On March 23, the Affordable Care Act celebrated its third anniversary. The North Carolina Council of Churches has long supported universal health care, and we remain committed to that goal and to celebrating the progress made through ACA.
Our friends at Faithful Reform in Health Care have offered a number of ways to recognize this important achievement, and we’ve included them below.
Here’s a suggestion for your gift in support of Obamacare:
Contact your members of Congress, your state legislators, and your Governor with YOUR personal story about what health care reform means for you and with a prayer for their work.
Not sure what to say? Well, it is a fact that most of us have benefited in some way from Obamacare — preventive care services with no co-pays, children on parents’ insurance until age 26, Medicare drug savings, small business tax credits, protection against limits on insurance coverage, and so much more. If you are not sure what new benefits are available to you, check the links below for that information.
Then, over the next couple of weeks, take a moment to DO SOMETHING.
- Send an email to your federal and state elected leaders with a personal note about what Obamacare has meant for you — and with a prayer for their work (see prayer below).
- Print the Faithful Reform postcards on card stock, circulate them among friends, family, and colleagues, and urge them to send their own messages.
- Buy and mail birthday or anniversary cards for the local offices of your members of Congress and state legislators. (Members of Congress will be home on recess. They will receive mail in a more timely way in their local offices.)
- For a little flair, visit a local official’s office with a festive balloon and card with your message — and send a picture that we can share!
What you do is not as important as simply taking an action. So, act today to help your elected leaders know what Obamacare has meant for you.
For help, check out some of the links below to discover the gifts which are ours because of Obamacare.
How the Health Care Law Benefits You – An interactive web page from HealthCare.gov that will help you understand what the Affordable Care Act means for you personally and for your state
Obamacare at 3 Years: Still a Big Deal – Helpful messages, as well as comebacks to misinformation, provided by the Media Matters Action Network
Affordable Care Act at 3: Looking Forward and Expanding Access – A statement from Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, that
Health Coverage by Race and Ethnicity: A brief by the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured that explores the potential impact of the Affordable Care Act on people of color
Who Are the Uninsured? The Feds Parse the Numbers – A post on the Kaiser Health News blog explaining the recent Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services report on how the uninsured persons in the U.S. are broken down by age, race, geography, and lifestyle segments
Affordable Care Act extended free preventive care to 71 million Americans with private health insurance – A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report demonstrating one of the popular provisions of the ACA — preventive care services with no out-of-pocket costs, such as mammograms and flu shots
The Flip Side of Higher Premiums: Better Coverage – Policy insights from the Kaiser Family Foundation on the response to Steven Brill’s Bitter Pill that recently appeared as a Time Magazine cover story.
Obamacare Has Helped Seniors Save Over $6 Billion On Their Prescription Drugs – An article posted on Think Progress that helps explain the Medicare RX savings in Medicare
Dem leader urges media to challenge health law ‘myths’ – A plea to the press by Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) to expose the common myths and mistruths about the law, calling them “deceptions use to poison the water on a historic change”
Obamacare Not Actually Causing Companies To Cut Worker Hours – A new survey from the Minneapolis Federal Reserve indicates that 90% of employers do NOT plan to shift workers to part-time status to avoid requirements for employer coverage in the health care law.
An Anniversary Prayer
“O Holy One of many names, thank you for creating heartfelt compassion in the hearts and minds of our President and Congress to pass the Affordable Care Act. We are grateful for the vision and courage that is leading us into a health care future that will include everyone and work well for all of us.
And thank you for those individuals and family members, faith leaders, doctors, nurses, other health care providers, hospitals and clinics, and chaplains who implement this law by helping us care for our bodies. May you continue to strengthen and guide them and us in efforts to offer health, wholeness, and human dignity to all.
As we continue through these days of public discourse about our health care future, grant us:
- the humility to learn from each other;
- the generosity to be faithful stewards of our abundant health care resources;
- and the compassion to put the needs of hurting people ahead of our political priorities and financial self-interests.
Let us continue to honor your divine intent for harmony and wholeness within creation by sharing with each other compassionate love and grace and by serving the well-being of the whole human family. Empower us with the strength for this journey, that our hearts and minds may be transformed for the common good. Amen.”
[This prayer was adapted and expanded from a 1st Anniversary litany written by United Church of Christ leadership.]
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