I’m keeping this short, because today is a recovery day. It’s a recovery day for many reasons, and one of those is because I spent a lot of energy talking to a senator’s aide yesterday about the state of healthcare in our country and where it’s headed.
Obviously, this is a hard topic to discuss. It’s complicated and scary and very personal. He said a lot of things that I found unhelpful and uninteresting. But then he said some other things that could make a difference. One of those is this: senators’ staffs track all phone calls. Even from out-of-staters.
Some record them and list them all out. Others don’t. But even the ones who don’t know how many calls they’re getting and which way people are leaning.
This aide said they’re getting thousands of calls about healthcare, and not all from people in our state. Hmm.
So we should all call. State our case. We don’t have to say where we’re from up front. Say it at the end, so they listen to our content before they judge. It can be as simple as, “Hi, my name is ____ and I’m calling to ask you to vote against the AHCA. The Affordable Care Act allows me to keep my insurance (or whatever other benefit it provides to you) which keeps me alive (or any other benefit you receive.) Please vote to keep and improve the ACA. Do not repeal or replace it. I am from _____. Thank you.”
Or instead of talking about your personal experience, you can simply say that it will cost millions of people their healthcare, and that you don’t believe that is in the best interests of our country.
Easy. Simple. Fast.
Not sure who to call? There are 100 senators – 2 from every state. Start with the 2 in your state. Even if they are voting the way you want them to, they could use your support! You never know when a flood of calls from the other side might alter things, so please call and voice your support. Then work your way through the list. If you have friends or family in a state where the senator is on the fence or voting the other way, ask them to call, too.
You can find contact information for all of the senators here: https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
Here are some senators in particular to call and encourage to vote against the AHCA.
The loss of healthcare is a difficult, scary, horrifying prospect. Let’s do all we can to make sure it doesn’t happen. Please take a moment to share this. You never know whose phone call might be the one to tip the scales.
Chronic Rants 