Advocates Holding Events in 33 States to Celebrate ACA’s

New Consumer Protections From Worst Insurance Industry Practices

Washington DC – As the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marks its first anniversary on Wednesday, March 23, health care advocacy groups including Health Care for America Now (HCAN), Families USA, Doctors for America, PICO National Network and Community Catalyst will host scores of educational events in 33 states to raise awareness of the law’s new consumer protections and benefits that are holding insurance companies accountable and lowering costs for millions of families. In events across the country, local health care advocates are encouraging their Members of Congress to move forward with the law (see Violet’s story below).

This week HCAN is hosting 80 educational events, including today’s public hearing at 10:30 a.m. in the Pennsylvania State Capitol Rotunda in Harrisburg. The event will be just down the hall from a field hearing of the U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee – a proceeding that advocates are calling a partisan “show trial” designed to undercut public support for the health law. While average people have not been invited to testify at their event, their voices will be heard at the counter hearing, which is co-sponsored by Pennsylvania Health Access Network and SEIU. A dozen Pennsylvanians are scheduled to talk about how they have already benefited from the law.

Across the nation this week, thousands of activists will deliver a strong message that we cannot afford to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny coverage to children with pre-existing conditions, impose arbitrary lifetime or annual limits on coverage, hike premiums excessively without consequences, and drop coverage when people get hurt or sick and need it most.

The schedule of activity taking place on Wednesday, March 23^rd, includes:

· Secretary Sebelius Speaks to Community Health Centers. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will address the National Association of Community Health Centers at 3 p.m. ET in Washington D.C. The conference brings together thousands of health center leaders, opinion-makers, policy experts, clinicians and consumers. The speech will be streamed live to ACA anniversary parties at community health centers across the country.

· U.S.Surgeon General Talks With Doctors. Dr. Regina Benjamin and Doctors For America host a tele-town hall with over 500 providers from across the country to discuss the benefits of the ACA to patients and providers. RSVP here.

· HHS Assistant Secretary Koh Attends Event With Faith Leaders. HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh and faith leaders are attending an event in National City, Calif., sponsored by PICO to highlight efforts by local faith groups to use the Affordable Care Act to raise health-care quality and lower costs in their communities. 

· Rep. Anthony Weiner and Center for American Progress – ACA Turns 1. Rep. Weiner and CAP Chief Operating Officer Neera Tanden discuss moving forward as the Affordable Care Act reaches its first birthday. RSVP here.

ClickHERE for details on the 80 events sponsored by HCAN, many featuring members of Congress, state legislative leaders and people who have already been helped by the new law, including:

· Forum with Sen. Rockefeller and HHS. Sen. Rockefeller and HHS Administrator for Health Resources and Services Mary Wakefield are hosting a forum at the Kanawha/Charlestown Health Department in Charleston, West Virginia, on the benefits of the ACA.

· Chicago Event with Gov. Quinn and Rep. Schakowsky. Citizen Action Illinois and HCAN host a rally at the ChicagoTemple with Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.

· We Can’t Go Back Events. Demonstrations at district offices of members of Congress who voted to repeal the law so average people can remind them what they are trying to take away from millions of seniors, families, small businesses and children.

These events are among more than 200 actions taking place across the country this week with children, seniors, small-business owners and young people coming together to explain how they are benefiting from the ACA right now. Each event will demonstrate that now is the time to move forward and protect our care from those who would take away new protections against pre-existing condition exclusions, prescription drug cost reductions, and expanded coverage for children, young adults and women.

Spotlight on Violet: Violet lives with her momJulie and dad Matt in California. In her two short years of life, Violet has experienced thousands of seizures because of a life-threatening form of epilepsy that often leaves her in the pediatric intensive care unit. These episodes can cost more than $250,000, which Julie’s insurance covers, for the most part. The Affordable Care Act guarantees that Violet will continue to receive the care she needs because it eliminated lifetime caps on benefits. Violet would have hit her limit at age four. See Violet’s story here: http://www.protectyourcare.org/stories/violet/

The ACA Is Holding Insurance Companies Accountable and Lowering Costs for Millions of Families. While some in Congress continue talking about repealing or defunding the ACA, they won’t talk about all of the very popular benefits that would be taken away, including:

· Ending the worst insurance company abuses. Already, the law bans insurance companies from dropping coverage when you get sick and excluding children with pre-ex conditions from coverage. 129 million people suffer from pre-existing conditions. And in 2014, they can never be labeled a pre-ex again.

