Support Health Reform Now

March 17, 2010

Urge Your Representative:  "Vote Yes on the Senate Bill"

House Health Care Reform Vote Expected This Week! Please Contact Your Representative!

What's In the Bill?

Please contact your member of the U.S. House of Representatives today and ask him or her to vote to pass the Senate health care reform bill.  Reach your Representative's website, and information about how to contact him or her, or call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Simple messages are all you need to give them. For example:

  • I am a voter in Rep. ____'s district, and I support health care reform. Please ask Rep. ___ to vote for the Senate health care reform bill.
     
  • The health care reform bill includes provisions that are extremely important to people in our district to improve nursing home care. The bill would make nursing homes that receive Medicare and Medicaid more transparent in the way they operate and more accountable for the quality of care they provide.
     
  • The bill provides for background checks of workers who provide care for the elderly and it will strengthen detection and prevention of elder abuse and neglect.
     
  • People shouldn't be forced to go to a nursing home when they need long-term care. The health care reform bill increases opportunities for the elderly and people with disabilities to receive services in their own homes.
     
  • The House could vote as early as Friday on whether to pass HR 3590, the health reform bill passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve. This strategy is now the only way available to pass a comprehensive health care bill that includes nursing home transparency and other long-term care reforms supported by Consumer Voice members. Major differences between the House and Senate--which normally would be worked out in a conference between the houses--may be addressed in a separate budget reconciliation bill that would need only 51 votes. Or the House may use a parliamentary procedure in which it would adopt the Senate language and amendments in the same bill.
     
  • House leaders need 216 Democratic votes to win. (No Republicans have said they will vote for the bill.) It is critically important for those who support the bill to reach out to every persuadable member of the House and ask them to vote for health care reform. Many members genuinely have not decided how they will vote and need assurance from their constituents that they will support their decision to vote for health reform.

What's at Stake for Consumer Voice Members?

The Senate bill addresses almost a dozen resolutions passed by Consumer Voice member groups:

  • Developing a standardized form for reporting nursing services hours.
  • Developing a nurse staffing data system that provides adequate information about RNs, LPNs, and CNAs; the ratio of nursing staff to residents; and turnover.
  • Training workers in care of residents with Alzheimer's disease.
  • Assessing direct care worker compensation levels.
  • Prohibiting retaliation against those who complain about poor care.
  • Providing equal rights for Medicaid beneficiaries in community-based settings.
  • Developing a system to gather comprehensive ownership information and posting it on Nursing Home Compare.
  • Creating national criminal background checks and screening all personnel involved in care of elderly and incapacitated persons.
  • Training law enforcement and other emergency response personnel to respond to crimes in nursing homes, including forming interdisciplinary investigation teams.
  • Incorporating deep culture change as an important component of quality of care in long term care settings.
  • Safeguarding residents when nursing home ownership is transferred.

Some of these resolutions date back more than a decade. It has taken years to bring them so close to passage -- so please contact your Representative now!