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Once again — a NEW version of how to kill the Affordable Care Act. FIGHT IT!

9/25/2017

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Dear Friends,

Tonight, Sunday September 24, we learned there is yet another version of the Graham Cassidy bill to kill everything that matters in the Affordable Care Act.  If you're sick of these constant calls to action, well, so are we. 

This new version is completely unknown so cannot be 'scored' by the Congressional Budget Office before the projected vote Wednesday.  We do know it kills Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) and cuts subsidies for lower income families, unfetters premium costs for anyone with pre-existing conditions, and on and on and on and on.  It returns us to what existed before ACA was even a dream, and you may well remember what a disaster that was for Americans. 

The bill will merge several programs including Medicaid into block grants.  This automatically means less funding for many states, larger ones in particular will be seriously hampered.  However, it will expand funding for Alaska and Maine. Why? Their senators, Linda Murkowski and Susan Collins, voted "NO" on the last bill.  Rather than our assuming they can be bought off, it appears that voter voices are keeping both senators deeply skeptical that even this brazen sop to them is a good thing for their constituents. Urge anyone you know in Maine or Alaska to keep up the pressure on each Senator. 

Please remember that even in states with solid Senators already in opposition, voices matter.  Those Senators have to be able to show that their citizens are speaking out in record numbers.  Yes - this is a reduction to a game of sheer numbers.  And your voice counts in that game. 

Please call 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senators.  Then, to be safe, do a third call for your Representative.  It's critical that we not let up now.

If you like to text, go to 50409 on your phone, type in "Resist" and either set up an account or text your Senators and Representatives.

Let your voice be heard!  Our message is simple:

Graham Cassidy does incalculable harm to sick people. It will cause premiums in every category of health care, including employer provided insurance, to soar.  It will allow states to give license to charge people outrageously more for certain procedures and to increase premiums on anyone with a 'pre-existing condition' which almost all of us have. The only acceptable policy is to improve the Affordable Care Act and keep it operating by keeping it solvent. We will not tolerate false economies for our nation that come out of the pockets of those who need care. Fix ACA. Don't kill it!

The vote is now scheduled for Wednesday.  Time is of the essence. Please raise your voice for justice in health care now!

Thank you!

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ACT NOW TO SAVE HEALTHCARE IN CALIFORNIA

9/22/2017

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A reminder from our friends at the Coalition on Human Needs:

Dear Friend,

Next Week, the Senate will vote on the Graham-Cassidy health care bill. It will be devastating to the people in California. The Graham-Cassidy bill:
  • Provides no real assurance for preexisting conditions.
  • Provides no minimum standard of coverage for insurance plans.
  • Will cut $333,600 in federal funding for healthcare to California
  • And while, outrageously, they want to take this vote without a full CBO score is it estimated that 4,552,000 people will lose coverage in California



We need you to help ensure that legislation never becomes law.
​


You have a powerful voice and we need you to use it. Please contact the below listed Representatives and ask them to come out against Graham-Cassidy BEFORE the Senate takes a vote on it next week.
  • Ken Calvert
  • Duncan D. Hunter
  • Darrell Issa
  • Steve Knight
  • Doug LaMalfa
  • Kevin McCarthy
  • Tom McClintock
  • Devin Nunes
  • Dana Rohrabacher
  • Edward R. Royce
  • Mimi Walters



Attached is a fact sheet which lists the impact that the bill will have on Californians.

ca_-_graham-cassidy_impact_09-20-17.pdf
File Size: 230 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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More horrid news about federal health care! Act NOW before this passes!

9/19/2017

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Dear Friends,

The latest updates on the Graham-Cassidy repeal of the Affordable Care Act are grim beyond belief.

It is projected that by letting states do away with protections on pre-existing conditions and on covering new ones, people with metastatic cancer can see their premiums skyrocket from $140,000 to $172,000 per year.  This is not hyperbole - this is a genuine possibility.

Sen. John N. Kennedy (R-LA) proposes that states will be forbidden to spend any money, not just federal dollars, on creating single payer or other universal plans in their states  He further proposes that every person on Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) will have to be employed.  This mandate does not take into account that the majority of Medicaid recipients are elders in nursing homes or other care, children, people with disabilities.  No exclusions are made in his amendments.

With all funding for ACA subsidies to be eliminated in a couple of years, anyone enrolled would pay the entire premium, and rates will be allowed to soar based on any number of causes including age, sex, pre-existing conditions, etc. 

States can eliminate required coverage.  Medicare won't have to provide preventive services at no further cost.  We will see a return to the days when you paid extra for everything. This is a harsh reality staring us in the face yet again.

States will receive "block grants" - fixed amounts not tailored to patient numbers - they have to spread out to support enrollees in ACA and other programs.  If it doesn't go far enough, new applicants will be turned down.

We have only a few days to stop this horrible bill. 

Many of our Representatives and Senators say they are not hearing from you.  Please raise your voice - this bill is only a couple of votes short of passing. Your voices must be heard, you need to mobilize your families and friends everywhere in order for us to protect ACA from these horrific predations.  We cannot rely on states alone to pick up the difference.  Good states that believe in universal coverage will see their "block grant" payments being diverted to other, less concerned states that then may spend health care money however they choose. 

Please call both Senators and your Representatives today.  202-224-3121. 

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!!

This is the most horrific version of health care destruction yet.  Please raise your voices today against Graham Cassidy.  Say NO to the destruction of the Affordable Care Act!!

Thank you!

