(UPDATED 12/20) No terrorist group has ever caused as many deaths in the U.S. as our morally bankrupt GOP legislators are set to do – every year.
(https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSawq_YkqAU/)
This poster – Cheyenne Hunt – is correct. There is method behind the madness of the GOP’s shabby pretense of a health plan. This is a form of gerrymandering by attrition, where only the healthy and wealthy will be able make it through the barriers they are planning to enact to prevent the rest of us from voting.
The GOP’s deliberate actions to run out the clock on affordable health insurance premiums will take millions out of the market, with a result of an estimated ±51,000 premature deaths every year, equal to seventeen 9/11-size acts of terrorism. But unlike that tragedy, this one will happen quietly, in various places, at various times, without the camera closeup on the wreckage of lives and grieving families.
The calculation does not include the exponentially larger number who will become the walking wounded, too sick to concentrate on anything but daily survival, or their families trying to make up the financial losses when a breadwinner can no longer work.
No enemy outside of warfare has killed 51,000 people a year, but the GOP is stepping up their game for political gain. Tell your legislators, in both the House and the Senate, we will no longer put up with this form of economic terrorism against your constituents.
Action #1 – Call our own legislators!
Minimum script for our Democratic legislators: I’m calling from [zip code]. I’m calling to thank Representative/Senator [____] for holding the line on health care access in the shutdown. But I want [him/her] to know that we will no longer put up with this form of economic terrorism.
Businesses also want to be free of this financial burden their international competitors don’t have, and coincidentally, the GOP and the president both said they don’t want government cash going into their insurance company/donors’ pockets. Let’s give EVERYONE their wish and get us what every wealthy nation already has – Medicare-for-All now. (Representatives = H.R.3069/Senators = S.1506)
I’m counting on Representative/Senator [____] to protect us constituents. Thank you!
Cosponsors:
- Representatives: Brownley (NO), Carbajal (YES)
- Senators: Padilla (YES), Schiff (YES)
Contact
- Rep. Julia Brownley: email, (CA-26): DC (202) 225-5811, Oxnard (805) 379-1779, T.O. (805) 379-1779
- or Rep. Salud Carbajal: email.(CA-24): DC (202) 225-3601, SB & Ventura: (805) 730-1710 SLO (805) 546-8348
- Senator Adam Schiff: email, DC (202) 224-3121, Burbank (818) 303-3841, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
- and Senator Padilla: email, DC (202) 224-3553, LA (310) 231-4494, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 981-9369, SD (619) 239-3884
- Who is my representative/senator?: https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials
Action #2 – Share your stories
Millions of families are about to find out that their health care costs are doubling—all because Congress let key Affordable Care Act protections expire. It’s the biggest healthcare crisis since the ACA passed, and it’s hitting just as open enrollment begins on November 1.
We’re making sure policymakers and the press hear directly from YOU—the people most affected by this healthcare heist. Working families, small-business owners, and gig workers are facing premium spikes, Medicaid cuts, or the risk of losing coverage entirely.
SHARE YOUR HEALTHCARE STORY NOW!
You can also call your legislators directly!
Talk to your own legislator’s healthcare specialist LIVE!
• Carbajal constituents: Contact his office at (805) 730-1710 and ask to speak to Amisha DeYoung Dominguez, from 9-3. You can also make an appointment with her and go into their office (505 Poli St., Suite 201) and show your bills, the estimated tax, and explain what this will do to your life.
• Brownley’s constituents: If you or someone you know is being impacted by rising health care costs or uncertainty about coverage, share your story with me at (juliabrownley.house.gov/share-your-healthcare-story)
• Schiff’s constituents: Call any office and talk to staff. They will pass all information to their healthcare specialist. DC (202) 224-3121, Burbank (818) 303-3841, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
• Padilla’s constituents: Frankly, least helpful. Call, ask to speak to staff, or email regular information link (https://www.padilla.senate.gov/contact/contact-form/) or their scheduling link (scheduling_padilla@padilla.senate.gov) DC (202) 224-3553, LA (310) 231-4494,
Deep Dive
Where did we get our numbers?
