HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr., and Health Care Advocates Call for Action to Lower Costs and Improve Health Care for New Jerseyans. (Photo: Flickr/Protect Our Care)
It's Time to Build American Health Care Back Better
Please contact your Senators and Representative today and ask them to vote for the Build Back Better bill with all the health care provisions included, because care can't wait and neither can we.
I am writing this from a bus somewhere in West Virginia. It's lightly raining, and the air is chill to the touch. We are headed to an unknown location, or at least it's unknown to me.
I'm on this bus because four years ago I walked into a doctor's office with a nagging cough and walked out with a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. The Affordable Care Act saved my life, and I am in remission today.
Nobody should have to live like this. Why do Americans pay more than any other country for our medications?
In so many ways, I am one of the lucky ones. Too many Americans have not been able to get the health care they so desperately need. While we build momentum towards a day when every American has health care, Congress has a chance to make our system better now.
We need to lower the cost of Affordable Care Act health insurance plans. Permanently.
We need to fill the Medicaid gap. The poorest residents of states like Florida, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina deserve quality health care, even when conservative politicians prioritize right wing praise ahead of the lives of their constituents.
We need to strengthen Medicare to finally include vision, dental and hearing, because every part of the body needs access to health care.
We need to fully fund home and community based services, so seniors and people with disabilities can stay at home if they choose rather than being forced to live in an institution due to lack of home care options.
We need to increase Supplemental Security Income (SSI), so seniors and people with disabilities are not forced into abject poverty.
And finally, we need to tackle the outrageous costs of prescription drugs in America, and use the savings from cutting Big Pharma's obscene profits to help pay for better health care for all.
My cancer was Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of blood cancer caused by a broken immune system. My form of treatment, chemotherapy, dismantled the faulty parts. But it turns out that having an immune system is kind of important for humans. My oncologist prescribed a medication, Neulasta, to help my immune system build back faster from treatment. That drug cost $13,000. My insurance wouldn't cover it, so I went without. And I wound up with an infection, spent a week in the hospital, and nearly died.
Nobody should have to live like this. Why do Americans pay more than any other country for our medications? In my case, the drug was built on discoveries that we the taxpayers already paid for. Most major drugs are. Yet we pay again and again, until too many Americans can't afford to pay any more.
But right now Congress can take action! They are working on Build Back Better, a budget reconciliation bill which would include every priority I listed.
We just need our representatives to have the will to vote for human infrastructure, too.
Every vote matters, as there are only 50 Senators and 220 Congressional Representatives willing to entertain the idea of voting for this bill. Unfortunately Republicans refuse to listen to their constituents on the desperate need to improve our health care. So we will need every last vote from Democrats to get this passed.
That's why I joined a national bus tour of Protect Our Care, a non-profit focused on health care reform. I'm traveling coast to coast to share our stories, and pressure our lawmakers to answer to their constituents over Big Pharma, Big Insurance and other moneyed special interests. We started off in Maine, and four weeks later we'll finish in California and Nevada.
I'm setting aside my summer to go on the road because it's just that important. We have a once in a generation chance to rebuild our health care system, and we must not blow it. Please contact your Senators and Representative today and ask them to vote for the Build Back Better bill with all the health care provisions included, because care can't wait and neither can we.
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. In a few short weeks, US voters will have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
I am writing this from a bus somewhere in West Virginia. It's lightly raining, and the air is chill to the touch. We are headed to an unknown location, or at least it's unknown to me.
I'm on this bus because four years ago I walked into a doctor's office with a nagging cough and walked out with a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. The Affordable Care Act saved my life, and I am in remission today.
Nobody should have to live like this. Why do Americans pay more than any other country for our medications?
In so many ways, I am one of the lucky ones. Too many Americans have not been able to get the health care they so desperately need. While we build momentum towards a day when every American has health care, Congress has a chance to make our system better now.
We need to lower the cost of Affordable Care Act health insurance plans. Permanently.
We need to fill the Medicaid gap. The poorest residents of states like Florida, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina deserve quality health care, even when conservative politicians prioritize right wing praise ahead of the lives of their constituents.
We need to strengthen Medicare to finally include vision, dental and hearing, because every part of the body needs access to health care.
We need to fully fund home and community based services, so seniors and people with disabilities can stay at home if they choose rather than being forced to live in an institution due to lack of home care options.
We need to increase Supplemental Security Income (SSI), so seniors and people with disabilities are not forced into abject poverty.
And finally, we need to tackle the outrageous costs of prescription drugs in America, and use the savings from cutting Big Pharma's obscene profits to help pay for better health care for all.