· Lowering premiums for you and your family. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that it would cut premiums for millions of Americans, particularly those in the individual market. Those in the individual market who get help to pay for their premiums are expected to see their premiums drop an average of 59 percent compared to what they would pay had we not passed the law.

· Ending lifetime limits on your coverage. Because of the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies can no longer put lifetime limits on the amount of health coverage you can receive. It also restricts annual limits and eliminates any cap by 2014.

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By Ethan Rome - Executive Director, Health Care for America Now

On Wednesday the Republicans on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee are holding a "public" hearing about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) at the state capitol in Harrisburg, Penn. Except they're not there to listen to the public and people like Pennsylvania's Stacie Ritter, whose family had good insurance and still had to file for bankruptcy because of massive medical bills.

Stacie and her husband Ben had to pay huge fees for the treatments their twin little girls, Hannah and Madeline, needed when they were diagnosed with leukemia. At the same time, Ben had to take time from work to help care for the twins and their other children. It was too much and they went bankrupt. Thankfully Hannah and Madeline are doing well today.

Unfortunately, the Republicans don't care about people like the Ritters. They want to repeal the new law that would help prevent other families from going through the same thing that happened to Stacie's family. They even want to repeal one of the provisions Stacie is most grateful for - the one that requires insurance companies to cover people with pre-existing conditions. That provision means Madeline and Hannah will always be able to get affordable health insurance despite their medical history.

The Republicans are in Pennsylvania on the first anniversary of this historic law to play politics and to grandstand. They've invited Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and other partisan opponents of the law to testify. Not invited: ordinary members of the public. So it's not really a public hearing - it's a show trial, another act of political theater in the Republicans' relentless effort to repeal and undermine the new law. Just down the hall, Stacie and others are holding a reality-based hearing in the Capitol Rotunda to make sure the stories of average Pennsylvanians are heard, especially those already benefiting from the law's many cost savings and consumer protections.

Stacie Ritter's story is all too familiar. People finding coverage or claims denied. People being forced to pay more because of a pre-existing medical condition or being denied coverage outright. People getting stuck on hold for hours to get a simple issue resolved by phone. People running up against annual or lifetime coverage caps and unaffordable co-pays and deductibles that cause more than 900,000 medical bankruptcies a year. All the while, insurance company profits soar, and CEOs make millions. That's why Stacie joined Health Care for America now to fight for change.

The ACA is putting a stop to this madness. It ends the worst health insurance company abuses and protects our care. It provides cost savings, consumer protections and greater health care choices. It puts a check on out-of-control profits that fuel premium increases that are crushing families and small businesses.

The Republicans derisively call the ACA "Obamacare" and rail against the "government takeover of health care." They'd rather not tell the truth about what the law really does because that information does not help their case.

Here are the facts:

• Millions of seniors are receiving free preventive care, such as mammograms and colonoscopies, and relief from skyrocketing prescription drug prices, including $250 checks for people who reached the "donut hole" and a 50% discount on brand name drugs. The ACA has provided these savings while eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare system.

• For small businesses, job-creating tax credits are available to help cover their employees. More small businesses are now providing coverage.
• Adult children can stay on their parents' health plans until they're 26, which provides much needed access to care and peace of mind (especially for the parents) in this tough economy.
• The ACA ends unconscionable abuses like dropping you because you fall ill or because you made a mistake in your paperwork. It bans the odious practice of denying your care or charging you more for having a pre-existing condition. It ends annual and lifetime caps on coverage.

• For the first time ever, the insurance companies are being held accountable, capping how much they can charge, limiting excessive profits and putting the brakes on bloated compensation for CEOs. Guaranteeing a good deal instead of a raw deal with our health insurance - that's what the ACA does.

