Advocacy

ACU's mission is two-fold: to improve the health of underserved communities and to develop and support those clinicians who choose to serve them.

ACU members — clinicians in practice, students, advocates, and academicians, as well as health care clinics, health departments, national, regional, and state primary care organizations, and professional societies — are on the front lines in delivering health care to America's underserved, vulnerable communities. We serve individuals who typically have little or no other access to health care services. They are among the approximately 46 million people in this country (one in five) without health insurance. They may speak little or no English. Often they lack access to pharmaceuticals, mental health, oral care and complementary and alternative medicine. Our members are also involved in health policy — working to establish a more equitable health care system.

Throughout the year, ACU will be expanding its advocacy efforts to make our health care system more inclusive, more responsive, and more accessible to all residents of the United States. ACU welcomes its members to be involved in advocacy work. To learn more, please email acu@clinicians.org

Photo: Paul Westpheling

What's New Now

THE “SAFETY NET” IS AT RISK!

By November 23rd, the bi-partisan Joint Select Committee of 12 congressional representatives must eliminate at least $1.2 trillion from the federal budget over the next ten years. Safety net programs that have been essential to addressing health disparities among underserved communities of color and low income populations may be subject to severe cuts by the committee. The joint committee’s deficit solution must not have a disproportionately adverse impact on racial and ethnic minorities. The committee’s policy must help improve the health status of our communities, reduce the costs to our health care system and reduce unemployment.

To support these ideals, we must urge our Senators and Representatives to:

• Take a Balanced Approach that Includes Revenue and Eliminates Costly Tax Entitlements: The committee’s plan should eliminate tax entitlements which undermine our nation’s economic viability and fail to generate jobs, and include no less than 50% in new revenue.
• Invest in Strategies that Lift Children and Families out of Poverty: More than 16 million US children live in poverty. Millions of Americans rely on safety net programs to prevent them from slipping further into poverty. The committee must invest in our nation’s “social infrastructure” and prohibit cuts and caps to social programs.
• Create Job Growth and Prevent Further Job Loss: The committee should “reinvest in America” and stimulate job creation through strategies such as funding public infrastructure projects, and providing tax credits for small businesses that diversify the workforce
• Protect the Health of Communities: Chronic disease and preventable illnesses account for 75 percent of each healthcare dollar spent in the U.S. and are inextricably linked to conditions in which Americans live, work and play. The committee can help build healthy communities and lower healthcare cost by investing in prevention, economic development, sustainable communities and health equity.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO PROTECT THE FISCAL STABILITY OF AMERICA’S WORKING FAMILIES! TAKE ACTION NOW

Please make your voice heard now by calling, emailing, or using your social networks. Tell Congress to Protect Medicaid! Please join ACU, the National Health Equity Coalition and other national organizations to tell Congress to defend against devastating cuts to social programs and to support revenue increases.
 

FOLLOW THESE SIMPLE STEPS to Contact your Members of Congress:

1) Find your Representative or Senator

Go to www.house.gov to find your Representative and enter your zip code into the “Find Your
Representative” widget at the top of the page.
Go to www.senate.gov to find your Senators and enter your zip code into the “Find Your Senator”
widget at the top of the page.

2) Click the name of the Member of Congress

You will be re-directed to their website. Please note that some members will have electronic forms where you will simply paste your message and others will provide an email which will require you to send the message through your internet provider.

FOLLOW THESE SIMPLE STEPS to Call your Members of Congress:

Call the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. It is best to call in the morning Eastern Time to avoid problems because of different time zones between your state and Washington, D.C. When the switchboard operators answer, ask to be connected to the office of your Representative or Senator or member of the committee. In order to speak with your Senator/ Representative’s office, you will need to give the operator your zip code. In some cases, there is more than one congressional district within a zip code, so you may need to give the operator your full address to connect you to the correct office. The operator will then connect you to your congress member’s office.

TWO SAMPLE PHONE SCRIPTS:

1)  I am a constituent calling from [YOUR CITY AND STATE]. Here in [YOUR CITY], people are struggling to stay afloat and meet their basic needs in this recession. Billions have already been cut from vital safety net programs while protecting tax entitlements for corporations and the wealthiest in our nation. We need a plan that creates jobs, lifts families out of poverty and protects the safety net system. Thank you for taking my call and for representing the people of [YOUR CITY] in Washington.

2)) I am a constituent calling from [YOUR CITY AND STATE]. Here in [YOUR CITY], we believe that the best way to put our country back on the path to prosperity is to:

1. Increase revenues and eliminate costly tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest,
2.  Invest in strategies that lift families out of poverty,
3. Create jobs and prevent further job loss, and
4. Protect the health of our communities!

I urge your support of these solutions to reduce the deficit. Thank you for taking my call and for representing the people of [YOUR CITY] in Washington.

**If you have a personal story that highlights how cuts to public programs could hurt you or your community, make sure to say that in your message. Personal stories are more powerful.