SHAME on our US Senators from NC – Senator Thom Tillis and Senator Richard Burr – who hide from their constituents, and put party over country. Senator Thom Tillis refuses to let his constituents near the federal building anymore because we protest. Outrageous. Well, we protest because he won’t talk to us. And we’ll be back.
Thanks to Burr and Tillis, the Senate is proceeding to debate an unknown healthcare plan. Just one of them standing up for their constituents would have stopped this horror! The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has helped tens of millions of people – and the Republican Senate is intent on destroying it, and destroying these people and more in the process. NC residents -tell Senators Burr and Tillis that you know that they voted against providing life-saving treatment to millions of people in the United States. Tell them that they owe us better than that – improve ACA and use a decent bi-partisan process to do it. Calls are fast and easy!
The Senate voted on Tuesday, July 25, 2017, to effectively repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). They are working on the repeal today, July 26. According to the Congressional Budget Office, a Senate ‘repeal only’ bill would leave about 54 million MORE people uninsured in just 10 years – adding 32 million to the 22 million the Senate Bill would throw out of health care. Also, average premiums in the non-group market would double by 2026! Please understand that women are hurt more by the loss of the ACA and of Medicaid. The cruel Trumpcare bills already had targetted women.
The massive growth of people losing medicaid coverage and protection grows to 32 million due to “the elimination of the ACA’s expansion of eligibility for
Medicaid and the elimination of subsidies for insurance purchased through the
marketplaces established by the ACA,” according to the CBO.
As NOW president Terry O’Neill wrote in “Voters Won’t Forget Who Took Away Their Care“,
“Trumpcare would decimate Medicaid coverage and slash funding to Planned Parenthood. The lives of women of color will be particularly imperiled. All of this, so GOP leadership can deliver colossal tax breaks to the billionaires and corporations that support them.”
“The bill also makes health care inaccessible to people with pre-existing conditions–including women who have survived domestic violence, experienced postpartum depression, or undergone a cesarean section. Millions will be priced out of their health insurance–and thousands will lose lives.”
Health care costs will skyrocket, doubling for many by 2026! According to the 7/19/17 CBO report,
“Average premiums in the nongroup market (for individual policies purchased through the marketplaces or directly from insurers) would increase by roughly 25 percent—relative to projections under current law—in 2018. The increase would reach about 50 percent in 2020, and premiums would about double by 2026.”
The new plan would increase the premiums, especially for those of us over 50 years of age, and return the doughnut hole in Medicare prescription coverage.
The next 48 hours are critical to letting Congress know the wrath that will rain down if they pass a repeal that will force some 55 million people to lose healthcare. Call and/or write your Senators NOW!!
ACA has some issues to be addressed, but it has helps tons of people – and the Republican Senate is intent on destroying it, and destroying these people in the process.
Tell your US Senators (Burr and Tillis in NC) that you know that they voted against providing life-saving treatment to millions of people in the United States.
Tell them to stop attempting to repeal the ACA and improve it using a decent, bipartisan process.
NC residents can contact them at “How to Contact US Senators Burr and Tillis.”
One sample script:
My name is [your name], and I am a constituent calling from [city, and, if applicable, organization]. I urge Senator [Senator’s name] to vote against any bill that would repeal the ACA, cut Medicaid, or result in fewer victims of violence getting the support and health care they need to survive and thrive. All of the proposals we have seen so far will strip health care from millions of Americans, including millions of victims and survivors of domestic violence and their children. I encourage you to follow Senator McCain’s advice and seek bipartisan improvements to the ACA through regular order!
Note: “Regular order” means having the bills go through committee hearings and votes before being considered by the full body. Wouldn’t that be sensible.
North Carolina NOW 