Written by Julia Kaye, Health Policy Associate,
National Women's Law Center
For two weeks, I’ve been alternately frustrated and furious with the mixed signals on health care reform that are coming from Capitol Hill. Now, I have no doubt that the White House and Congressional leadership are committed to passing health reform; indeed, the President’s budget, released this week, assumes its passage. But too many members irrationally fear that the victory of a state senator from Massachusetts who voted for, and continues to support, comprehensive health reform in his state somehow equates to their being voted out of office in November if they finish the job of passing a comprehensive health reform bill that will allow almost everyone to get health insurance, make sure that insurance is real, and start to bend our nation’s health care cost-curve.
But this weekend, while at Families USA’s annual Health Action conference, I was reminded of something that knocked me out of my misery and into action: Congress works for us.
If we each hold ourselves responsible for making sure that our friends and family understand what health reform entails and then call Congress to demand its passage, our collective voice will give our elected officials the motivation they need to pass the greatest investment in our nation’s health and financial security since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965.
So I’m writing letters on health reform to my family and friends. Here’s what they’re going to say:
Dear Aunt Nini: It has always amazed me how your Orthodox Jewish community comes together to care for each other when someone falls ill. Within hours, it seems, you’ve drawn up a six month cooking schedule—so your neighbor can focus on healing with the comfort of knowing that a hot meal will be dropped off every evening. Another act of caring that you can do to improve the lives of your friends, family, and neighbors is help ensure that they all have health insurance; that that health insurance is affordable; that it covers the benefits they need; and that they won’t face annual or lifetime limits, or be dropped from their insurance because they get sick. Health reform is a moral imperative. Call Congress and demand it.
Dear Sarah: Though I was fairly grossed out by your description of the cadaver you dissected last month, I’m so proud of all you’re learning in medical school. I only hope that you can go on to practice the type of medicine you care most about—family medicine and primary care—without having to worry that you won’t be able to pay back your loans, or that you’ll take a job at a community health center that will have to shutter its doors for lack of funding. Health reform invests generously in the health care workforce, especially in primary care providers working in underserved areas, with scholarships, loan repayment programs, bonus payments, increased funding for community health centers, and more. Providers need health reform. Call Congress and demand it.
Dear Uncle Charles: You, as a child psychiatrist, know how important it is for families with a child with mental illness to find a provider with whom they feel comfortable—you see it every day. But I know that access to mental health services is made that much more difficult for families that don’t have coverage for, and can’t afford the cost of treatment. Health reform would make mental health care part of the minimum benefit package. Families dealing with mental illness need health reform. Call Congress and demand it.
Dear Granny Taube: I’m deeply grateful that Medicare was there for you when you needed surgery last year—what a reminder of the importance of the Medicare safety net. But I know that many of my friends’ grandparents—and maybe you, too—strain to bear their cost-sharing responsibilities under Medicare, particularly for prescription drugs. Health reform will remove all cost-sharing for preventive services under Medicare and start to close the "donut hole" for prescription drugs. Seniors need health reform. Call Congress and demand it.
Dear Friends without Health Insurance: Congress likes to talk about "Young Invincibles"— young adults who choose not to get health insurance because they think they’re untouchable. But I’ve heard your stories. I know that when you’re burdened with debt, you have no choice but to get your asthma inhalers in the ER. I know that when you can’t find a permanent job and insurance in the individual market is too expensive—in part because you’re a woman—you’re left to beg family members to bring you affordable birth control when they come visit from overseas. Health reform would give you a new marketplace in which to buy quality insurance, and many of you (everyone making less than $43,000) would qualify for subsidies to help you afford it; it would also allow you to stay on a parent’s plan up to at least age 26. Our generation is the prime beneficiary of health reform. Make your voice heard. Call Congress and demand it.
Dear Friends with Health Insurance: Many of our lives are in flux. A good job with good benefits this year could give way to graduate school or a career change next year—with months of uninsurance in between. We need health reform that will give us the security and flexibility to go back to school or change jobs, knowing that we’ll be able to find insurance while we find ourselves. We need health reform that will bend the cost curve, so that Medicare will one day be able to serve as our safety net, too. We need health reform because 45,000 people die each year for lack of health insurance, and preventing those needless deaths is in keeping with the progressive values we hold so dearly. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pass the comprehensive health reform we so desperately need. We can’t let Congress pass it by.
Cross-Posted from NWLC's Blog