The Support the Dream Defenders Daily Kos Group has recently initiated an important project to assist those around the country who need a helping hand from their government. One need not be a rocket scientist to know that once individuals and families have health insurance coverage, a major burden has been lifted over their heads. Healthy citizens can be more productive members of society while contributing to a growing economy.
In this regard, we could use some help from all of you.
As you know, the Affordable Care Act - or, Obamacare as it has widely come to be known - gave all states in the union the option to expand their Medicaid programs, with substantial assistance from the federal government. Most states currently under Republican control have deliberately, callously, and maliciously refused to do so. It is disgraceful. It is immoral. And defies all standards of basic human decency.
With your help, we intend to do something about it, but need your active involvement and support.
Why Blocking Medicaid Expansion is Killing People
In a recent front page diary on these pages, Joan McCarter summarized the results of this refusal and stubbornness by Republican governors. It is not just governors, but also Republican-controlled legislatures blinded by a discredited ideology and corrupted by the pernicious influence of shady campaign contributors. Surely, the poor deserve better.
- Eight million uninsured poor people.
- An annual death rate of 17,000 poor people.
- 240,700 poor people suffering "catastrophic medical expenditures."
- 712,037 fewer diagnoses of poor people suffering from depression.
- 422,553 poor people suffering from diabetes who will not be receiving medication.
- 195,492 fewer mammograms for poor people.
- 443,677 fewer pap smears for poor people.
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In any civilized society - let alone the richest country on the face of the earth - this is utterly unacceptable. As a society, we ought not to be judged by how we treat our most affluent citizens, but those who are the
least well off amongst us. We have a simple and direct message for all Republican governors: Let our poor people live! To help you do that, we are willing to embarrass the hell out of you.
You Can Call it Anything, Just Not Medicaid Expansion
Indiana has become the 28th state to accept the Medicaid Expansion Program. Governor Mike Pence (R-IN) is twisting himself into pretzels and doing a careful balancing act as he tries to serve two masters: the teahadists and their hatred for anything Obama, and poor people who need help right now. We could not care less what he wants to call his state's version of the Medicaid Expansion Program; or who he wants to credit. The bottom line is that under the new initiative, some 350,000 previously uninsured residents will now have access to quality healthcare.
Although Pence argued that HIP 2.0 isn't a Medicaid expansion but a form of Medicaid reform, Sylvia M. Burwell, the federal secretary of Health and Human Services, called it a Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act. |
How You Can Help Us
Step by Step Directions: How to File a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request
1. Volunteer. We need you. We need at least one state resident for each brown state. (Please see the map below.)
2. You choose and print the text. If you need samples, we have them. (Just ask.) You follow the instructions for your particular state. (Click on your state's name in the green chart below).
3. Be sure to include this Catch 22 in your request:
We request all documents showing your efforts to track the number of people who have died or who may have died because you have refused to expand Medicaid. |
4. If you need help to defray the cost of sending your request, please contact us.
5. Please send your letter using certified mail. Remember to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
6. Please contact us if you need help and/or when you get a response from your governor at Support the Dream Defenders (Kossacks only) or Tortmaster [thetortmaster at yahoo dot com] (everyone).
(Click the map to expand it. Map courtesy of Families USA here, January 28, 2015.)
Shoutout to justiceputnam and winkk
We would like to thank justiceputnam and wink of Netroots Radio for hosting two members of our team on their program this past Tuesday. You can find the podcast here. We expect to have the transcript ready by next week.
Please note if you listen to the podcast: Tortmaster aka @theTortmaster and 2thanks from Support the Dream Defenders, a Daily Kos group, joined us on the Last Half, discussing the Dream Defenders, which was founded in Florida after the Trayvon Martin killing. Following Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri, STDDs crowd-sourced a federal law and now have broadened their focus to the social justice issue of the Medicaid expansion. Good stuff! ... h/t winkk.
Community, Thanks
This diary is as a result of a collaborative effort by the Support the Dream Defenders group. We offer our profound thanks to the hundreds of members of the Daily Kos community who have participated in and supported our projects. We continue to be amazed by the love, support, and encouragement we get from members of this remarkable group. We are a team. ~JoanMar