Ways to Keep Advocating to Close the Coverage Gap in Virginia

[jus...@stcharleschurch.org]

WAYS TO KEEP ADVOCATING TO CLOSE THE COVERAGE GAP IN VIRGINIA

 

I.                    LET SEN. FAVOLA & DEL. BRINK KNOW YOU’VE GOT THEIR BACKS RE: MEDICAID EXPANSION

 

WHAT: Town Hall Meeting

 

WHERE: McLean Community Center

                1234 Ingleside Dr.

                McLean, VA 22101

               

WHEN: Sat., April 5, 10 AM

 

Both Sen. Favola and Del. Brink support closing the healthcare coverage gap in Virginia and expanding Medicaid. Let them know you stand with them at this town hall meeting.

 

Here are some talking points that you might want to raise:

·         Delay has already created unnecessary illness and death; continued indecision perpetuates this immoral delay.

The Virginia General Assembly is currently meeting in Special Session to consider our budget.  400,000 low-income Virginians are hoping they will be allowed access to affordable healthcare – healthcare they could have accessed nearly a year ago if our representatives were not so indecisive.  Each day we allow delay in closing the healthcare coverage gap in Virginia, people suffer and lives are unnecessarily lost.

·         These are our neighbors, and we should not ignore them.

In Arlington and Fairfax counties alone, almost 40,000 individuals would be eligible to benefit from legislative action to close the coverage gap.

·         Our hospitals need this.

Without the expansion, struggling hospitals will be forced to cut services, and adults and children will go without decent medical care.  Without preventive care, diseases will worsen and people will suffer needlessly.  

 

II.                  MIRC MEETING MONDAY

 

The Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission (MIRC) will meet this Monday, April 7, at 1:00 pm. The meeting will be held at the General Assembly building in Richmond in Senate Room B.

The MIRC was established last year to oversee specific reforms to Virginia's Medicaid system. It is empowered to authorize Medicaid expansion once the reform conditions are met - which they have beem. It is critical that supporters of healthcare for all Virginians fill the room to show support for closing the coverage gap

 

III.                ASK FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT RESOLUTIONS

 

Encourage your local government to pass resolutions in support of closing the coverage gap. Accepting available federal funds to close the coverage gap will save localities millions currently spent to help the uninsured, free up state funds for critical local functions like education and public safety, and bolster local economies by supporting good jobs and generating new tax revenue.

If you have a personal relationship with a mayor, board of supervisors member, or other key county or city official, please let Ben Paul of the Healthcare for All Virginians Coalition (b...@thecommonwealthinstitute.org) know right away. Even if you don’t have a personal relationship with local officials, contact them as their constituents and ask them to pass supportive resolutions. The other side has been pushing localities to pass resolutions calling for Medicaid expansion to be stripped from the state budget. Let’s push back and get localities to pass supportive resolutions.

IV.                CONTINUE TO EMAIL AND/OR CALL ALL MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES, NOT JUST YOUR DELEGATE, TO URGE SUPPORT FOR MEDICAID EXPANSION.

 

Use the email addresses and sample script sent out via this listserv last week. Don’t have them? Email Elise Cleva at ecl...@stcharleschurch.org.

 

V.                  iamthecoveragegap.com

 

Check out iamthecoveragegap.com, a website launched by healthcare advocates this week. The website compiles the stories of people who live in the coverage gap. Please visit the site and share the link!

 

 

If you agree with Pope Francis that “it is vital that government leaders … ensure that all citizens have dignified work, education and healthcare,” Evangelii Gaudium, (205), please act on that conviction.