It’s Now or Never! 3 Things You Can Do to Protect Our Care.

We feared this day would come, and now it’s right around the corner. The U.S. Senate is poised to vote next week on a bill that’s scarily similar to the American Health Care Act (AHCA). Without any hearings or public input, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed the AHCA last month. The House’s partisan bill would end Medicaid as we know it, undermine the Medicare guarantee, and impose an unaffordable “age tax” on seniors—all to pay for tax breaks for wealthy Americans and corporations.

Now Senate leaders are following the House’s perilous lead. Thirteen Senators met behind closed doors to draft a health care bill that includes the same harmful policies in the AHCA. We need your voice now more than ever before. Here are 3 things you can do to stop this bill and protect our care: 

1. Make your voice heard—especially in key states. The deciding votes on this dangerous bill will likely come down to these key states:

• Alaska
• Arizona
• Colorado
• Maine
• Nevada
• Ohio
• West Virginia

Spread the word about how the AHCA’s policies would affect older adults—especially in these states—with our new fact sheets. The best way to make your voice heard is to personally engage with your members of Congress. Share these fact sheets at town hall meetings and community events, send them to your friends and family living in key states, and bring them to local meetings with your members of Congress and their staff. 

2. Call Congress. If you can’t meet with your members of Congress and their staff, a phone call is one of the most powerful ways to communicate with your representatives. Call 866-426-2631 and enter your zip code to be connected to your representatives. 

You can also write to your Senators. Send your Senators an email and tell them to abandon the American Health Care Act and its harmful policies once and for all. You can use our email template or adapt the email with your own message. 

3. Write a letter to the editor. When your local paper writes a story or publishes an op-ed about the Senate health bill send in a short letter expressing your story and your views, both about the bill itself and the secret process leading up to the vote. Need inspiration? Read other letters in the paper. Need facts and figures? Use our fact sheets!

Make sure your letter follows the requested guidelines, and remember that the letters most likely to be published are short and focused. This is another great way to reach your members of Congress, many of whom read the local news every day.

We expect this process will move very quickly over the next several days. Stay informed and engaged through social media, follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @medicarerights, and keep up with the latest by using and following the hashtag #ProtectOurCare.

We know how hard you’ve been fighting to save our care and we know you’re tired (we’re tired too). But we can’t stress enough that there’s no more important time to make your voice heard. Follow these 3 simple steps to make sure the Senate hears from you, loud and clear.