Senate Health Bills Fall Short for Arthritis Community

The Senate is expected to open debate today on two bills that repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Tell your senator to vote no and work to write a health bill that serves patients!

Not getting health insurance because you have a pre-existing condition.

Thousands upon thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs every year with no end in sight.

Fear of reaching your maximum lifetime benefit because you take expensive drugs or had multiple surgeries and hospital stays.

This is what life looked like for many people before the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed into law in 2010. While the ACA is far from perfect, it offers critical protections like caps on annual out-of-pocket spending, a ban on lifetime coverage limits, a prohibition on pre-existing conditions exclusions and minimum essential health benefits like prescription drugs and hospitalizations.

Since January, Congress has been focused on repealing and/or replacing the ACA. Today, the Senate is expected to open debate to repeal or replace the ACA with either the Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017 (BCRA) or the Obamacare Repeal Reconciliation Act of 2017 (ORRA). Either of these bills will be damaging for people with chronic diseases like arthritis, as they fail to meet ourprinciples for health reformand will result in lost coverage for tens of millions of people.

Simply put, these two bills, crafted without input from patient advocates, are not the answer.

We need your help to make sure the BCRA and ORRA bills do not get passed by the Senate. We’ve done all the hard work for you by creating a templated email that you can use to tell lawmakers that access to prescription drugs, continuous health coverage, and caps on annual out-of-pocket spending are important to you, and to vote no on these bills. All you have to do is click a few buttons. It’s quick and easy, but more important, it gives your legislators the feedback needed to understand that these bills do not adequately serve people with chronic conditions like arthritis.Send your email now!

Visit our website to learn more about these bills and how they might affect you, including aFAQ,letter to Congressand awebinarwe co-hosted with the American College of Rheumatology. Also check outresourcesfrom the National Health Council.

Patients are the ultimate stakeholders in health care and your voice matters now more than ever. Use your voice. Tell your story. Help us secure a bipartisan solution that demands accessible and affordable healthcare for the arthritis community!