Members of the United States Senate have released their proposed health care plan, all 142 pages of the “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017” developed in secrecy, with a score from the Congressional Budget Office expected early next week. Meanwhile, we know it will reduce Medicaid significantly more than the House bill while cutting taxes for the nation’s wealthiest. A plan that endangers the vulnerable while benefitting the powerful goes against our most fundamental beliefs as people of faith. As experts analyze the bill’s potential impact, calls to Senators Tillis…
Senate Health Care Plan — Let’s Keep Calling
As the Senate continues its secret deliberations on a health care plan that will effect all Americans, the potential impact on one of the most vulnerable groups in our society – children – continues to unfold. Indications are that, in their closed-door meetings, the Senators have taken a similar approach to the House of Representatives. The plan that emerged from the House, the American Health Care Act, would cut $800 billion dollars in Medicaid nationwide. As our friends at NC Child point out, those cuts cannot happen without affecting children…
Thursday, June 15 — NC Health Care Call-in Day
The Council’s commitment to health care as a basic justice issue dates back decades. Significant progress toward health care for all was made with the Affordable Care Act, progress toward a beloved community where everyone has enough. Unfortunately, work continues in the U.S. Senate to repeal the ACA with an alternative plan being developed almost entirely in secret. While the ACA was passed by the Senate after roughly 100 public hearings, Republicans in Congress plan to hold zero public hearings before voting on their repeal bill. By avoiding public scrutiny, they…
Heal the Sick
For more than two decades, the NC Council of Churches has called for access to health care for all. The score from the Congressional Budget Office makes it undeniably clear that the American Health Care Act takes us farther from that goal. It would put the lives of many at risk and negatively impact the quality of life for others. Its hurried approval by the U.S. House of Representatives before valuable analysis was even available implies that political gamesmanship is more important than people. It is not. The 23 million individuals who would…
2018 Budget Proposal is the Antithesis of our Call
Plenty of analysis is already happening around the 2018 budget proposal out of the White House. The Washington Post provides two helpful graphics here and here. More is being written than most of us can fully absorb, but Politico offers a key observation: On close reading, the budget is less a credible attempt to eliminate, or even pay down, the U.S. debt and more an ideological policy agenda disguised as a program of fiscal responsibility. If the proposal is, as such plans are often described, a place to begin discussion…
Raleigh Report — May 10, 2017
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director [For more information on bills, including committee referrals and re-referrals, texts of bills, procedural histories, and recorded votes, go to the General Assembly website www.ncleg.net.] Newly Introduced Bills EDUCATION Three companion bills would impact food served in schools. H 891, Free Breakfast and Lunch in K-12 Public Schools, would provide funds ($200 million per year) to make free breakfast and free lunch available to all public school students who request it. It would also create a fund to which taxpayers could contribute through a…
House Passage of AHCA — We are Better Than This
The passage of the American Health Care Act by the House of Representatives reflects a political choice on a life-or-death matter. If House members truly believed that this was the best possible plan, they could have held hearings and waited for a new score from the Congressional Budget Office. Supporters would not have been blaming people for being sick or suggesting they move states if they want different coverage. We are better than this. Our partners at the Justice Center have calculated the numbers and explained the impact the AHCA…
Urgent Action Alert: Please Call Congress about Health Care
Our allies at the NC Justice Center have put out the following action alert about efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. As people of faith, we believe that we are all equally beloved children of God. The America Health Care Act values some more than others and leaves the most vulnerable among us even more endangered. A vote is imminent. Please call your representative. From the NC Justice Center: TAKE ACTION NOW! Call Congress to Stop Trumpcare 3.0 Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives just negotiated a…
Raleigh Report — April 26, 2017
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director [The deadlines for the introduction of most new bills have now passed, and we are in Crossover Week. By the end of the week, most non-money bills (i.e., not taxes, fees, or appropriations) must have passed one house in order to remain alive for this session. There are exceptions, and those exceptions can sometimes be used creatively by legislative leaders to keep bills alive. For more information on bills, including committee referrals and re-referrals, texts of bills, procedural histories, and recorded votes, go to…
Efforts to Cut Health Care Continue in Congress
The public is opposed to efforts to replace the Affordable Care Act, but some members of the U.S. House of Representatives seem determined to forge ahead anyway. The latest version of a replacement plan for the ACA could be voted on as early as this Wednesday. As with the American Health Care Act, this would leave fewer people with insurance and stands to strip away many of the ACA’s most crucial provisions, such as requiring the coverage of essential benefits including prescription drugs, mental health services, and maternity care. Constituent…
Raleigh Report — April 21, 2017
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director [For the latest committee referrals and re-referrals, go to the General Assembly website www.ncleg.net. There you can also find the texts of bills, procedural histories, and recorded votes.] Newly Introduced Bills BUDGET AND TAXES H 727, Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights, would add a lengthy and detailed amendment to the state constitution, subject to voter approval. The heart of the amendment is that the state’s budget could not increase each year more than the national inflation rate plus the state’s population growth rate. A larger…
Congress is on Recess but You Can Still Take Action
Congressional leaders are still in their home states for their spring recess, but your voices are still important. Please attend town halls held by our elected leaders, and please request town halls from those who don’t have them planned. In addition, some health advocacy organizations at the national level are urging grassroots advocates to make calls today, April 19, with two messages related to health care: That Congress should reject any additional attempts at repealing the Affordable Care Act and move on. That they should leave Medicaid alone. More detailed…
Raleigh Report — April 17, 2017
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Newly Introduced Bills BUDGET AND TAXES H 540, Teachers & State Employees Pay Raise, would give annual raises of $2,400 to teachers and other state employees making less than $100,000/year. The bill would appropriate more than $700 million for the first year of these raises. Introduced by Reps. Malone (R-Wake Forest), Jordan (R-Jefferson), J. Bell (R-Goldsboro), and Hardister (R-Greensboro). Referred to House Appropriations. CHILDREN AND FAMILIES S 594/H 608, Family/Child Protection & Accountability Act, would require the state to develop a plan to divide…
New Push for Broader Medicaid, Better Health
North Carolina’s failure under Republican leadership to improve low-income residents’ access to health care via the Medicaid program has been like a persistent, throbbing pain in the state’s civic and economic life. The pain can be literal, when people must do without the kinds of care and treatment that everyone recognizes as meeting basic standards of quality and cost-efficiency. It is figurative but no less real when those same people, because of unresolved medical issues, fall into underemployment or outright joblessness, or when their relatives are forced to become caregivers,…
Raleigh Report — April 10, 2017
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Bills are being introduced at a rapid pace as the Senate’s deadline for new bills has passed and the House’s deadline on non-money approaches. This Raleigh Report and another one later in the week will try to catch up with the flood of bills. Newly Introduced Bills CHILDREN AND FAMILIES S 439, Eliminate NC Pre-K Waitlist Statewide, would appropriate $36 million over the next two fiscal years to eliminate the waiting list for the NC Pre-Kindergarten Program (formerly known as More at Four). Introduced…