The Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) next week. Click here for details of the case and here for details regarding Medicaid Expansion from our friends at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
These proceedings are already focusing public attention on health reform in a way not seen since the ACA's passage. This creates a teachable moment in which Mobilizer readers can act in the interests of the 65% of Health Care for the Homeless consumers who do not have health insurance, and for millions more who are uninsured and at risk of losing everything to health care costs.
The National HCH Council has prepared two template letters for your use in increasing public awareness, a key advocacy activity.
One letter applauds the ACA's expansion of Medicaid, which will cover nearly all homeless people beginning in 2014. In an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, the National HCH Council has argued that this expansion is constitutional and consistent with our country's obligations under international norms of human rights. The letter template gives you a chance to put a face on the abstract issues of human rights.
The second letter acknowledges the importance of the Medicaid expansion, but calls for a more far-reaching reform: universal insurance coverage in a single-payer system. Mobilizer readers will recognize in the letter the historic, principled position of the National HCH Council.
There is much more to say about these different takes on the issues before the Court, but these short letter templates are meant to state central points briefly and clearly. Please make them your own, and use them!
