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Throughout the budget process in Washington D.C. this year, Republicans in Congress worked in lockstep with Trump’s White House to gut healthcare so they could give tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans. They said they were slashing healthcare to save healthcare. When confronted with the fact that millions of Americans would lose healthcare and tens of thousand would die each year under their plan, they said they didn’t believe the data.
The data were projections - imperfect, to be sure, but designed to help us avoid a healthcare catastrophe. Now, those projections are becoming reality through letters that 22 million Americans will receive in the next two weeks about their premium for next year. The average recipient will learn that their premium will more than double, according to projections from the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Low-income families who have been insured with no monthly premium will now have to pay 4% of their income - $1300 for a couple getting by on $32,000 a year. “The cost of health insurance is never going to be low enough for a person who makes just above poverty to be able to afford it,” Cynthia Cox told the Washington Post.
Since this legislation was first proposed, the people who will receive these letters have been telling their stories at Moral Mondays - first in Washington, DC, and then, after the legislation passed, at in-district offices across the South. They have not stood alone, but with faith leaders and advocates from their community who are clear that this is a moral issue that impacts all of us.
Rev. Carolyn Foster is one of those faith leaders in Birmingham, AL. Virginia Hutchinson joined her on WBAI this Monday to share her ACA health insurance story. We’re glad to share it here.
If you or someone you know with an ACA health insurance plan has received a premium increase letter, Moral Mondays want to stand with you.
Local leaders across the country are planning pray-in/stay-in actions at Senators’ offices across the country next Monday, October 20. You can register here to join or host [ [link removed] ] a delegation near you.
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