The ACA is providing life-changing benefits, cost-savings and protections that are making a huge difference in people's lives right now.

The ACA is about more than health care. It's also about economic security for families struggling to make ends meet. We can't preserve and expand the middle-class if people have to worry about health care. People have enough to worry about with high unemployment, rising gas and food prices and keeping up with mortgage payments.

Instead of creating jobs and growing the economy, the Republicans are re-fighting the battles of the past and trying to take us back to the days when insurance companies had a stranglehold on our health care.

People like Stacie Ritter are insisting that we move forward. "This is America," she says. "I knew we could do better with our heath care than we've done in the past and I'm glad we have this law. We won't go back. We've got to move forward."

NOTE: Health Care for America Now has a chart that highlights the features of the Affordable Care Act and shows what the Republican repeal plan would do. You can download a printable, high-resolution version with citations here.

MoreThan 75 HCAN-Sponsored Events Nationwide Part of

Broad Effort by Groups to Mark Affordable Care Act’s First Birthday

Washington, DC – Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nationwide coalition that led the successful fight for health reform, is hosting more than 75 educational events and activities in 27 states this week to promote the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on its first anniversary and to rally against Republicans’ plans to undermine the law. By the end of the week, thousands of people will have participated in HCAN gatherings nationwide, including rallies, birthday parties, news conferences and educational forums.

The HCAN program is part of a coordinated effort by two dozen advocacy groups producing nearly 200 events in 35 states this week. Many of the HCAN events focus on Republicans who have devoted themselves to repealing and defunding the ACA.

SEE SPREADSHEET SHOWING THIS WEEK’S 77 HCAN EVENTS HERE

“One year later, Republicans still have no health care plan other than to take away prescription drug discounts for seniors, no-cost preventive care for everyone, small-business tax credits and consumer protections like the ban on denying care or charging more because of pre-existing medical conditions,” said HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome. “The Affordable Care Act eliminates the worst health insurance company abuses and frees families, seniors and small businesses from crushing health care costs and devastating denials of care. The GOP's only health care plan is to put the health insurance companies back in charge sothey can deny our care and jack up our rates. We must move forward and stop re-fighting the battles of the past.”

The HCAN events and actions across the country feature seniors, children, small-business owners, faith communities, and young people coming together to explain how they are benefiting from the law right now and to highlight what is at stake as opponents of reform are scheming to take away ACA cost savings and consumer protections. Each event will demonstrate that the nation must move forward and protect our health care from those who would take it away to help large corporations that put profits ahead of people.

Here are a few of the many HCAN-sponsored activities taking place this week, many featuring members of Congress, state legislative leaders and people who have already been helped by the new law:

• Chicago: A major rally at the Chicago Temple attended by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.
• Harrisburg, Penn.: While the Republican-led U.S. House Energy & Commerce Committee holds a field hearing nearby, average people will gather for a citizen’s hearing at which they will tell how the new law is already helping them.
• Los Angeles: A birthday celebration at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
• Rallies at state capitol buildings in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Tennessee.
• Gatherings at district offices of members of Congress to thank them for supporting the law.
• Demonstrations at district offices of members of Congress who voted to repeal the law so average people can remind them what they are trying to take away from millions of seniors, families, small businesses and children.

SEE SPREADSHEET SHOWING THIS WEEK’S 77 HCAN EVENTS HERE

Each day during this week will focus on the different communities that are being helped by the ACA:

Monday, March 21: Moving Forward, Protecting Small Business’s Care
Tuesday, March 22 Moving Forward, Protecting Seniors’ Care
Wednesday, March 23: Moving Forward, Protecting Patients’ Rights
Thursday, March 24: Moving Forward, Protecting Women’s Care
Friday, March 25: Moving Forward, Protecting Young Adults’ Care

In addition to HCAN’s events, activities are being sponsored by these grassroots organizations: Alliance for Retired Americans, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Americans United for Change, Campaign for America’s Future, Community Catalyst, Doctors for America, Families USA, Herndon Alliance, Main Street Alliance, MomsRising, National Council on Aging, National Partnership for Women and Families, National Women’s Law Center, PICO National Network, Progressives States Network, ProgressNow, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Small Business Majority, Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN), USAction, U.S. PIRG, Vote Kids and Young Invincibles.

