“Join us — join the NAACP and The 880 Campaign for Real Health Care Reform Now”
Watch this message from Ben Jealous, NAACP President and CEO.
Join "The 880 Campaign" to ensure that every American has access to quality, affordable health care.
Why "880"? Because according to the American Journal of Public Health, the deaths of 880,000 black people would have been prevented if the mortality rate of blacks had been the same as that of whites over a 10-year period.
The health care crisis has hit our communities especially hard:
- Children born to black women are more than twice as likely to die within their first year of life than children born to white women
- People of color are more likely to suffer and die from diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other chronic diseases
- Uninsured Americans are more likely to use the Emergency Room for preventative care and routine checkups, forcing longer wait times and costing states and taxpayers more
But this struggle goes beyond statistics. This is about you – everyday American families and children.
With your help, in the coming weeks, we will organize to ensure that our elected representatives support real health care reform with real results that will ensure every American has access to quality, affordable health care coverage... and help solve the health problems that plague our parents, children, friends, and communities.
The Health Care Fight Is Not Over
Call 1-866-783-2462 and ask to be connected to your Members of Congress.
Tell him or her to finish the job and deliver a health reform bill that meets the needs of America’s families. We need a bill that mirrors the language passed by the House of Representatives, providing for quality, affordable care, in reach of low and middle-income families, and accountability for insurance companies, with strong regulations and consumer protections, and the competition provided by a public option.
As your constituent, I urge you to do all you can to ensure that comprehensive health care reform provides affordable, quality care to all Americans. Too many Americans today are straining under the burden of two related trends: shrinking health care coverage and rising health care costs.
As a supporter of the NAACP, I am also asking you to ensure that health care reform eliminates racial disparities. Even today, the color of your skin, your ethnic background and where you live can not only influence your health care access and quality; they can determine them. And while medical science has made a lot of advances over the last 10 years, the gains made by the discovery of new drugs and treatments have not been passed on to all segments of our population.
As such, any comprehensive health care reform package must:
- Include a strong public option that provides a choice for low cost, basic coverage and creates honest competition for private insurers
- Provide full health care coverage that is affordable to every individual, family and business and covers all pre-existing conditions
- Contain standard, comprehensive health care benefits that meet everyone’s needs from preventive to chronic care
- Provide individuals with the choice of a private or public health care plan, which includes a guaranteed backup which will always be there to ensure quality, affordable health care coverage no matter what
- Ensure equity in health care access, treatment, research, and resources to people and communities of color and stronger health services in low-income communities
Sincerely,
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