Today’s Theme:
Increase Visibility of the Economic Impact of the AC
If the ACA goes away, the country will lose three jobs for sure: my husband’s and our employees’. We can only afford to provide health insurance coverage for ourselves and our employees because of the Affordable Care Act.
All of us were uninsurable in the pre-ACA market for individual / small business coverage. Two of us have medical conditions that require ongoing care, and one of us has a spouse with a chronic condition. For ethical reasons, we believe that if we can’t afford to pay someone’s health insurance in the current environment, we can’t afford to hire them as full time employees.
So if my company can’t afford to provide health insurance, we’ll all need to get jobs with companies that do. In practice, this means that I’ll work solo again, as my husband goes to work for an employer that provides coverage for spouses.
I also know that local health systems have already started rumbling about needing to lay off employees if the ACA is repealed, because the volume of people coming in for preventative care will drop off a cliff, and other medical treatments will be refused or delayed.
These economic impacts are real, and don’t even count the lost productivity from workers who don’t have effective treatment for their health concerns, the people who become disabled because their chronic conditions worsen without care, and the economic impact of medical bankruptcies.
Today’s actions focus on making those real economic impacts of the ACA more visible to our representatives in Congress.
Here are the actions for Tuesday, January 3 - 17 days before Trump’s Inauguration.
Key Actions Today:
- Write down a story about how repeal of the ACA / collapse of the health insurance market will affect your local economy, using an example from your own life or a person or business that you know. Condense it into three bullet points and use that to prepare a script for a phone call to your congresspeople.
- Call your governor’s office and ask them to make sure that our Republican representatives understand the consequences of any destabilization of the ACA to their constituents.
- Call your senator to tell them that you are concerned about the insurance market’s reactions to ACA changes - at the local office that’s nearest you. Is this number in your Favorites yet?
- Then call your 2nd Senator.
- Then call your representative at their local office.
Finally, if you’re in the DC area Inauguration Weekend, consider joining us on Inauguration Sunday. You can learn more about that here.
Developments in the Past 24 Hours:
- Trump continues to face legal action for his business activities prior to the election. He will try to use the Office of the Presidency to shield himself from this, but the Republicans set a powerful precedent with their treatment of Clinton — and it’s coming back to bite them.
- Trump’s tweets yesterday said that he supported Assange of Wikileaks over our own intelligence services. After a firestorm, he attacked the media on Twitter today for reporting on those tweets — accurately — by claiming that it’s up to the people to decide whether or not to believe him or their own lyin’ eyes.
- Meanwhile Trump’s plans to restructure intelligence only widen the schism between Trump and the Cold Warriors on the Hill who are not so sanguine about Putin’s interference.
- Republicans, meanwhile, are not in alignment with themselves or with Trump on the ACA Repeal as the political realities begin to come home to roost.
- Good News: Obama met with Democrats in Congress yesterday to discuss their strategy to protect the ACA. His advice: “Let Republicans hang themselves.”
Key Messages Today:
- The economic impacts of repealing the ACA on American families will be severe, as insurance companies raise premiums, deductibles and copays higher than families can afford, and health care consumes more and more of families’ disposable income.
- Financially vulnerable hospitals are already realizing that they cannot survive a post-ACA environment, and health systems are already making plans to layoff workers if the ACA repeal goes through.
- Trump can’t negotiate deals with enough companies to make up for the loss of jobs and economic productivity that would result from the ACA repeal.
Tweet of the Day:
Trump’s attacking the media again today on Twitter for accurately reporting the things he said yesterday — on Twitter. Here is Evan McMullin’s response.
Help Spread the Word!
Thank you for all the recommends, shares, callouts and tweets!
If you’re new to this, it’s the last in a series of diaries with action items specific to addressing the threat of Russian interference in our election. Here is the first diary in the series: A Ten Point Action Plan for Resisting Putin’s Takeover of America
- Bonus #1: Share the original diary and this one on Facebook, Twitter, etc to amplify the effects of our efforts.
- Bonus #2: If you are dedicated to this fight, please consider following the Kos Group “Sons and Daughters of Liberty.” I’ll post these Action Lists there, as well as other diaries that offer concrete opportunities to take action. That way, you’ll be able to read them even if they don’t make the Rec List. If you’d like to play a more active role, send me a Kosmail and I’ll add you to the group.
- Bonus #3: Sign up for Twitter and let us know you’re there. If you’re not on Twitter already, consider signing up with your DailyKos handle. My handle is @Kascade_Kat - share yours in the comments so that we can amplify each others’ messages.
- Bonus #4: Share your plans for Inauguration Day and the day after. If you’re going to the protest in DC and want to meet up with other Kossacks, post something in the comments thread. I’m going to DC and I’m bringing two people with me. Parallel marches are happening on other major cities.
Remember - history has its eyes on us this time.