The Senate is rushing their Affordable Care Act repeal bill to a vote NEXT WEEK – and if it passes, disabled people in this country will lose health care in massive numbers. You may have already seen the images yesterday of disabled protesters being dragged out of their wheelchairs and arrested for protesting the bill and its drastic cuts to Medicaid funding. They put their bodies on the line to show the world that this bill puts our lives and liberty at risk. But to really get their message through to the Senate, they need all of us backing them up. Call your Senators today.
To recap what’s at stake in this vote, here is what the bill will do if passed:
- Cause 23 million Americans to lose their health insurance by 2026
- Allow insurance companies to refuse to cover critical health care services like prescription medication, physical therapy, mental health services, maternity care and more. Disabled people will not be able to get the health care we need, whether or not we have health insurance.
- Allow insurance companies to bring back annual and lifetime caps on coverage.
- Cut at least $834 billion from Medicaid funding, which will result in hundreds of thousands of disabled people losing access to medical care and to services that allow us to live in the community.
- Use the money cut from Medicaid funding to give massive tax cuts to millionaires, while the rest of us pay more each month for worse health insurance.
We can’t let this happen – and we can’t stop it without your help. Call your Senators and tell them to vote NO. If you have already called, keep calling. If you have trouble with phone conversations, this weekend is a great chance to call and leave a voicemail while offices are closed. If you use AAC, you can call in using your AAC device, or get a friend to read your message into the phone. After you call your Senators’ DC office, try their state offices. You can use our script:
The Senate knows how much this bill will hurt us – that’s why they drafted it in secret, and that’s why they are trying to rush it to a vote in just one week. They think they can get this devastating bill passed before we have a chance to speak out. Show them we won’t let them get away with it. Call like your life depends on it – because for many of us, it does.