The next 30 days are crucial. Congress will return from recess next week to move at break-neck speed.  Both the House and Senate are focused heavily on health care reform, and the decisions they make will affect women and families for decades.  President Obama has indicated that it is his strong desire to have a health care bill on his desk to sign by October 1st. Your Idaho Public Affairs team will be on Capitol Hill in July lobbying to ensure that reproductive health care is covered as a benefit under whatever network exchange is created.

But we need your help.  Idaho Congressional members need to hear from YOU before making these critical decisions. 

In Idaho, local health centers are where many people turn for trusted health care. Community health centers, like Planned Parenthood, often serve as an entry point for essential health care needs. And Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest isn’t the only health center women rely on for preventive care.

Community-based providers often face significant challenges in being included in health insurance networks, so it’s critical that Congress put these protections in place to ensure that Americans can access trusted providers in the communities where they live.

As our nation’s economic crisis remains uncertain, more women are turning to women’s health centers for basic health care. Women of childbearing age spend 68 percent (!!!) more in out-of-pocket health care costs than men, in part because of reproductive health-related needs. 

Unfortunately, we have already seen more than 20 amendments being introduced in the Senate to weaken access to care. Earlier this year, Congress stripped family planning benefits from the stimulus bill. It seems that women’s care is always the first thing to be tossed aside.

Health care reform should strengthen and protect women’s health care, not weaken it.   Tell lawmakers that Idaho women and families deserve better!

Sample Letter for Campaign

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As Congress works to enact health care reform, they must make women's health a priority and ensure that reproductive health care is covered. While this fact should be a given, the truth is that family planning and reproductive health care are still not fully part of mainstream health care, even though 98 percent of women use contraception at some point in their lives.

Protecting community health providers is fundamental to solving provider access issues that will come with expanding coverage and ensuring Americans can access trusted providers wherever they live.

Under health care reform, women must have access to reproductive health care and their women's health provider. Women cannot be worse off after health care reform than they are today.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
July 06, 2009