An online effort featuring stories of people being helped by the ACA will complement the grassroots activities, along with targeted radio and social-media advertising campaigns promoting the benefits of the law.

SEE SPREADSHEET SHOWING THIS WEEK’S 77 HCAN EVENTS HERE

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Health Care for America Now is a national grassroots coalition of more than 1,000 organizations in 46 states representing 30 million people. HCAN led the fight to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.

More Than 75 HCAN-Sponsored Events Nationwide Part of

Broad Effort by Groups to Mark Affordable Care Act’s First Birthday

Washington, DC – Health Care for America Now (HCAN), the nationwide coalition that led the successful fight for health reform, will host more than 75 educational events and activities in 27 states next week to promote the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on its first anniversary and to rally against Republican efforts to undermine the law. By the end of the week, thousands of people will have participated in HCAN gatherings nationwide, including town-hall meetings, news conferences and educational forums.

The HCAN program is part of a coordinated effort by more than a dozen advocacy groups producing nearly 200 events in 35 states. Many of the HCAN events focus on Republicans who have devoted themselves to defunding and repealing the ACA.

“One year later, Republicans still have no health care plan other than to take away prescription drug discounts for seniors, no-cost preventive care for everyone, small-business tax credits and consumer protections like the ban on denying care or charging more because of pre-existing medical conditions,” said HCAN Executive Director Ethan Rome. “The Affordable Care Act eliminates the worst health insurance company abuses and frees families, seniors and small businesses from crushing health care costs and devastating denials of care. The GOP's only health care plan is to put the health insurance companies back in charge so they can deny our care and jack up our rates. We must move forward and stop re-fighting the battles of the past.”

The events and actions feature seniors, children, small businesses, faith communities, and young people across the country coming together to explain how they are benefiting from the law and to highlight what is at stake as opponents of reform work overtime to take away ACA cost savings and consumer protections. The events will demonstrate that the nation must move forward and protect our health care from those who would take it away to help large corporations that put profits ahead of people.

Each day during the week of March 21–25 will focus on the different communities that are being helped by the ACA. Event details will be released before each of the following theme days:

Monday, March 21: Moving Forward, Protecting Small Business’s Care
Tuesday, March 22 Moving Forward, Protecting Seniors’ Care
Wednesday, March 23: Moving Forward, Protecting Patients’ Rights
Thursday, March 24: Moving Forward, Protecting Women’s Care
Friday, March 25: Moving Forward, Protecting Young Adults’ Care

In addition to HCAN’s events, activities will be sponsored by these grassroots organizations: Alliance for Retired Americans, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Americans United for Change, Campaign for America’s Future, Community Catalyst, Doctors for America, Families USA, Herndon Alliance, Main Street Alliance, MomsRising, National Council on Aging, National Partnership for Women and Families, National Women’s Law Center, PICO National Network, ProgressNow, Progressive States Network , Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Small Business Majority, Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN), USAction, U.S. PIRG, Vote Kids and Young Invincibles.

An online effort featuring stories of people being helped by the ACA will complement the grassroots activities, along with targeted radio and social-media advertising campaigns promoting the benefits of the law.

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Health Care for America Now is a national grassroots coalition of more than 1,000 organizations in 46 states representing 30 million people. HCAN led the fight to win passage of health reform and to keep Congress from being steamrolled by corporate special interests.

By Ethan Rome - Executive Director, Health Care for America Now

On Tuesday Meghan McCarthy wrote a story in the National Journal that asked, "Are GOP Leaders Going Soft on 'Obamacare?'" "Top tea partiers in Congress," she wrote, "openly worry about the commitment to defund the health care law."

