Pass Comprehensive Health Reform |
1. Pass Comprehensive Reform Sign On Letter
February XX, 2010
Dear Senator/Representative:
We urge you to stand firm for comprehensive, meaningful health reform and to do whatever it takes to make the long overdue promise of health reform a reality for the millions of uninsured Americans, including many with HIV/AIDS, who desperately need it.
Both the Senate and House bills include reform measures that have long been priorities for the HIV community, such as expanding comprehensive Medicaid coverage to low income individuals; making prescription drugs affordable under Medicare Part D; regulating the private insurance market with new rules to prevent discrimination; and investing in prevention and public health. The final bill must include these and the many other reform components that have already won approval by both the Senate and the House, such as a regulated insurance exchange with generous subsidies for individuals who need it; comprehensive measures to address the medical and public health workforce crisis; and allowing AIDS Drug Assistance Program expenditures to count toward true out of pocket costs.
We support passage of the Senate bill as a vehicle for getting the job done as well as the use of the reconciliation process to enact health care reform that best meets the needs of all Americans. We also urge the adoption of the Early Treatment for HIV Act through this process. We strongly oppose efforts to craft a pared-down bill that only includes the most popular measures of reform without taking the bold steps necessary to transform our health system and ensure meaningful access to health care for people with HIV, those with other chronic conditions, and all uninsured Americans.
Failure to pass a comprehensive bill that expands Medicaid, creates an affordable and regulated individual and small group insurance marketplace, and enacts strong consumer protections will deny hundreds of thousands of people with HIV and others with chronic disease, access to the care they desperately need to stay alive. We are counting on Congress to work together and finalize meaningful health care reform legislation. We can’t afford to abandon this vital effort.
For more information, please contact HHCAWG co-chairs Laura Hanen of the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors at (202) 434-8091 or Robert Greenwald of the Treatment Access Expansion Project at (617) 390-2584.
Respectfully submitted,
[List in Formation]*
AIDS Action
AIDS Action Baltimore
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
American Academy of HIV Medicine
Harlem United
HIV Medicine Association
Housing Works
National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors
Project Inform
The AIDS Institute
Treatment Access Expansion Project
*As of February 4th, a version of the letter signed by 179 organizations and 349 individuals was sent to Congressional offices and to the Administration. We are continuing to collect endorsements and will resend the letter on February 22nd with an updated list. Email aweddle@hivma.org for an updated list of signatories. Thanks!
Dear Senator/Representative:
We urge you to stand firm for comprehensive, meaningful health reform and to do whatever it takes to make the long overdue promise of health reform a reality for the millions of uninsured Americans, including many with HIV/AIDS, who desperately need it.
Both the Senate and House bills include reform measures that have long been priorities for the HIV community, such as expanding comprehensive Medicaid coverage to low income individuals; making prescription drugs affordable under Medicare Part D; regulating the private insurance market with new rules to prevent discrimination; and investing in prevention and public health. The final bill must include these and the many other reform components that have already won approval by both the Senate and the House, such as a regulated insurance exchange with generous subsidies for individuals who need it; comprehensive measures to address the medical and public health workforce crisis; and allowing AIDS Drug Assistance Program expenditures to count toward true out of pocket costs.
We support passage of the Senate bill as a vehicle for getting the job done as well as the use of the reconciliation process to enact health care reform that best meets the needs of all Americans. We also urge the adoption of the Early Treatment for HIV Act through this process. We strongly oppose efforts to craft a pared-down bill that only includes the most popular measures of reform without taking the bold steps necessary to transform our health system and ensure meaningful access to health care for people with HIV, those with other chronic conditions, and all uninsured Americans.
Failure to pass a comprehensive bill that expands Medicaid, creates an affordable and regulated individual and small group insurance marketplace, and enacts strong consumer protections will deny hundreds of thousands of people with HIV and others with chronic disease, access to the care they desperately need to stay alive. We are counting on Congress to work together and finalize meaningful health care reform legislation. We can’t afford to abandon this vital effort.
For more information, please contact HHCAWG co-chairs Laura Hanen of the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors at (202) 434-8091 or Robert Greenwald of the Treatment Access Expansion Project at (617) 390-2584.
Respectfully submitted,
[List in Formation]*
AIDS Action
AIDS Action Baltimore
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
American Academy of HIV Medicine
Harlem United
HIV Medicine Association
Housing Works
National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors
Project Inform
The AIDS Institute
Treatment Access Expansion Project
*As of February 4th, a version of the letter signed by 179 organizations and 349 individuals was sent to Congressional offices and to the Administration. We are continuing to collect endorsements and will resend the letter on February 22nd with an updated list. Email aweddle@hivma.org for an updated list of signatories. Thanks!