Federal Updates

19
Jul
2017
Making sense of the news

Making sense of the news

UPDATED Wednesday, July 19

This week has been a whirlwind of health care news. I hope this post helps you make sense of what is happening and how you can help protect health care.

Part I – Where we celebrate

On Monday night, July 17, two more majority party legislators announced they would not support the Senate’s Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA). With four of the 52 Republican senators and all 48 Democrat senators opposed, the Senate does not have enough votes to pass the bill. As many people know, the BCRA would have devastated access to health care, which is why so many people contacted Senators to tell them to oppose it.

Stopping the BCRA is a huge victory. This week, we proved once again that when lots of real people raise their voices, we can make a difference. 

Yes, there will be more work to do – see below. But we sustain our movement by celebrating our successes along the way. So, before you read any farther, please take a moment to celebrate!

Part II: Where we remain vigilant

As soon as it became clear that the BCRA could not pass, Senator McConnell announced that he would call for a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act without immediately replacing it – a move that would have led to 32 million Americans losing their insurance. Three majority party senators have announced they will not support this proposal, enough to stop it from proceeding.

Nevertheless, Senator McConnell has announced he will hold a vote on repeal-without-replacing as soon as the week of July 24. He is working to convince Senators to support this vote. Meanwhile, President Trump is meeting with Senators hoping to revive some version of the BCRA.

As long as some elected leaders remain committed to rolling back the protections in the Affordable Care Act or capping and cutting Medicaid funding, we must remain vigilant and active. You can help now by telling your Senators that you are still paying attention and still don’t want them to cut access to health care. Click here to take action.

Part III: Where we call on our leaders to lead

Like most Americans, we have been disheartened to see health care become a partisan political issue. Health care affects every one of us, and we believe we all have a lot more in common on this issue – across lines of party, geography, and economics – than the pundits might lead us to believe. Most of us recognize that our system needs improvements, and most of us want good health care for ourselves and for our neighbors.

This week, a partisan bill to unravel our health care system collapsed. Now it is time for our elected officials to work together to make our system better for everyone. We are inspired that there are elected officials in both parties calling for bipartisan cooperation on real system improvement. In the months to come, we’ll continue calling on our leaders to work for better care for everyone, and we’ll let you know how you can help.

Act Now

Our voices have made a difference. Thank you for lending yours.

Posted by MHCFA in Action Alerts, Breaking, Featured, Federal Updates, MHCFA Blog, 0 comments
04
May
2017
AHCA passes US House: Missouri Health Care for All Responds

AHCA passes US House: Missouri Health Care for All Responds

Missouri Health Care for All Decries U.S. House Vote to Eliminate Basic Insurance Protections in Affordable Care Act and Slash Medicaid

Statement from Missouri Health Care for All, in response to House Leadership American Health Care Act

After weeks of arm-twisting to try to garner enough votes, U.S. House Leadership rushed a vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA) without analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. This bill would repeal many of the insurance protections of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), such as requiring insurance policies to cover prescriptions or maternity care, and make radical cuts to Medicaid funding. The provisions of this bill would result in millions of people losing their health care.

The AHCA is unacceptable for Missourians. Low- and middle-income Missourians would be charged more, and insurance coverage for those with pre-existing conditions would be jeopardized while providing more assistance for wealthy and healthy people. The bill would make coverage less affordable for average Americans and gives tax breaks to big drug and insurance companies.

One of the most concerning aspects of the AHCA is the radical restructuring of the Medicaid program. Under the per capita caps proposed in the bill, the state of Missouri would see deep cuts in federal funding for health care for our most vulnerable neighbors, including children, people with disabilities, and seniors. Per capita caps would put Missourians at risk of devastating outcomes due to lack of health care.

The AHCA flies in the face of what the American people want. Recent public opinion polling shows Americans are looking to Congressional leaders to improve upon the gains made under the ACA, not work to dismantle them. Unfortunately, the American Health Care Act does just that by not requiring insurance policies to cover the basic services we need, and wouldn’t require that certain people, such as women and seniors, are charged fair rates for insurance.

Thousands of Missourians have rallied, called, e-mailed, and written their Congressional delegation to oppose cuts to health care programs and protections. The U.S. Senate should not move ahead with this reckless plan that would make working families and the most vulnerable Americans pay more for less, strip away health coverage from millions of people, and finance tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Missouri Health Care for All calls on Missouri’s elected officials to heed the voices of their constituents who have urged them to choose a path that makes insurance better for more people.