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New and more awful assault on health care - raise your voices NOW!

9/18/2017

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Just when you thought it was safe to focus on other things…

The Graham-Cassidy repeal of the Affordable Care Act rises from the murk and turns out to be the worst version of “repeal” without any “replace” yet.

It ends Medicaid  - Medi-Cal in California – for poor people. Ends it.

It removes subsidies for lower income families and individuals. Replaces it with a small block grant that won’t remotely help people.  It removes the help for those at or under 250% of the federal poverty level (FPL) that pays for deductibles.

Cuts coverage for low-income seniors and people with disabilities by 7% and institutes a cap on coverage.

Ends assurances that those with pre-existing conditions won’t be charged more. Now they can be. No limit to what that is.

Average state cuts are 17% to 2026 then 100% cut thereafter.

“Red states” will get some help. “Blue” states will lose massive amounts to be directed into “Red” states. But those states are not mandated to spend that money on health care.  “Blue” states such as CA, NY etc. look to lose 25-60% of their federal supports for their people.

While we don’t have a Congressional Budget Office score, the basic PREMIUM increases for 2018 will AVERAGE 20% - while subsidies are removed.

Cuts all funding for women in family planning.  (Abortion coverage is already NOT included per the Hyde Amendment.)

Will pass with 51 votes, period. There does not seem to be much planning on discussion – it’s a ‘take it or leave it’ vote that will be passed onto the House in the same way.

Do we need to say more? 
We have until Sept. 30 to stop this. The HOUSE is “at home” in districts – visit, picket, call, FAX your local representatives NOW.    

Go to our site: 
http://www.churchimpact.org/take-action.html to get local contact information.

CALL Senators at 202-224-3121 and let them know this is horrific, and it MUST NOT PASS. 

If you like to text, go to 50409 and text “Resist”. If you haven’t done this, the prompts will set up messages for your Senators and Representative.  Then you write the message, and it will be sent as a FAX to them.  It’s a GREAT way to do the “Five Faithful Minutes” every day!

This new assault on affordable health care is the most pernicious yet. Please raise your voice daily between now and September 30.  Every single senator needs to hear from us, even the ones we know are on the side of justice.  Every voice counts, every voice of faith counts, so let your voice be heard – faithful witness for health care must continue until we end this assault on the Affordable Care Act.

Thank you!!

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Protect all immigrants - RALLY Thursday at Capitol to bear witness for SB 54!

9/6/2017

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Dear Friends,

California Council of Churches IMPACT will join with our interfaith coalition and the CA Immigrant Policy Center among many others to press for the passage of SB 54 that protects the rights of our immigrant brothers and sisters.

We are calling all people of faith including clergy to join us on the North Steps at 9 am tomorrow, Thursday September 7 on the North Steps of the Capitol at 10th and L Streets in Sacramento.

We will bear witness on behalf of immigrants everywhere.  SB 54 prohibits the use of state funds and resources to seek out and offer up immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation, and it protects the rights to immigrants with due process when they are apprehended. This is also our time to stand with "Dreamers" who are now under threat of being deported if Congress does not uphold their pathway to lawful presence and ultimately citizenship.

California's economy depends on immigrants.  More to the point, we never had barriers to immigration when our free forebears arrived. We stand for the humanity of all people who seek the same hope and rights our historical families did.

Please come rally and let your voices be heard.  If you cannot join us, please call your Assembly members and let them hear you even if they can't see you.

Thank you!

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Stand with DACA Dreamers and for SB 54 to protect their rights

9/6/2017

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Dear Friends,
 
You shall not oppress a resident alien, you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.  Ex. 23:9
 
After today’s Presidential decision to put DACA – Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals – under threat of cancellation, we are called to act.  If Congress does not ratify this status protecting young people brought to the USA as children, they will be jeopardizing 800,000 children and adults who have done nothing wrong.
 
We are all humans, we are all part of God’s family.  We need clear and unambiguous support for people who had no choice in coming here undocumented and who have grown up knowing only the American Dream and working to fulfill it.
 
So call Congress and insist they create a humane and fair way for these children to remain, to move toward citizenship, and to be secure along the way.
 
Call Congress – 202-224-3121 – and tell both Senators and your Representative that the long tradition of America as a land of undocumented immigrants must be upheld.  Until 1952 you simply did not wait or need papers to enter America.  You needed a little money in your pocket and to be disease free. That’s it.  You GOT your papers when you entered.  We, as people of faith, understand that populations are mobile in hard times or even good – we were the nation that opened its doors to everyone. That is what America is. That is who we are.
 
Then, while we are urging Congress to act humanely, we need to put pressure on our Assembly and the Governor to pass SB 54.  It is coming up shortly for a floor vote then, if passed, it goes to the Governor.  SB 54 prevents state agencies and law enforcement from abetting deportations, gives legal protection such as demanding warrants to those who are under threat, and in sum, upholds the rights of resident aliens grounded in the federal as well as state Constitutions.
 
Many law enforcement agencies want this to pass.  Immigrants are often victims of crime or witnesses to it.  Being able to work with all immigrants is essential to upholding the law successfully.  If people do not report crimes or cooperative in solving them for fear of deportation, crime will worsen. 
 
Contact your Assembly Member here and let him or her know that you support protecting the rights of all people including undocumented immigrants.
We are called to care for the strangers among us.  They are all God’s children equal to us in every way.  This needs your voice in reinforcement now.
 
Thank you!

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    Author

    The Rev Dr Rick Schlosser

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