Category: Health Care Reform Forum - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

Update your ACA insurance status - What You Can Do Now

6/22/2022

Updating your insurance status through the government marketplace is crucial!

Health Care Reform Forum

You May Qualify for Lower Insurance Rates!

Updating your insurance status through the government marketplace is crucial.

If you have enrolled in the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare) through the government marketplace (healthcare.gov), you must report income changes, household changes (new baby or marriage), or changes in disability or citizenship status. Many times these all combine to lower your payments.

Read the details, and learn how to report changes on this link:
https://www.healthcare.gov/blog/remember-update-us-when-your-income-household-changes/

PACG Office Manager

ACA Signup Denial? - What You Can Do Now

6/14/2022

Reduce the chance your ACA insurance is denied!

Health Care Reform Forum

Don’t Be Surprised if Your Insurance is Denied!

Be careful when signing up for Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans. What you see may not always be what you get.

It is wise, when signing up for insurance through the government marketplace, (healthcare.gov) to use a navigator - someone who is trained in helping new consumers. These navigators do not receive a commission for selling a policy. This helps to ensure that they are working for the consumer and not for a company or corporation. Working with an expert can also save you a great deal of money.

We believe there are companies and organizations who are purposely misleading consumers by posing as the official government health insurance marketplace. It’s unclear as to who will protect you, so you must protect yourself. Read stories about individuals who were surprised when their “insurance” cards were denied.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/06/07/1103334082/they-thought-they-bought-obamacare-plans-what-they-got-wasnt-insurance

PACG Office Manager

Don't Hesitate to seek medical help! - What You Can Do Now

6/7/2022

Don’t Hesitate to Seek Medical Help!

Health Care Reform Forum

Many people are unaware of the free preventive health services covered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare). If you or anyone you know purchase health insurance through the government marketplace at healthcare.gov (ACA), you may be entitled to many preventive care benefits.

We have listed two links here - one for adults and one for children.

Adults: https://www.healthcare.gov/preventive-care-adults/
The ACA covers screenings for many diseases, counseling services of all kinds, and most immunizations.There are 22 services for adults.

Children: https://www.healthcare.gov/preventive-care-children/
Preventative care for children includes 29 health services, including well-baby and well-child visits, vision screening, obesity screening and counseling, oral health assessments, and immunizations.

PACG Office Manager

Graduates need health care coverage! - What You Can Do Now

5/31/2022

Graduates need health care coverage

Health Care Reform Forum

Calling all graduates: You have health insurance options!As graduation day approaches, here are three health insurance ideas for graduates or young adults.

You may enroll in a parent’s insurance plan if you’re under 26.
You may qualify for a Special Enrollment Period.
Medicaid might be a viable option for you.

Learn why you should care about health insurance and what affordable options are available to you here:
https://www.healthcare.gov/blog/find-health-insurance-recent-graduates/

PACG Office Manager

More Free Covid Tests Available - What You Can Do Now

5/27/2022

More Free Covid Tests Available!

Health Care Reform Forum

Get your free Covid tests now!

Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order a third round of free at-home Covid tests.It's simple! Just fill out this form on line. If you are unable to use a computer or phone to do this, you can call 1-800-232-0233 or TTY1-888-720-7489. (The latter is a teletypewriter used as a communication device by people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, or have severe speech impairment.)

PACG Office Manager

Contact US Legislators regarding the ARP - What You Can Do Now

5/17/2022

Health Care Reform: Legislators need to listen

Health Care Reform Forum

An estimated 3 million people currently insured in the individual market would lose coverage and become uninsured if the American Rescue Plan (ARP)’s premium tax credit provisions and lower premiums are not extended beyond 2022.

Frank Samuelson, from the Health Care Reform Forum, recently had this excellent Letter to the Editor published in The Quad City Times on May 13, 2022:

LET’S RESCUE HEALTHCARE
In response to the Covid 19 pandemic, the American Rescue Plan helped millions more Americans afford health insurance by lowering premiums and extending tax credits under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

These benefits are set to expire in December of this year unless Congress acts to extend them. If they expire, three million individuals will lose their insurance. In Illinois, 66,000 individuals will become uninsured. In Iowa, 15,000 people will lose their insurance. Extending these benefits is the morally right thing to do. It protects our emergency care, hospitals dealing with walk ins, our communities, and those who will die without healthcare. Let’s ask Congress to act now to extend these benefits and improve healthcare for all Americans.

(Click this link to read Frank's letter in the paper.)

Let’s Rescue Healthcare!

Read the details about what happens if the ARP is not extended in this article:
Projected Coverage and Subsidy Impacts If the American Rescue Plan’s Marketplace Provisions Sunset in 2023

Contact your Member of Congress and tell them to act now to extend these benefits and improve health care for all Americans. (Click the link at the beginning of this paragraph and scroll down to "How to Contact Your Member." You can insert your address or just your Zip code.)

PACG Office Manager

Older Americans Town Halls - Community Event

5/1/2022

Older American Month Virtual Town Halls via Zoom
Tuesday, May 3rd at 9:30 am
Monday, May 9th at 11:00 am

Health Care Reform Forum

The Older Americans Month Virtual Town Halls with Congresswomen Lauren Underwood and Jan Schakowsky via Zoom Webinar are just days away!

The Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans (IARA) needs your help spreading the word to your friends, family, and retiree group to join us in honoring the Congresswomen with our 2022 Aliance for Retired Americans Retiree Hero Award for their flawless voting records on the issues impacting seniors and workers.