Contact your Senators here: https://missourihealthcareforall.org/dont-gut-healthcare 

Join events on Friday, May 5th at noon in Clayton at Senator Blunt’s Office
And Springfield

Missouri Health Care for All is a non-partisan organization founded in 2007 by faith and community leaders on the principle that every Missourian deserves access to quality, affordable health care.

Posted by MHCFA in Featured, Federal Updates, Media, MHCFA Blog, 0 comments
01
May
2017
Tell Congress: Stand Strong & Stop the AHCA

Tell Congress: Stand Strong & Stop the AHCA

UPDATE! Rep. Billy Long has now flipped his vote. We need to keep the pressure up on all of our Members of Congress and tell them to stand strong for those of us with pre-existing conditions and beyond.

Posted by MHCFA in Action Alerts, Federal Updates, MHCFA Blog, 2 comments
24
Mar
2017
Victory! House halts ACA repeal – because of YOU!

Victory! House halts ACA repeal – because of YOU!

You called, you e-mailed, you rallied.

They said we couldn’t stop Congress from repealing the Affordable Care Act, but you showed up anyway.

And today, you WON.

As you may have heard, the U.S. House of Representatives just pulled the “American Health Care Act,” their bill to gut the Affordable Care Act and slash funding for Medicaid. They canceled the planned vote because they did not have enough support to pass the bill.

This is a huge victory for every person who believes in access to health care, and for the 24 million Americans who would have lost their health insurance under this bill. And it is proof that the voice of grassroots supporters like you can make a difference.

Since the Affordable Care Act was signed into law – seven years and one day ago – the U.S. has made tremendous strides in improving access to health care. Insurance levels are at the highest level ever. People are no longer charged unfair rates because they have a pre-existing condition, or because they are women. Insurance now has to cover more of the services we need.

In the years since the ACA took effect, Missouri Health Care for All has spoken with hundreds of Missourians, coming from every part of the state, who have benefitted from the Affordable Care Act. Women have received treatment for breast cancer. Young adults have gotten coverage. People battling addiction have been able to access treatment. Families have avoided medical bankruptcy.

This dangerous bill was halted by a deep groundswell of opposition from people across the country. Here in Missouri, thousands of people have called and e-mailed their members of Congress. Just this week, more than 350 Missourians attended 14 rallies across the state. The message from these supporters was clear and loud: Congress should abandon attempts to gut the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid.

Today is a good day for Missouri and the U.S. We look forward to working with elected officials to build upon the gains we have made toward making health care affordable and accessible for every person.

This weekend, take some time to celebrate a hard-won victory that will save lives in every part of this country.

But don’t go away – our work isn’t done yet. We expect further attacks on health care from both Congress and the Missouri Legislature. And, we still need to fix the real holes in our health care system, such as the Coverage Gap that leaves 300,000 Missourians without health care.

We’re in this for the long haul, and are grateful to have you with us. We’ll be in touch next week about next steps.

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for being part of this movement.

 

Posted by MHCFA in Federal Updates, MHCFA Blog, 0 comments
01
Dec
2016
Take the #KeepOurCare Pledge

Take the #KeepOurCare Pledge

Missourians’ access to health care is at risk.

President-elect Trump and Congressional leaders have pledged to make changes to health care that could result in millions of Americans losing access. They have repeatedly discussed repealing the Affordable Care Act without a clear plan for replacing it. Some leaders have also said they want to drastically change both Medicaid and Medicare in ways that would be extremely damaging.

We need our elected officials to make health care BETTER, and keep the programs and protections that are helping people now.

That’s why we’ve launched KeepOurCare.org 

As Missourians, we want to keep our health care. We are concerned about proposals to repeal the Affordable Care Act without replacing all of its protections, cut funds for Medicaid, or privatize Medicare. These proposals would all have devastating effects on access to health care.

We want our elected officials to focus on bipartisan ways to fix real problems and let us keep the care we already have.

Visit KeepOurCare.org to let us know you’re with us by taking the Keep Our Care pledge to be part of the effort  to make health care access better for Missourians.

Posted by MHCFA in Featured, Federal Updates, MHCFA Blog, 2 comments