“The arc of the moral universe is long, but bends toward justice.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
However you may choose to observe the holiday dedicated to the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we hope that your observing it will renew in you a passion and dedication to speaking up for those who need your voice. Families, seniors, the disabled, women, children and the poor among us will all suffer if the Republican Congress fails to offer a meaningful replacement for the Affordable Care Act. They need you and our country needs for you to be ready to call on Tuesday, January 17,2017. Call, Write and communicate in every way possible to Congress that we will not go back to health insurance the way it was before the ACA. The only acceptable replacement is a better replacement! To be clear, better does not mean better for the minute handful of Americans that will benefit from the repeal of ACA.
- Better means better for the millions of working class Americans who need quality health care at an affordable price.
- Better means better for the millions of retired Americans who worked all their lives expecting the dignity and security that Medicare has always provided.
- Better means better for young families who do not deserve to have pregnancy treated as a preexisting condition.
- Better means better for children born into families that are struggling to make ends meet.
- Better means better for women who should not be penalized financially when they purchase health insurance.
Here are some ideas for when you call on Tuesday:
- 90% of Americans have health insurance coverage under ACA. Tell your Congress member you expect the new plan to cover at least that many, preferably more.
- Preexisting conditions cannot keep someone from being covered under ACA. Tell your Congress member you expect preexisting conditions to be covered under the new plan.
- Adult children can stay on their parents plan until age 26 under ACA. Tell your member of Congress you want young adults to be able to stay on their parent’s coverage under the new plan.
- Under ACA, many low-income Americans were given assistance to purchase health insurance. Tell your member of Congress you want the new plan to cover low-income Americans.
- Under ACA, Medicare was solvent until 2028. Tell your member of Congress that you expect Medicare to be solvent at least until 2028, preferably longer, under the new plan.
- Tell your member of Congress you expect Medicare to remain a defined benefit plan. No vouchers, no premium supports, no privatization.
- Under ACA, the Medicare “Donut Hole” is on schedule to close in 2020. Tell your member of congress you expect the new plan to close the “Donut Hole.”
There are certainly other issues that could be raised during call. This list is not meant to limit you, but to help you as you advocate for health care in America. Feel free to add your suggesting for other talking points in the comments. This list will be updated as the debate continues.
#HandsOffMedicare 
There is more at stake than just the ACA. If Congress repeals the ACA, all of the taxes collected from those making over $125,000 will no longer by available to shore up Medicare. Medicare will go back to being bankrupt, and if you say goodbye to the ACA, you say goodbye to Medicare. Additionally if Congress were to obey the law and reimburse the insurance companies for covering say Pre-existing conditions, the premiums would not have increased. Personally, I think Congress is taking the money collected by the ACA and using it to repay the $3 Trillion it “borrowed” from the Social Security Trust. According to the Trustees, Social Security, for the first time ever, is paying out more than it is taking in, forcing Congress to repay the money it has been borrowing since the inception of the Trust Fund. Also, the Trustees state that if there is no change in income, the loan will be repaid by 2034, at which time, beneficiaries will need to take a 25% cut in benefits, then, the Trust Fund and Social Security can continue as always. Are you going to allow Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell to promote this outrage. Paul Ryan authored a “tax plan” that cut enforcement of governmental agencies Republicans think are unnecessary. The Republican controlled House of Representatives, who, via the Constitution, controls how money is spent by the government, adopted that plan. The results, a Fertilizer Factory in Texas blew up destroying a town, and, now, we have the Flint Michigan Water Crisis. Unless every person reading your paper makes over $125,000 a year, they are going to want to know these things, and want to know how their Congressional Representatives vote on these issues. Are you telling them? They all say, when at home, no, I don’t support that, then they go to DC and vote to destroy the middle class.
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