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Protect the Lifeline - Health Care is Under Attack
We need your help!
There are serious threats facing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as plans to repeal this landmark law develop. We need advocates to reach out to their Senators and Representatives to let them know why the ACA is such an essential lifeline for people with I/DD and their families.
Every message matters, so please reach out and share how the ACA is an important lifeline for you, a family member, or friend. We cannot allow repeal of the ACA without simultaneous enactment of a replacement plan that maintains or improves existing coverage and access.
People's health and lives are at stake!
Background: Enactment of the ACA was the most significant law for people with disabilities since the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. It brings about comprehensive reforms that benefit Americans with disabilities by prohibiting discrimination based on health status and improving access to care. There are countless other provisions in the ACA that are important to people with disabilities. The ACA has unquestionably improved access to care for people with disabilities to help them live healthy, independent, and fulfilling lives. To eliminate the ACA, or to eliminate the ACA without simultaneously replacing it with a functionally equivalent alternative, jeopardizes this progress and puts consumers' ongoing access to comprehensive, affordable coverage at risk.
For additional information, here is The Arc's most recent fact sheet about the ACA.
Sample message
: I am ___________( Example: The Arc, person with I/DD, family member of someone with I/DD, disability advocate) and I urge you to oppose any repeal of the ACA without a replacement plan that maintains or improves existing coverage and access. Americans with intellectual disabilities and developmental disabilities rely on their health coverage to maintain their independence and meet their medical needs. The ACA allowed states to extend their Medicaid programs to low income adults. This change has provided coverage to millions of people, including individuals with I/DD and other disabilities and chronic health conditions who were not otherwise eligible for Medicaid. The ACA also provided federal money to support Medicaid expansion. The additional federal contribution to expanding Medicaid has helped more people access health care without harming the existing programs that provide supports and services to people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities. Finally the ACA included strong nondiscrimination provisions and health insurance reforms such as preventing insurers from charging people with disabilities and health conditions significantly more for health insurance coverage and eliminating annual and lifetime caps on health coverage. Several provisions of the ACA were designed to assist states to rebalance their long term supports systems and invest in the community instead of costly and outdated institutions. These include the Community First Choice Option (CFC) and the State Plan Home and Community-Based Services Option (also known as Sections 1915(k) and 1915(i).
If you support repeal of the ACA, you support cutting an essential lifeline for people with disabilities in our state. I urge you not to vote to repeal without ensuring that the replacement legislation addresses these vital concerns and maintains or improves access to comprehensive and affordable health care.
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