The Affordable Care Act

Phone

I am calling to ask my Senator to vote NO on the repeal of the ACA and the mandates which help Obamacare function. The ACA has made it possible for 20 million more Americans to get health insurance, and reduced the uninsured rate to the lowest in history, and made health insurance within reach of 17.6 million people. We should not return to the time when a family was an illness away from bankruptcy, and taxpayers had to pay $75 to $125 BILLION dollars for uncompensated emergency-room visits. Please vote NO on repealing the ACA/Obamacare without plans for a replacement.

Email

Pre-existing conditions
Dear [Representative or Senator]:

I’m deeply concerned that Congress is quickly moving to repeal the health coverage and protections provided by the Affordable Care Act without any plan at all to replace coverage for the millions of Americans who would lose their insurance.

We will be watching closely to see if you protect our health coverage.

Maintaining protections for people like me to be able to manage our pre-existing [relevant health conditions].

[insert your personal story here]

Under the Affordable Care Act, health insurance companies can’t refuse to cover me, or my children, or charge me more just because I have [your pre-existing condition]. This protection did not exist before 2014, and meant that people who didn’t have the good fortune to have employer-sponsored health plans were denied insurance, or forced to buy into very costly high-risk pools that offered very few benefits.

Repealing the Affordable Care Act without having a replacement plan in place endangers the health and financial security of all Americans, and I hope you will reconsider this costly and risky move.

Lifetime and annual limits
Dear [Representative or Senator]:

I’m deeply concerned that Congress is quickly moving to repeal the health coverage and protections provided by the Affordable Care Act without any plan at all to replace coverage for the millions of Americans who would lose their insurance.

We will be watching closely to see if you protect our health coverage.

In 2014 the Affordable Care Act ended lifetime and annual benefits on the essential health benefits health plans must cover. Maintaining these protections is crucial for people like me to be able to manage our [relevant health conditions].

[insert your personal story here, or after the next paragraph]

Under the Affordable Care Act, lifetime limits on most benefits are prohibited in any health plan or insurance policy. Previously, many plans set a lifetime limit — a dollar limit on what they would spend for your covered benefits during the entire time a person was enrolled in that plan, as well as annual limits. Patients were required to pay the cost of all care exceeding those limits, risking a massive blow to their financial security.

Repealing the Affordable Care Act without having a replacement plan in place endangers the health and financial security of all Americans, and I hope you will reconsider this costly and risky move.

Sources:

https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2016/03/03/20-million-people-have-gained-health-insurance-coverage-because-affordable-care-act-new-estimates

http://bettertexasblog.org/2016/03/aca-6th-anniversary-good-riddance/

https://www.healthcare.gov/coverage/what-marketplace-plans-cover/

https://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about-the-law/pre-existing-conditions/index.html

https://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about-the-law/benefit-limits/index.html