Disability advocates across the nation are continuing the fight to save Medicaid and preserve our healthcare, our lives and our liberty. Medicaid is the primary funder of home and community based services that provide independence and freedom, preventing older and disabled people from being shoved away in nursing facilities to die.
This latest Alert from our friends at the National Council on Independent Living is an excellent source of ideas for how each of us can make a difference.
Healthcare Vote Expected Next Week: The Fight Is Not Over!
The Senate released their updated version of the Better Care Reconciliation Act(PDF) yesterday, and all of our concerns remain the same. Read the Senate summary (PDF). The new version will still cut Medicaid by $772 billion, with an even more restrictive growth rate and deeper cuts starting in 2025. Fifteen million people will lose Medicaid. The bill also still eliminates the enhanced match for the Community First Choice Option, removes protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and allows waivers to eliminate essential health benefits, on top of adding a new provision to create separate insurance products for people with higher and lower health needs.
This new version of the bill has made NO improvements. Despite that, we’re hearing that Republicans who were undecided or even opposed to the previous version of the bill are now leaning toward voting YES. Republicans are reportedly becoming more unified around this new version, and we cannot let that happen!
The vote is expected to take place next week. That means that we have less than one week to fight this dangerous bill, and every single day counts. We need to make sure our Senators understand how dangerous this bill is for their constituents with disabilities. We need them to understand that we are literally fighting for our lives. And we have less than one week to make sure they hear us.
Take Action!
- Call your Senators by dialing the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
- Use Resistbot to have your texts turned into faxes, mail, or hand-delivered letters.
- Use faxzero.com to fax your Senators for free.
- Find your Senator’s email address, Twitter handle, and other information through Contacting Congress.
- Please see our previous alert for additional ways to take action. Every single one of us needs to keep the pressure on our Senators! Call often, send emails, keep protesting, and Tweet at GOP Senators; take action in every way you can!
We encourage everyone to reach out to their Republican Senators, but the following is a list of top priority Senators, including phone numbers for all of their offices, fax numbers, Twitter handles, and contact pages, as well as information for their healthcare staffers. Please utilize as many of these options as possible! If these are not your Senators, please make sure to reach out to everyone you know in their states!
For the list of priority Senators and their contact information, please go here.