Call, email, text, post for health care reform

UPDATE excerpt from TVfHR newsletter:

What Has Already Been Gained from Health Reform

Despite the cautions that we must address in these new draft bills, in his weekly health reform update, Michael Miller of Community Catalyst encourages advocates to keep in perspective the gains that are already being made. He reminds us that,

“The bills that are being discussed represent an enormous step forward from the status quo. There is virtually across-the-board consensus on key reforms including:

• Expanding Medicaid to at least the federal poverty level (FPL)
• Eliminating pre-existing condition exclusions and experience rating
• Improving the value of health insurance by eliminating annual or lifetime caps on benefits
• Providing sliding-scale subsides for low- and moderate-income households
• Reorienting the health care system to strengthen primary care, improve care coordination, and increase clinical effectiveness”

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Post is from www.texasvoiceforhealthreform.org
Written by Kymberlie Quong-Charles
July 7, 2009

This week several national groups, including SEIU, AARP, Consumer’s Union, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, and Families USA, are urging people across the country to call Congress and tell them to pass health care reform this year.

Texas Voice for Health Reform encourages you to take the following simple actions.

1. Make three calls:

• * On July 7th and 8th please CALL 1-866-210-3678 to tell your members of Congress: “We need National Health Reform that delivers affordable, accessible, quality coverage to ALL Texans this year.”
• * This service will only connect you to one member of Congress at a time. In order to reach all of your members, please make this call three times, making sure to speak with the office of your member in the House of Representatives and Senators Cornyn and Hutchison. To find who represents you visit this link and type in your zip code next to “Find Your Officials.”

2. COPY, PASTE and SEND this message to all of your lists and contacts

3. POST this alert on your Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts

4. TEXT the following to everyone in your phone’s address book:
“Call 1-866-210-3678 to tell your members of Congress “WE NEED NATIONAL
HEALTH REFORM THAT DELIVERS AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE,
QUALITY COVERAGE TO ALL TEXANS THIS YEAR!”

ADDITIONAL HELPFUL INFORMATION

• * In Texas, our insurance premiums have risen ten times faster than our incomes in the last decade
  
  * The average group family premium in Texas is about $13,000 a year, which is out of reach for low-income working families.
  
  * But millions of Texans can’t even buy insurance at the average rate: under Texas’ weak regulations, employers today with fewer than 50 workers are paying up to $22,000 a year to cover just one employee!
  
  * Our 2009 Texas legislature has failed to pass bills to significantly improve coverage for our 1.5 million uninsured children
  
  * Ethnic and racial health disparities in Texas are severe, with Hispanics comprising nearly 60% of our uninsured population, though they make up just 38% of all Texans.

Texas Voice for Health Reform Principles
Texas Health Fact Sheet
CPPP’s Texas Health Care Primer