Health Care Reform Principles

Health Care Reform

Urgent Action Alert

Tell Congress to
Make Health Care Reform Work
for People with HIV/AIDS

Congress is moving quickly to develop and pass health care reform legislation. One committee in the Senate will begin debating legislation this week.

The move to reform health care in the United States must ensure that everyone living with HIV benefits from early and reliable access to lifesaving care and treatment. However, there are increasing rumors and concern that three top priorities for people with HIV/AIDS will not be addressed in the final legislation. Coordinated action by our entire community is needed NOW to make sure Congress knows how important these three core provisions are for all of us:

Expanding Medicaid for all low-income people, including childless adults, by eliminating current requirements that tie Medicaid to disability status. This would give approximately 42% of all people living with HIV who are currently uninsured immediate access to health care through Medicaid.
Including Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA) language which gives states the option to expand Medicaid access to low-income people living with HIV whose incomes are above established Medicaid income eligibility rules. This will give states the option to expand coverage for people living with HIV/AIDS, reaching more than 75% who are currently uninsured.
Including a strong public plan option to help provide affordable access to comprehensive care for people with HIV – nearly 30 percent of whom have no insurance. This would offer a national standard for coverage and greater dependability, consistency and security for people with HIV than private plans, which can charge higher prices and/or close, merge or change benefits at will.

All three of these priorities are crucial to ensure the best possible expansion of care and treatment for people with HIV/AIDS and must be part of any final health care reform package.

Decisions are being made quickly and Congress needs to hear directly from people who are most impacted by this legislation. Please take a minute to make two important phone calls today!

How you can help

The Senate is considering health care legislation right now, so calls are needed to both of your Senators.

Call your two United States Senators in their Washington, DC offices. Ask to speak to the staff person who handles HIV and health care issues. You might get their voicemail, or you might speak to them in person. Either way, tell them:

“My name is ____________ and I live in (city/state). I am very concerned that health care reform will not meet the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS. Any final health care legislation must eliminate the disability requirement for Medicaid and ensure that all low-income people, including childless adults, have early access to care. It must also include language from the Early Treatment for HIV Act which expands access to Medicaid for people living with HIV. Finally, it must have a public plan option to best ensure affordable access to comprehensive care for people with HIV. All three provisions are crucial to ensure that people with HIV/AIDS have early access to care and treatment that keep them healthy and productive. I urge Senator ______________ to do everything in his/her power to fight for these important provisions.”

You can reach your Senators by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 1-202-224-3121. If you don’t know who your Senators are, go to www.congress.org and enter your zip code in the upper right corner.

Phone calls are particularly effective right now because Congress is moving quickly. However, if you prefer to send an email, go to your Senator’s website (linked from www.senate.gov). You will find instructions on sending emails to that office. Cut and paste the phone message, make sure your name and the Senator’s name is included, and add a short personal note explaining why this issue is important to you.

If you need help figuring out who your Senators are or how to call/email them, write to action@projectinform.org and someone will help!

For more information:

Go to www.taepusa.org for background information and analyses of various health care reform proposals and the impact on people with HIV/AIDS.

The HIV Health Care Access Working Group is hosting regular conference calls to update the community about health care reform efforts and how people can get involved. All are invited to participate. The calls are the 1^st and 3^rd Thursday of each month at 2 pm Eastern. To join the call, dial 218-339-2699 and enter access code 968918.

Other actions:

If you live in or near Washington, DC, join the “Light the Night” rally organized by the SEIU Health Care Equality Project demanding legislation that provides high quality, affordable care for all. For more information, go to http://healthcareequalityproject.org.

