hearts, freeze our costs!” The contingent first stopped at the State Office Building on Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton, then moved to Highmark Health on North Main Street in Wilkes-Barre, then to Lehigh Valley Hospital-Jefferson Health on East Broad Street in Hazleton. The group then traveled to Geisinger Corporate Headquarters in Danville.
Nursing home activities assistant Lori Obaroski, of Taylor, speaks to supporters, coalition leaders and health care union members at the Health-Care-A-Van rally on Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton Thursday, August 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
SEIU Healthcare member and organizer Rachael Herczeg decorates her car for the Health-Care-A-Van in the parking lot near the Lackawanna Transit Center on Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton Thursday, August 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Kali VanWert, registered nurse for Geisinger Community Medical Center and member of the Pennsylvania Assocation of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) decorates her car for the Health-Care-A-Van in the parking lot near the Lackawanna Transit Center on Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton Thursday, August 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Aaron Troisi, SEIU Health PA political director, speaks to supporters during the Health-Care-A-Van rally on Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton Thursday, August 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Maureen May, president of PASNAP, speaks during the ‘Care-A-Van’ protest outside the Highmark building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
An attendee takes a photo during the ‘Care-A-Van’ protest outside the Highmark building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
One of the decorated cars taking part in the ‘Care-A-Van’ protest in front of the old Highmark building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Andrew Fagan, of Philadelphia, transports the ice sculpture of a heart during the ‘Care-A-Van’ protest outside the Highmark building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The crowd chants during the ‘Care-A-Van’ protest outside the Highmark building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Many signs were on display during the ‘Care-A-Van’ protest outside the Highmark building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Aaron Troisi speaks during the ‘Care-A-Van’ protest outside the Highmark building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A crowd forms during the ‘Care-A-Van’ protest in front of the Highmark building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A crowd forms during the ‘Care-A-Van’ protest in front of the Highmark building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Aaron Troisi speaks in front of an ice sculpture of a heart, saying the phrase, ‘Warm your hearts, freeze our costs,’ during the ‘Care-A-Van’ protest outside the Highmark building in Wilkes-Barre on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (JASON ARDAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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Nursing home activities assistant Lori Obaroski, of Taylor, speaks to supporters, coalition leaders and health care union members at the Health-Care-A-Van rally on Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton Thursday, August 27, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)