Older Americans Month Virtual Town Halls:
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood: Tuesday, May 3rd at 9:30 am
Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky: Monday, May 9th at 11:00 am

Click the link to register and the Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA) will follow up with details on how to log-in to these virtual events!

We'll also be joined by movement leaders from the Alliance for Retired Americans, Caring Across Generations, and Citizen Action IL who will share what you can do to help advance investment in our nation's care infrastructure, push back against threats to Social Security, and mobilize to move lawmakers to take action to lower the cost of prescription drugs!

RSVP for IARA Older Americans' Month Virtual Town Halls! Click here.

For the Illinois voting record for US Congress regarding issues that are especially important to retirees and the people that care about them click here.

Julie Ross

Make Meds Affordable Campaign Artwork - PACG Event

3/29/2022

Make Meds Affordable Campaign Artwork online now!

Health Care Reform Forum

You may have seen an animated version of an image similar to this online recently! We have been working with Richard Iavarone, Business Development Manager for The Quad-City Times and his team.

We wanted to spread the word about the Make Meds Affordable campaign, so we hired some expert help! We have had quite an education about things like target audience, impressions vs. those that lead to action, how our mobile devices are tracked, and how people’s search behavior is tracked. Our forum is new to the concepts of marketing, so this was a steep learning curve for us.

Mr. Iavarone and his team offered a Zoom crash course in marketing which was very helpful in learning how to narrow our geographic target to Scott and Clinton counties, focus on the age range of 24 - 64 years old, and establish clear goals for the campaign.

Letters to the editor reach a significant number of people, but we wanted to learn how to contact those who get their news electronically. We recognized that this group represents the majority of the population in the Quad Cities and surrounding areas. With a limited budget, we have been pleased with the outcome to date.

Our primary goal is to get people to click through and sign the petition or write a letter to President Biden. Both links are on our blog post here. Our secondary goal is to raise awareness about PACG.

Your actions can Make Meds Affordable and spread the word about PACG as an organization. This is how the Health Care Reform forum is doing work for the common good.

Deb Sperry

Make Meds Affordable Campaign - 4 Easy Steps

3/10/2022

Make Meds Affordable Campaign - Update

Note: Although PACG's Health Care Reform Forum has completed its paid Make Meds Affordable (MMA) project, the campaign is still going on nationwide. If you have not yet done so, it is not too late to take action with the four things listed below.

40,000 US citizens die each year because
they can’t afford their medication. *
The prostate cancer drug, Xtandi, costs $520 a day
in the US but only $84 a day in Japan.

Help us fix this.

Do four simple things:

Read the facts.
Watch the video.
Sign the petition.
Write to President Biden.

1.  Read the Facts
Americans pay more for prescription drugs than citizens of other countries (on average four times more) while drug companies post record profits and use their drug patent rights and other tactics to limit competition and raise prices. In spite of public protests, Congress has failed to act, yielding instead to Big Pharma’s lobbying dollars.

The Make Meds Affordable campaign has documented that the president and the Department of Health and Human Services have tools under existing legislation to take executive action to lower the cost of many prescription drugs. They have this authority because many drugs have been developed using taxpayer funds, and/or because companies have illegally restricted competition. Read more about this at the "March-in" Rights blog below.

We, as citizens and taxpayers, must demand that these long-ignored tools be used to help lower drug prices now.

2.  Watch the Video
For more information and documentation on this issue go to
https://bit.ly/MakeMedsAffordable. In this informative video, Senator Elizabeth Warren explains how the plan would work. After watching, contact President Biden and DHHS Secretary Becerra and urge them to take action now to Make Meds Affordable!

3. Sign the petition
Make your voice heard! Sign this petition: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/make-meds-affordable

NOTE: When you fill out this form (email address and zip code) and click "Add Your Name," you will be directed to a page called "Social Security Works." You do not have to contribute money to this campaign! Your signature has already been entered into the petition. No contribution is necessary.

4. Contact the President
Tell President Biden to support the Make Meds Affordable campaign. Contact the White House through this website: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

For more information about Progressive Action for the Common Good (PACG) and its Health Care Reform forum, read about us here. And learn about our ongoing work to Make Meds Affordable. We have also written several other blog posts regarding the campaign:

Support the upcoming documentary, “Pay or Die,” about the high price of insulin
Make Meds Affordable – Pay or Die documentary

What are “March-in” Rights and Why Should You Care?
Make Meds Affordable - What are "march-in" rights?

We will keep updating you on recent news on the Make Meds Affordable campaign. Here's a great article.

Deb Sperry

* per CDC/WHO data

"Racism Under the Microscope" Podcast - No Hate In Our States

3/9/2022

Racism Under the Microscope Podcast

Beyond the White Coat is an organization of medical providers and leaders with a unique podcast. Their website states that: At the heart of academic medicine are the individuals—medical students, residents, faculty, practicing physicians, and leaders—who provide unparalleled care to patients & communities across the country and are at the cutting edge of medical research advances. The Beyond the White Coat podcast shares these unique individuals’ stories while diving into issues affecting the academic medicine community at-large.

This week we look at the podcast Racism Under the Microscope:

We’ve known for a long time that systemic racism influences the social determinants of health — affecting, quite literally, who in this country survives and who suffers. People who live in poorer neighborhoods often receive lower quality and less care from health care providers. And long-standing discrimination against all marginalized communities has created dramatic health inequities. David J. Skorton, MD, looks back at some of the conversations we had about these very difficult and persistent issues this past season on “Beyond the White Coat.”

https://beyond-the-white-coat.simplecast.com/episodes/racism-under-the-microscope

Julie Ross