Call legislators about repealing Obamacare without a good replacement plan!
Optional Script:
My name is __________, and I’m calling to express my opposition to repealing the Affordable Care Act without a suitable replacement. Without it 20 million people will lose insurance and some will needlessly suffer and die. Premiums and out of pocket costs will rise, and we will lose preexisting condition coverage. This is unacceptable and immoral. The media and angry voters will rightfully blame Republicans for the disaster.
**If you are calling your own legislator add: If I see you vote against the ACA, I will actively work against you in the next election.
Call Your Own Members of Congress: (see List on Our Group to look them up).
Members of Congress Needing To Hear From You:
Speaker of the House: Rep. Paul Ryan———–202-225-3031
Senator Maj Leader: Sen. Mitch McConnell—-202-224-2541
Republican Senators Wavering on Repealing Obamacare without replacement:
Sen. Rand Paul 202-224-4343
Sen. Lamar Alexander 202 224-4944
Sen. Susan Collins 202-224-2523
Sen. John McCaine 202-224-2235
Sen. Tom Cotton 202-224-2353
Sen. Bob Corker 202-224-3344
Sen. Rob Portman 202-224-3353
Sen. Mike Rounds 202-224-5842
Sen. Ron Johnson 202-224-5323
Background:
***Republicans in Congress have been promising to repeal Obamacare for eight years. In all this time they have made no replacement plan, and it seems unlikely they will come up with one soon. The ACA is actually based on a Republican plan and was passed as a compromise versus a single payer or public option (such as Medicare for all).
***Obamacare requires everyone to be insured (the “individual mandate”). If we don’t require everyone to have insurance, then we can’t cover preexisting conditions. This is because otherwise many people wouldn’t pay for insurance unless they are sick. With a high percentage of people with insurance coverage being sick and using up large amounts of insurance money, there wouldn’t be enough money to pay for all the ill people’s costs. Healthy people who are not using benefits are necessary to cover the payments of sick people.
***What we’ll lose if the ACA is repealed:
-20 million people will lose their health insurance (most people can’t afford chemotherapy, and expensive test/medicine without it). There will be people, including children, who will die because of this.
-Preexisting conditions will no longer be covered (insurance won’t cover any illness you have before you had your policy). Changing jobs/insurance means loss of coverage.
-You can’t keep your child on your healthcare plan after they turn 21 years old (now 26 under the ACA).
-Lifetime/yearly caps for insurance coverage will return.
-Coverage of some people’s wellness care to prevent illnesses will disappear.
-Government help with insurance premiums to low-income people or small businesses will disappear.
-Drug discounts to seniors will evaporate.
-Healthcare screening coverage will decrease (physicals, colonoscopies, mammograms, etc.).
-Regulation of insurance companies so that they must spend an adequate amount on actual healthcare (versus profits to shareholders) will disappear.
-Premiums will rise as uninsured people return to the ER for last minute care (and thus more expensive care). Hospitals pass this on as fees to insured patients to keep solvent, and insurance companies increase their premiums to cover the cost.
Voters for Accountability 