Don't Miss the Calls

The next community call will be Thursday, June 18th, at 2 pm Eastern. Dial: 218-339-2699; Access Code: 968918#. This call will provide an update on Congressional activity and will also focus on grassroots (that's all of us, people!) strategies for the July 4th recess. President Obama has asked Congress to pass health care reform legislation this year. He wants to see bills on his desk by October. Congress has been working on various proposals and legislation will be coming out soon. Stronger community involvement is needed to protect and expand care for people living with HIV/AIDS. These calls will be the first and third Thursday of each month at 2 pm Eastern; the next call is June 18, 2009. To participate, call: 218-339-2699; Access Code: 968918

The HIV Health Care Access Working Group was formed in 2003. It is composed of 83 organizations working to increase and expand access to care. It began as the Medicaid Defense Group then became the Medicaid/Medicare Working Group to address Medicare Part D legislation and implementation. Last year, the group renamed itself the HIV Health Care Access Working Group to address health care reform issues. The group has been focused on the public payer programs (Medicaid/Medicare) that provide the majority of care to people with HIV. Health care reform provides an excellent opportunity to increase access to care for people with HIV/AIDS. Reform was a major issue in the Presidential election and now is the time for people to get active.

The process began when Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) put out a white paper with health care reform principles. The House and Senate leadership is committed to introducing legislation prior to the August recess. All committees of jurisdiction are working on reform legislation. Some policy option papers are out. Some Members of Congress have released bills but we are waiting for the primary legislation to be introduced by the Chairs of key committees. The working group wants to ensure that people with HIV are better off as a result of health care reform. We are worried that low-income people won't fare as well as they should and that the private insurance market might not provide the comprehensive care that our constituencies need.

The working group has created a platform that includes principles that should be incorporated into any health care reform legislation. We are analyzing all reform plans and educating Congress based on those principles. You can read these principles at www.taepusa.org Ryan White-funded services will still play a major role regardless of any health care reform legislation. We know there will be people who will continue to need Ryan White services for health care.

Analyses: The Treatment Access Expansion Project, along with the HIV Health Care Access Working Group, has done several analyses of health care reform proposals and bills, including the Baucus white paper, bills by Senators Wyden, Sanders, and Coburn, and the Senate Finance Committee policy options papers. All analyses and summaries of health access-related issues can be found at www.taepusa.org.

Political Climate: It was clear after the election that the nation would once again address health care reform. The Obama Administration has learned from past reform efforts that it is wise to not create their own bill, but instead provide Congress with principles/goals and allow Congress to write the bills. Congress is working in a bipartisan manner, with everyone engaged (progressives to conservatives). We are waiting for the committees of jurisdiction to release their bills. The Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) and Finance committee proposals should be released soon. President Obama has been in contact with Senators Baucus and Kennedy to address key goals. He has made it clear he wants a public option included in the bills. President Obama is asking that if there is mandated coverage there should be a hardship waiver to allow people to opt out. He also placed $635 billion in the stimulus bill as a placeholder to pay for expanded coverage. It is likely that a final bill will be a compromise and incremental.

The HIV community has certain non-negotiable priorities, including expansion of Medicaid to low-income, childless adults, the broadest expansion of Medicaid possible, and elimination of coverage exclusion for pre-existing conditions. We have freestanding legislation that has been pending for a long time, such as the Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA) and allowing ADAP to count toward the calculation of so-called true out-of-pocket costs (TrOOP), which bodes well for incorporating these items into any reform legislation.

Take Action Now: It does appear that Medicaid expansion could be at risk and all persons concerned about HIV/AIDS are encouraged to contact their Members of Congress. Please see Alert on the left of this page.

Resources:

Summaries of these calls, action alerts, and updates will be sent through the HIV Health Care Access Working Group listserv. If you are not already on that listserv (or have not previously sent a message to rsvp for the June 4 call or asking to be added to the listserv), email pdunn.projectinform@gmail.com and we will add you.
Treatment Access Expansion Project (HIV Health Care Access Working Group legislation and proposal analyses and documents): www.taepusa.org
Families USA (focus on reform to provide affordable health care for all): www.familiesusa.org

Summaries of these calls, action alerts, and updates will be sent through the HIV Health Care Access Working Group listserv. If you are not already on that listserv (or have not previously sent a message to rsvp for the June 4 call or asking to be added to the listserv), email pdunn.projectinform@gmail.com and we will add you

Federal poverty Guidelines