My cancer was Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of blood cancer caused by a broken immune system. My form of treatment, chemotherapy, dismantled the faulty parts. But it turns out that having an immune system is kind of important for humans. My oncologist prescribed a medication, Neulasta, to help my immune system build back faster from treatment. That drug cost $13,000. My insurance wouldn't cover it, so I went without. And I wound up with an infection, spent a week in the hospital, and nearly died.
Nobody should have to live like this. Why do Americans pay more than any other country for our medications? In my case, the drug was built on discoveries that we the taxpayers already paid for. Most major drugs are. Yet we pay again and again, until too many Americans can't afford to pay any more.
But right now Congress can take action! They are working on Build Back Better, a budget reconciliation bill which would include every priority I listed.
We just need our representatives to have the will to vote for human infrastructure, too.
Every vote matters, as there are only 50 Senators and 220 Congressional Representatives willing to entertain the idea of voting for this bill. Unfortunately Republicans refuse to listen to their constituents on the desperate need to improve our health care. So we will need every last vote from Democrats to get this passed.
That's why I joined a national bus tour of Protect Our Care, a non-profit focused on health care reform. I'm traveling coast to coast to share our stories, and pressure our lawmakers to answer to their constituents over Big Pharma, Big Insurance and other moneyed special interests. We started off in Maine, and four weeks later we'll finish in California and Nevada.
I'm setting aside my summer to go on the road because it's just that important. We have a once in a generation chance to rebuild our health care system, and we must not blow it. Please contact your Senators and Representative today and ask them to vote for the Build Back Better bill with all the health care provisions included, because care can't wait and neither can we.
I am writing this from a bus somewhere in West Virginia. It's lightly raining, and the air is chill to the touch. We are headed to an unknown location, or at least it's unknown to me.
I'm on this bus because four years ago I walked into a doctor's office with a nagging cough and walked out with a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. The Affordable Care Act saved my life, and I am in remission today.
Nobody should have to live like this. Why do Americans pay more than any other country for our medications?
In so many ways, I am one of the lucky ones. Too many Americans have not been able to get the health care they so desperately need. While we build momentum towards a day when every American has health care, Congress has a chance to make our system better now.
We need to lower the cost of Affordable Care Act health insurance plans. Permanently.
We need to fill the Medicaid gap. The poorest residents of states like Florida, Georgia, Texas and North Carolina deserve quality health care, even when conservative politicians prioritize right wing praise ahead of the lives of their constituents.
We need to strengthen Medicare to finally include vision, dental and hearing, because every part of the body needs access to health care.
We need to fully fund home and community based services, so seniors and people with disabilities can stay at home if they choose rather than being forced to live in an institution due to lack of home care options.
We need to increase Supplemental Security Income (SSI), so seniors and people with disabilities are not forced into abject poverty.
And finally, we need to tackle the outrageous costs of prescription drugs in America, and use the savings from cutting Big Pharma's obscene profits to help pay for better health care for all.
My cancer was Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of blood cancer caused by a broken immune system. My form of treatment, chemotherapy, dismantled the faulty parts. But it turns out that having an immune system is kind of important for humans. My oncologist prescribed a medication, Neulasta, to help my immune system build back faster from treatment. That drug cost $13,000. My insurance wouldn't cover it, so I went without. And I wound up with an infection, spent a week in the hospital, and nearly died.
Nobody should have to live like this. Why do Americans pay more than any other country for our medications? In my case, the drug was built on discoveries that we the taxpayers already paid for. Most major drugs are. Yet we pay again and again, until too many Americans can't afford to pay any more.
But right now Congress can take action! They are working on Build Back Better, a budget reconciliation bill which would include every priority I listed.
We just need our representatives to have the will to vote for human infrastructure, too.
Every vote matters, as there are only 50 Senators and 220 Congressional Representatives willing to entertain the idea of voting for this bill. Unfortunately Republicans refuse to listen to their constituents on the desperate need to improve our health care. So we will need every last vote from Democrats to get this passed.
That's why I joined a national bus tour of Protect Our Care, a non-profit focused on health care reform. I'm traveling coast to coast to share our stories, and pressure our lawmakers to answer to their constituents over Big Pharma, Big Insurance and other moneyed special interests. We started off in Maine, and four weeks later we'll finish in California and Nevada.
I'm setting aside my summer to go on the road because it's just that important. We have a once in a generation chance to rebuild our health care system, and we must not blow it. Please contact your Senators and Representative today and ask them to vote for the Build Back Better bill with all the health care provisions included, because care can't wait and neither can we.