| Via Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign: The fight for the Build Back Better plan is at a full-tilt boil in Congress this week, and it’s very important to get it over the finish line as soon as possible. Overall, the plan does many good things in many ways to help out everyday people in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and its accompanying economic recession, the legacies of the Great Recession from a decade ago, and the runaway economic inequalities that have been fostered and grown to a chasm over recent decades.
There are some very important health care components in the Build Back Better plan, including provisions to:
- Direct Medicare to negotiate prices with prescription drug companies, and allow employers and unions to also take advantage of them.
- Add new dental, hearing, and vision benefits to Medicare, cap annual out-of-pocket costs for people on Medicare, and lower the eligibility age for Medicare.
- Expand Medicaid to all low-income people no matter what state they live in, eliminate barriers to Medicaid for low-income legal immigrants, and provide a full year of Medicaid coverage to all low-income women after giving birth.
- Permanently fund the State Child Insurance Program.
- Make Affordable Care Act health plans more affordable to everyone regardless of income.
- Expand the workforce for home and community-based long-term care.
- Update the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program to cover more low-income seniors and people with disabilities.
- Require large corporations and the ultra-rich to pay their fair share of taxes, so that all of the above can be accomplished.
We urge everyone to contact YOUR member of Congress to express your opinions about the Build Back Better plan:
- make phone calls to both their Capitol Hill and local district offices (click here for phone numbers.)
- send them an email.
- post to their social media accounts.
- post to your own social media accounts and be sure to tag your Rep.
Be sure to always tell your own story about how Build Back Better will affect you, your family, your friends and colleagues, and your community.
The next week or so will be crucial to whether Build Back Better comes to fruition or not, so NOW is the time to make your voice heard.
Thanks for all that you do to fight for health care for all in New York and across the U.S.
In solidarity,
Mark Hannay
Director, Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign
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