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September 26, 2008
ACTION ALERT: TELL YOUR SENATORS TO SUPPORT PATH ACT!
Attention non-New Yorkers: Contact your senators today and tell them to support the Preserving Access to Healthcare (PATH) Act of 2008 (S.3656), which includes a six month moratorium on cuts to Medicaid outpatient payments. The Senate is expected to vote on the bill tonight. If you are a New Yorker, you can stop reading now, since Senators Schumer and Clinton were the bill's chief sponsors.
But if you are from any other state call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the Senate office you request. Ask to speak to your senator's health staffer, and tell that person you want your senator to support S.3656.
This Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regulation that could cripple health care access for poor and disabled people—including tens of thousands living with HIV/AIDS—in 18 states who rely on outpatient Medicaid care. The proposed cut to Medicaid outpatient services would narrow the definition and scope of covered Medicaid outpatient hospital services and reduce hospitals' Medicaid funding by $2.1 billion over five years, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. To read more about the devastation this regulation would cause, click here.
In addition to the Medicaid delay, the bill would:
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STANDING IN OXFORD
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Crowder calls for a National AIDS Strategy |
Will they or won't they debate? That was the talk of the town in Oxford, Mississippi this week. But despite this mini-drama, the Stand Against AIDS stayed on message in the quaint Southern town it has called home for the last four days, demanding that Obama and McCain commit to developing a National AIDS Strategy within 100 days of taking office if elected. (As of press time, the state of the debate was still in flux.)
"We still need the next president to tell us how he's going to address the AIDS epidemic, even as the current one is bailing out multimillionaire CEOs," said Stand Against AIDS Chicago caravan leader Richard Wallace.
When McCain announced Wednesday that he wanted to postpone tonight’s debate, C2EA activists, who had dedicated weeks and months of their lives to the Stand Against AIDS, didn’t flinch. All day long on Thursday, dozens of Stand participants marched around and around Oxford’s Courthouse Square raising awareness about the need for a National AIDS Strategy. Around 5pm, a dozen marchers, walked around the square, where a town hall was going on, brandishing signs reading "AIDS Won’t Wait...Bring on the Debate!"...
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WALKIN' AGAINST AIDS
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The Mississippi walkers take the final leg |
178 miles. 10 days. 15 Mississippians (more or less).
After a moving kick-off in Jackson two weeks ago, marchers with the 178-mile Walk Against AIDS—part of the Stand Against AIDS—arrived in Oxford, Mississippi Monday safe and sound. Despite the many obstacles they confronted along the way, including accidentally walking an extra six miles, the marchers were overwhelmed with the support for their mission from Mississippians along the way: Raise awareness about the need for a National AIDS Strategy from the next U.S. president.
"The harder the walk got, the stronger the message got," said Robin Webb, a Campaign to End AIDS Mississippi co-founder who participated in the Walk...
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ACTION ALERT: ASK YOUR CONGRESSPERSON TO CO-SPONSOR HOUSING RESOLUTION!
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She may no longer be part of the presidential drama, but she gets the connection between AIDS and housing |
In addition to fretting over a $700 billion dollar bailout, Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Henry Waxman (D-CA), Joe Crowley (D-NY), Barbara Lee (D-CA) and Christopher Shays (R-CT), and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) are planning to drop a concurrent resolution (Con.Res 102. Reps. N-House and H.Con.Res 427 Senate) establishing the critical role housing plays in the prevention of HIV and care of people living with the virus. The National AIDS Housing Coalition is named in the text of the resolution. This groundbreaking step is a direct result of AIDS housing advocates presenting a declaration identifying housing as an essential component of HIV prevention, treatment, and care to the International AIDS Society at the International AIDS Conference in August.
Congress members are trying to head back to their districts as soon as possible before the election, and we have a very short window of opportunity to get co-sponsors for the resolution. Advocates want Congress to pass it in time for World AIDS Day to maximize exposure for this important resolution.
Ask your senators and representatives join in co-sponsoring this amazing step toward housing people with HIV/AIDS! You can reach your member via the U.S. Capitol switchboard (202) 225- 3121. Ask to speak to the staffer who handles housing issues. The goal is to have the House consider the resolution before World AIDS Day on December 1, so it is critical that we get broad congressional support right away. If you don't know who your representative is click here...
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