March 28, 2008
ACTION ALERT: LAST MINUTE CALL FOR COBRA!
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Get in the fight while you can! |
Though a tentative budget deal was released last night, the key word is "tentative," meaning you should still fight for orphaned causes—like a long-overdue COBRA rate increase—before bills hit the printer Sunday and Monday
"When hospitals are continuing to receive exorbitant trend factor increases, it is inexplicable that this crucial program is once again denied the funding it needs to make a difference in the lives of poor people with AIDS," said Housing Works President and CEO Charles King.
AIDS advocates were told by Assembly Member Dick Gottfried's office, that Gottfried, chair of the Assembly Health Committee, would put a 15 percent rate increase for COBRA case management programs in the Assembly's one-house budget. But when the budget rolled around, such an increase was nowhere to be found. COBRA case management brings essential case management to poor people with HIV/AIDS, but because of the lack of a rate increase, most COBRA programs are now in deficit.
And last week Gottfried staffers said the best COBRA can hope for is a three percent cost-of-living adjustment, and that is also iffy in a tight budget year. Gottfried did not return repeated calls to the Update this week.
But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try to call. Contact Gottfried's office at 518-455-4941, and tell him that we are counting on him as one of our staunchest advocates to keep on for a meaningful COBRA rate increase this year. And send a letter to Sen. Joe Bruno and Rep. Sheldon Silver. For a sample letter from COBRA providers, click here.
And read the Update next week for more details about the budget and what it means for poor people with HIV/AIDS.