May 01, 2017
ANCOR, our national partner, is resending this message because they learned that House Leadership has almost enough support to proceed for a vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA)
this Wednesday – this is a key moment to reach out to your Member of Congress and ask them be a NO vote. This is a second vote after House Leadership cancelled an initial vote on March 24
th because of lack of support. The newest version of the bill allows states to waive out of essential health benefits and weaken preexisting condition requirements.
Because the bill, as written, would be harmful to people with IDD and with Behavioral Health needs it is critical that your U.S. Representative hear from you this weekend to confirm a vote of NO and keep this bill off of the House floor.
Please ask your Member of Congress to vote against the AHCA as currently written because:
- It contains provisions that would repeal essential benefits like mental health services and rehabilitative and habilitative services and devices, which are essential for people with disabilities.
- It allows a process called health underwriting that impacts costs for individuals with pre-existing conditions as it permits rates based on a person’s health record which is harmful to people with disabilities.
- It would reduce federal funding to states over time, which would put greater burdens on state budgets – it is unclear IDD or BH services could survive greater fiscal constraints.
Please make your voices heard by sending your Member of Congress a message through our
direct email tool. This tool sends a pre-written message directly to your Member of Congress’ office and it takes less than five minutes to use. The tool will ask you to provide your contact information so that it can identify your Member of Congress.
If you have an extra five minutes THIS WEEK, please also use our
calling tool to identify your nearest in-state Congressional offices and call them. We provide a short script you can use.
Together, we can save our services!