Congress is in the process of putting together health care reform legislation. Many advocates in the disability community desperately want long term services and supports to be addressed as part of health care reform. People with disabilities and their supporters must communicate this view directly to Congressional offices right away!
Most disability advocates and supporters have been focused on fighting severe cuts to state budgets for developmental disabilities services for some time now. This is exactly why your voice is so important now – to help Members of Congress understand the connection between state Medicaid budget crises and the need to include sustainable long term care financing and program improvements in federal health care reform legislation.
In particular, people with disabilities need you to bring this message to Members of Congress who serve on the key committees that will be considering health care reform legislation:
- House Energy and Commerce Committee
- House Ways and Means Committee.
- Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension (HELP) Committee
- Senate Finance Committee
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Take Action:
Many Members of Congress will spend the weeklong Fourth of July recess in their home districts. Please participate in one or more of the following over the Independence Day recess between Saturday, June 27 and Saturday, July 4:
- Town Hall meetings sponsored by your Members of Congress. You may be able to find a list of town halls on your Senators' and Representative's Web sites. Locate your Senators' Web sites by selecting your state at the top of http://www.senate.gov/ and your Representative's Web site by entering you zip code at the top of http://www.house.gov. If you cannot locate this information on the Web sites, please call their main offices and ask to speak to the scheduler.
- In–district meetings with your Members of Congress. Please contact you local Members offices NOW to schedule a meeting. Guidance on requesting in-district meetings is usually provided under a "Constituent Services" section of your Senators' and Representative's Web sites. Again, you can also call their main offices and ask to speak to their schedulers.
- Other Community calendar events. Many local newspapers have extensive listings of fairs, parades, concerts, and other community events where Members of Congress might show up.
Please feel free to utilize the following materials to help guide your LTSS advocacy:
- Fact sheet:
http://www.ucp.org/uploads/Health_09June17.pdf - Talking points:
http://www.ucp.org/uploads/Talking_Points_09June17.pdf - The Long Term Services and Supports Puzzle:
http://www.ucp.org/uploads/LTSS_Puzzle_09June17.pdf - Declaration of Independence Tool Kit, including Petition:
http://www.ucp.org/uploads/Toolkit_09June17.pdf - Personal stories from your community (such as being on a waiting list for home and community based services, having to quit a job to care for a loved one, having to take a second job to pay a care provider, not being able to move to another state due to loss of Medicaid services, etc).
For additional information and resources, visit www.PassTheCLASSAct.org.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Annie Acosta at 202-783-2229 or acosta@thedpc.org
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