Pennsylvanians At Risk Under AHCA Holding 24-Hour Vigils Outside Sen. Toomey’s Offices

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MEDIA ADVISORY FOR: 24-Hour Vigils beginning Thursday, June 22nd – 5:00PM
ALLENTOWN, PA — As negotiations in the Senate accelerate in an effort to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA), individuals and families who fear losing their coverage or seeing life-saving consumer protections repealed will hold vigil for 24-hours outside Senator Pat Toomey’s offices in Allentown, Pittsburgh, Erie, and Philadelphia beginning Thursday afternoon and continuing into Friday.
The Rev. Dr. William Barber II, president of the North Carolina NAACP and leader of the Moral Mondays civil rights protest movement, will support impacted individuals in Philadelphia to set the tone for the 24-hour vigils. He will be joined with clergy of all faiths to confront the real harm the AHCA will cause seniors, children, people with disabilities, and people living with pre-existing conditions like cancer.

Brian Kline of Quakertown has a job that doesn’t come with health benefits and earns just above $11 an hour. He credits the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid Expansion with saving his life, after he was able to qualify for coverage and receive treatment for colon cancer. “Medicaid expansion saved my life and saved me from medical bankruptcy,” Kline said. “I’ll be holding vigil at Senator Toomey’s office because I want Senator Toomey to know my life is on the line.”

Health care advocates and people of faith will join with Brian and countless others like him across the state who could lose everything if the AHCA becomes law.  While the parameters of the Senate legislation are not yet fully known to the public, it’s expected to mirror the house- passed AHCA.

The AHCA not only repeals the Affordable Care Act, but also makes deep and dangerous cuts to Medicaid — more than $830 billion in the next decade — which the Congressional Budget Office said would force states to either commit more resources or “reduce spending by cutting payments to health care providers, eliminating optional services, or restricting eligibility for enrollment.”

This is cause for alarm for seniors, children, and people with disabilities, who make up the majority of those covered by Medicaid in Pennsylvania. Medicaid covers 3 in 5 nursing home residents and allows more than 92,000 Pennsylvanians with disabilities to live with dignity and independence, receiving care in their homes rather than institutions. Limiting federal oversight and cutting funding for Medicaid through per-capita caps recklessly endangers the lives of our state’s most vulnerable citizens.
What: 24-Hour Vigils to Protect Health Care
When: Individuals will be holding vigil for 24 hours – Rallies planned for 5:00 PM, 6/22 & 8:30 AM, 6/23   
Where: Senator Toomey’s Office – 1150 S. Cedar Crest Blvd. #101, Allentown, PA 18103
Who: Individuals with pre-existing conditions, individuals who rely on Medicaid Expansion, Marketplace enrollees and parents of children who rely on Medicaid to get the care they need.
 
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