“15 million will lose coverage”
(cbpp.org) “Under the Republican health plan: Another 900,000 in losses come from earlier CBO estimates related to an ACA marketplace rule the Trump Administration has since finalized. (Updated estimates accounting for the final rule and its potential interactions with the law are not available at this time.)When people lose their health coverage, they lose access to preventive and primary care, care for life-threatening conditions, and treatments for chronic conditions. For example, a person with diabetes who loses health coverage will lose the ability to properly manage their condition so they can maintain their health as well as their employment.
- Roughly 15 million people will lose health coverage and become uninsured by 2034 because of the Medicaid and ACA marketplace cuts in the Republican megabill, the law’s failure to extend enhanced premium tax credits for ACA marketplace coverage, and other harmful ACA marketplace rule changes, according to CBO estimates.
- CBO estimates that 10 million people will become uninsured due to Medicaid and ACA marketplace cuts in the law, including 7.5 million people who will lose Medicaid in 2034 (with interactions).
- An additional 4.2 million will lose marketplace coverage because the law failed to extend the premium tax credit enhancements, which lower annual premiums by more than $700, on average, for people who receive them.
“51,000 will die a year”
(finance.senate.gov) “Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., issued a statement today after a new analysis estimates that more than 51,000 people will die per year as a direct result of the Republican reconciliation bill, and their refusal to extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits.
“Despite some of the callous sarcasm from Republican members of Congress lately, the stakes for this bill are truly life and death for tens of thousands of Americans,” Wyden said. “Taking away health insurance and benefits like home care and mental health care from seniors, people with disabilities, kids, and working families will be deadly. This analysis shows the dire consequences of moving ahead with this morally bankrupt effort.”
The analysis, conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics (Penn LDI) and the Yale School of Public Health’s Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis, finds:
- 8,811 deaths per year from the proposed bill’s failure to extend the enhanced ACA premium tax credits.
- 11,300 deaths per year from the loss of Medicaid or Affordable Care Act Marketplace coverage due to 7.7 million people losing coverage.
- 18,200 deaths per year due to the loss of Medicaid coverage among 1.38 million low-income Medicare beneficiaries, causing loss of access to low-income prescription drug assistance.
- 13,000 deaths per year among Medicaid enrollees in nursing homes due to the rollback of the 2024 nursing home minimum staffing rule.
The full analysis can be found here.
Companies want Medicare-For-All too!
(https://youtu.be/PbchNm_SrxU)
Indivisible’s marching orders!
- (from Indivisible) WHAT HAPPENED: Republicans shut down the government rather than pass a funding bill to stop Trump’s healthcare cuts, price increases, and authoritarian misuse of our tax dollars. Funding ran out at midnight on October 1, and the government will remain in a Trump Shutdown until a bipartisan agreement that can clear the 60-vote filibuster is reached.
- WHY THIS HAPPENED: Almost every Democrat held the line to address the healthcare cost crisis and defend Americans from Trump authoritarianism. Now, we need them to hold their ground. Dems must continue opposing any budget that lets Trump’s healthcare cuts and price increases take effect, or that hands him a blank check to keep terrorizing our communities.
- OUR TOP PRIORITY NOW: We need to hold Republicans accountable for shutting down the government and throwing the country into chaos – all to appease their wannabe king. We do that by:
- Ramping up pressure on Republicans to negotiate a bipartisan budget deal that protects healthcare and denies Trump blank checks for his authoritarian wishlist.
- Document and publicize the local impacts of the Trump Shutdown and his authoritarian agenda to make sure our communities know Republicans are responsible for rising costs, economic chaos, and ripping away healthcare.
- Urge Democrats to stand strong and get loud in calling out Republicans’ attacks on working families, our economy, and our democracy.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 