NC NAACP urging people to contact elected officials about ACA

Press release:

TELL OUR SENATORS WE WANT THE ACA IMPROVED, NOT REPEALED

The Health Care Committee of the NC NAACP presents Have A Heart: Don’t Gut Our Health Care, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.

Rather than ask people to drop everything and attend an event, the group is asking people to call or e-mail North Carolina’s two senators, Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, and tell them we are against the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, especially if there is nothing better to replace it.

“We know the Affordable Care Act is flawed,” said Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler, chair of the NC NAACP Health Care Committee. “But is far better than what we had before.”

Committee member, Leslie Boyd, whose son died after being denied care because he couldn’t get insurance, points out that some 30 million people have gained access to health care through insurance since the ACA was implemented.

“Some 15,000 lives have been saved every year,” Boyd said. “It would have saved my son.”

If the law is repealed without a replacement, the death toll will rise again, probably even higher than the 45,000 who died each year (according to a study by Harvard University) before the law.

The law also abolishes annual and lifetime caps on coverage and forces insurance companies to cover people who have pre-existing conditions, allows young adults to stay on their parents’ plans to age 26 and bans the practice of canceling policies of people after they get sick, among other consumer protections. People who get insurance through their employers also enjoy these protections, which could all go away if the law is repealed.

The Health Care Committee endorses a single-payer system, expanding Medicare to include all people. Failing that, Sadler said, a public option that would allow people of all ages to buy into Medicare instead of buying private insurance, would give the insurance companies real competition and lower costs.

Call Sen. Thom Tillis at (202) 224-6342. E-mail him here:  https://www.tillis.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-me.

Call Sen. Richard Burr at (202) 224-3154, or e-mail him here: https://www.burr.senate.gov/contact/email.

Calling your House representative also would help. If you don’t know who that is or how to get in touch, visit here: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/.

Please do not use form letters or scripts prepared by others. Each note or call should be unique to make the most impact. If you need to to use a form letter or a script, please adapt it to the way you would say it. Speak (or write) from your heart. It’s Valentine’s Day, after all.

“If our senators get 5,000 calls from constituents in a four-hour period, they will know we mean it,” Boyd said.

The event is posted at https://www.facebook.com/events/1780451798945571/ for anyone wanting more information, and the information about the Affordable Care Act will be posted daily.