This afternoon, the House of Representatives passed the ACA repeal bill. ASAN’s statement on the bill is here, but the short version is that this final version is a disaster for people with disabilities. If passed by the Senate, this bill will:
- Leave 24 million people without health insurance
- Eliminate $880 billion in Medicaid funding
- Allow insurance companies to deny you coverage because of your disability
- Allow insurers to charge you more money for worse health coverage
- Allow insurers to stop providing essential health benefits like emergency services, medications, and hospital visits.
The bill now moves into the Senate. That’s where we can still stop it–but only if we flood Senate offices with calls. Advocates have a better chance in the Senate, but we need your help to make sure your Senators know exactly how this bill would hurt you and other disabled people in your state.
You can find your Senators’ contact information by entering your ZIP code at contactingcongress.org. If you find it easier to leave an answering machine message than to talk to a staffer on the phone, you can call after work hours, and your message will still be counted. If you don’t speak, you can call using your AAC device, or get a friend to call in and read your message. No matter how you do it, your call is critical right now. Here’s a script you can use: Need help understanding what the ACA repeal does? You can read about how it would change the ACA and Medicaid in our plain-language toolkits. This is a dangerous bill, and every time Congress updates it they make it more devastating for our community. We can still stop this – but only if we fight harder than we ever have before. This is the time for us to make a difference. Make sure your Senator gets the message – Nothing About Us, Without Us!