Act Now - Give Health Reform a Birthday Present!
A year ago, the new national health reform law—the Affordable Care Act—passed Congress, offering the potential to transform the fight against the HIV epidemic by reducing deaths and new infections. But some members of Congress aren’t telling the truth about how their constituents will benefit from health reform. They want to repeal the new program and starve it of funding. Send a message to your member of Congress: Fully implement health reform now! Another important part of national health reform that’s under attack is the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which will make critical investments in prevention infrastructure by spending $15 billion over 10 years on prevention projects, including HIV prevention. This funding could pay tremendous dividends by focusing new attention on the importance of prevention. We have hard work ahead to fully implement the law. Your members of Congress work for you—tell them you need health reform fully implemented today! Please personalize your text to increase the effectiveness of your message. Here are some suggested talking points to get you started:
Sure, the new law isn’t perfect, but for the first time, nearly all people with HIV will have access to the HIV medications they need to say alive and be able to obtain specialty health care to treat co-occurring illnesses. Health insurance companies won’t be able to deny people with HIV health insurance just because they’re sick. Prevention and public health efforts—including initial steps to implement the National HIV/AIDS Strategy—will be amplified through mandatory spending that grows each year.
* I’m living with HIV and I can’t buy affordable private health insurance, because no insurance company will sell it to me. That will change in 2014. Don’t take that away!
* The Prevention and Public Health Fund will make critical investments in prevention infrastructure by spending $15 billion over 10 years. This funding could pay tremendous dividends by focusing new attention on the importance of prevention. We know prevention works, and I consider it a top priority.
* I work with uninsured people with HIV. I am stunned that they often can’t get testing or treatment for co-occurring conditions like cancer that sometimes are a greater threat to their health than HIV. The Affordable Care Act will partially solve this problem for many. It’s an important step in the right direction.