Soft on "Obamacare." That's not exactly how I would term it. These tea party folks clearly have high standards for vigorous opposition. After all, in their brief time under the far-right leadership of Speaker John Boehner, the Republicans in the U.S. House have voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, defund it and eliminate all funding for life-saving health care services for women. They've launched several senseless investigations, and they obsessively and almost psychotically trash the new health care law using any microphone they can get near. When it comes to getting rid of "Obamacare," I'd say Speaker Boehner appears to be giving it his all.

But for "top tea partiers" like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), that's not good enough. According to McCarthy, they've been "leading an effort to strip an estimated $105 billion in mandatory funding from the statute," but Bachmann "fears that the Republican leadership will try to placate the conservative base with empty gestures that leave the funding in place."

Talking about her Republican leaders in advance of Tuesday's budget extension vote, Bachmann explained: "I think there's going to be a fake appeasement with the Planned Parenthood thing and a fake appeasement with the 'Obamacare' thing."

What Bachmann means is that the House leaders set aside their efforts to defund civilization as we know it in order to get agreement on a short-term budget. That's why she was attacking her leaders, and possibly (and regrettably) used the word "appeasement" as a thinly veiled reference to Neville Chamberlain's foreign policy before World War II. Bachmann, as we all know, likes to make historical references, even when that means rewriting history as she did over the weekend, when she confused the role (in prepared remarks - twice!) that New Hampshire and Massachusetts played in the start of the Revolutionary War. Bachmann's explanation, by the way, was the best part: "So I misplaced the battles of Concord and Lexington by saying they were in New Hampshire. It was my mistake, Massachusetts is where they happened. New Hampshire is where they are still proud of it!" I love that.

Here's the thing: It's true that Bachmann and King are fanatical whack jobs who represent the hyper-extremists in the Republican House majority (like the 54 Republicans who voted against the budget bill on Tuesday because it didn't cut enough). But they're just plain wrong in saying that the relentless opposition to the Affordable Care Act by their leaders is inadequate. Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are doing just fine trashing the health law and backing that up with legislative action.

If Bachmann and King want to criticize Boehner and other Republican leaders, they should dump on them for hiding behind partisan political rhetoric that obscures the negative impact that repealing the new health care law would have on America's families, seniors and small businesses - all of whom already are benefiting from the law's cost savings and consumer protections. Why don't Bachmann and King tell the truth about what it would mean for their constituents if the health care law was defunded and repealed - and urge Boehner to do the same? That would show that they're true to their principles.

For starters, the extremist Republicans could say that they want to take us back to the days when insurance companies could deny your care because you have a pre-existing condition, drop you for getting sick and jack up your rates whenever they felt like it. That's not so hard to say, and it's clearer than a bunch of political mumbo-jumbo about "Obamacare." Why not try a little "straight talk," the kind Sen. John McCain was so fond of before the 2008 Republican presidential nominee morphed from a maverick into a political Neanderthal during his tough Senate reelection campaign last fall?

Next week, to celebrate the first anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, thousands of people will be participating in events from coast to coast to highlight the benefits and protections of the new law, such as the ban on insurance companies denying coverage and care because of a pre-existing condition. Since the Republicans are against these kinds of consumer protections, why don't they just come out and say what they're really for and against?

The Republicans should tell cancer patients with crushing medical costs that the GOP wants to reinstate annual and lifetime benefit limits that will force them into bankruptcy and deny them the care they need. They should let young adults know they have to quit their parents' health plans while looking for a job in this tough economy. The Republicans should go door-to-door and tell thousands of seniors to cough up the $250 donut-hole checks the new law provided to help them buy prescription drugs. The Republicans should tell seniors they're ending the 50% discount on brand-name medicines and hold town hall meetings to let small businesses know they're taking away job-creating tax credits.

If the Republicans reach out to the public and tell the truth about repeal, we’ll all know they have the courage of their convictions. If the GOP’s leaders personally take away the insurance cards of children with chronic medical conditions, maybe that will even satisfy Representatives Bachmann and King that the GOP has not gone soft on “Obamacare.”

http://www.healthcareforamericanow.org/ins-co-2010-profits