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#takeaction

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#Healthcare #HumanRights #SaveMedicaid #TakeAction Medicaid saves lives. Tell Congress: Do not cut Medicaid now or ever!
actionnetwork.org/letters/medi

actionnetwork.orgTell Congress: Medicaid saves the lives of millions. Do not cut Medicaid now or ever! The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has announced that it will not be possible to make the $1.5 trillion in funding cuts called for in the GOP’s current budget package without hollowing out Medicaid. Medicaid saves lives. Recent studies show access to Medicaid is a matter of life or death for the more than 70 million Americans who receive it. In fact, studies also show that Medicaid saves more lives in Republican districts than it does in Democratic districts. Yet the GOP is intent on making these cuts to give $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires and the ultra-rich. The math doesn’t add up, but the cost in human suffering certainly does. The research is clear. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that Medicaid expansion saved the lives of 19,200 older Americans from 55-64 years old, over the four years from 2014-2017, compared to the death rates from the preceding six-year period. In contrast, the same study shows 15,600 preventable deaths among states that did not expand Medicaid across the same four-year period. If Medicaid had been expanded in all 50 states, total lives that could have been saved among younger seniors not yet eligible for Medicare comes to nearly 35,000. Moreover, the study shows this impact increased dramatically per capita each year people had better access, so that by the year 2017, if all states had expanded Medicaid, 13,300 premature deaths would be prevented per year. Access to Medicaid leads to increases in people getting regular check-ups and needed surgeries, early-stage cancer diagnoses, and filling prescriptions for heart disease and diabetes. It also leads to decreases in mortality from late-stage kidney disease, incidence of depression, and people with no regular health care provider or primary care physician. These drops in mortality were mostly due to improved treatment of chronic conditions that are known to be responsive to timely medical treatment, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Especially important is improved access to, and regular usage of, medications proven effective for these life-threatening conditions. Despite these life-saving benefits, the House GOP’s budget directs the committee responsible for federal healthcare spending to find at least $880 billion in healthcare cuts over 10 years. Reducing costs that much is simply impossible without huge cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid and, while all three programs are at risk, Medicaid is the most politically vulnerable to cuts. House Speaker Mike Johnson is not being honest when he says they will find their cuts simply by targeting “fraud and abuse.” The figures the GOP is calling for will require real cuts in real benefits that save real people’s lives. They are seeking the biggest cuts in Medicaid in history, just to give away billions in taxes to their richest benefactors. Click ‘START WRITING’ to sign and send a message to your members of Congress: Medicaid saves the lives of millions of families, children and the elderly. Do not cut Medicaid now or ever! >>>
actionnetwork.orgFund communities, not immigrant detention and Pentagon contractors House Republicans want to cut food assistance and health care to increase Pentagon funding by at least $150 billion and ICE funding by $175 billion―and both are in departments that have never passed a “clean audit.” These huge increases in funding are a slush fund for wasteful Pentagon contractors and private prisons used for detention and family separation, and come at the expense of programs like SNAP, Medicaid, and education programs. Trillions of dollars spent―and unaccounted for―undermines our security by preventing us from investing in the shared prosperity that comes from more housing, climate and public health protections, ending hunger, improving access to care, and more education. By now we’ve all read the reports of how federal contractors are price gouging the Pentagon by up to 40% in some cases. In fact, so-called defense corporations like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrum Grumman get roughly half of the nearly $900 billion Pentagon budget every year. Much of this additional funding will also go towards paying for private prisons and detention centers used for family separation and mass deportations―and the corporations who own those prisons are seeing their profits soar. After giving $2 million to Republican PACs, the head of a private prison company named the GEO Group, reported they were getting an unprecedented interest in new contracts, saying, “We’ve never seen anything like this before.” A report from the National Immigrant Justice Center revealed that immigrants in privately owned detention centers face a myriad of mistreatment and abuses including punitive use of solitary confinement, lack of due process, and discriminatory treatment towards people who identify as LGBTQ. Congress needs to hear from you now. Click “Start Writing” to urge Congress to reject extra funding for ICE and the Pentagon and invest in our communities instead. If Congress is looking for ways to cut waste, fraud, and abuse―start by looking at the Pentagon.
actionnetwork.orgStop Trump's Illegal USPS Takeover Donald Trump is attempting an illegal takeover of the United States Postal Service by firing the entire Postal Board of Governors and placing the USPS directly under the control of billionaire Trump donor Howard Lutnick, recently sworn in as Secretary of Commerce. Trump described it as a “type of merger.” But here’s the truth, the Postal Service is not a private business and it doesn’t belong to Trump or the White House, it belongs to the American people. This move is unconstitutional and blatantly illegal. In 1970, Congress passed the Postal Reorganization Act, explicitly removing the Postal Service from presidential control. They established the USPS as an independent, self-funded public agency. Trump's executive order would blatantly violate the law and undermine the separation of powers essential to our democracy. The Postal Board of Governors must reject this unlawful attempt by refusing Trump's firing order, and stay on the job to fight back. If Trump is successful, postal workers, seniors, and rural Americans will bear the brunt of the devastating consequences. Over 640,000 dedicated postal employees, including 73,000 veterans, will see their livelihoods jeopardized. Rural communities risk losing guaranteed delivery of medication, Social Security checks, ballots, and other essential mail. Trump's illegal plan would pave the way for a possible privatization of our public postal system by chopping up USPS, selling off its parts, and putting profit margins over public service. This isn't the first time we've faced such a threat. We've stopped Trump before, from privatization efforts in 2018 to attempted sabotage before the 2020 elections. Together with our diverse coalition of labor unions, veterans, voting rights advocates, civil rights groups, and grassroots activists across the nation, we've protected our Postal Service and we can and will do it again. Now we must stop Trump's unconstitutional power grab and keep the Postal Service in public hands, where it belongs. Click ‘START WRITING’ to sign and send a direct message to the Postal Board of Governors to refuse Trump's illegal order, stand strong, stay on the job, and save the Post Office from Donald Trump.
actionnetwork.orgProtect Freedom of Press. Demand the White House Reinstate The Associated Press Now. One of the very first executive orders signed by President Donald Trump attempts to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. But under international law, the American government doesn’t have the authority to change the name of the entire Gulf worldwide — and most countries, including Mexico and Cuba, aren’t accepting the name change. Likewise, noting that the area has carried the name the Gulf of Mexico for more than 400 years, The Associated Press decided not to change the name in their reporting. In retaliation, the Trump administration has barred the AP’s reporters from the White House press pool and events. This is an unacceptable attack on freedom of the press, in violation of the First Amendment. The AP has been a member of the White House press pool since it was founded in 1846. Having earned the honor of 59 Pulitzer Prizes, the AP is respected for its journalism with a worldwide reach of over 4 billion people per day. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of the press and the right to free speech. The Fifth Amendment grants due process, and the AP was not given a formal opportunity to challenge the ban before it was implemented. The AP has sued to regain access, arguing that the administration’s goal is to coerce journalists to use “only government-approved language” in reporting. The administration doesn’t have to wait until the court orders them to act, but they won’t change course unless they hear from the American people. Click ‘START WRITING’ to sign and send a direct message to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt now.