______________________________________________________________________ACTIONET
January 26, 2010
ACTION ALERT!
56 Faith Groups Urge
Congress to Move Forward on Meaningful Health Care
Reform
Fifty-six national and state faith
organizations, including Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in
Pennsylvania and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America, sent a letter to Congress today urging members
to show political courage, vision, leadership and faith
— and to "take heart and move meaningful health care
reform forward."
Faith communities have supported
health care reform for decades, and they have offered
vocal support and occasional constructive criticism over
the last year. While they individually promote a
variety of different policy priorities, they are unified
in their belief that health care reform must be
completed this year "on behalf of the millions who are
left out and left behind in our current health care
system."
Read the letter below, then
take action!
1.
Print the letter,
click here;
add a personal note; and send it to the district offices
of your Senators and Representative.
2.
Dial toll-free: 1-888-797-8717 to be connected to the
Capitol Switchboard. Please make 3 calls: two to your
Senators and one to your Representative. Just use this
simple message:
"Hello. My name is ______. I am a
member of (name of congregation/ organization) in (city,
state). I am calling Senator/Representative _______
because I believe we have a sacred responsibility to
take care of one another — including making health care
available to all. This is your moment for political
courage, vision, leadership and faith. We are praying
for you as you deliberate and appeal to you to move
meaningful health care reform forward. At this critical
moment, we urge you to complete the task at hand on
behalf of the millions left out and left behind in our
current health care system."
January 25, 2010
Dear Member of Congress:
We are communities of faith who
have supported comprehensive health care reform for
decades. We have also offered vocal support — and
occasional constructive criticism — of the health care
reform effort over the last year. We write to you at
this critical juncture to urge you to complete the task
at hand on behalf of the millions who are left out and
left behind in our current health care system.
Opportunities to comprehensively
address our broken health care system are rare. Decades
of failed attempts at reform testify to the difficulty
of this task, and we know that the current effort has
not been easy. However, we now stand closer than ever
before to historic health care reform. Turning back now
could mean justice delayed for another generation and an
unprecedented opportunity lost.
We know that no comprehensive
health care reform bill will be perfect. (Indeed, if any
piece of legislation ever fulfills our full vision, our
vision is far too small.) However, we also know — as
providers and consumers of services and care — that
inaction at this critical moment is no way forward:
·
Without reform, tens of thousands will continue to
die needlessly each year for lack of access to care.
·
Without reform, tens of millions will remain
uninsured and without adequate access to a full
range of services.
·
Without reform, health costs will continue to grow
much faster than wages.
·
Without reform, many millions of hard-working people
and their children will join the ranks of the
uninsured and underinsured.
·
Without reform, businesses, staggered by increasing
employee health costs, will either drop coverage or
will be unable to make needed investments.
·
Without reform, the nation's economy - and its
ability to create jobs - will suffer.
As people of faith, we envision a
society where every person is afforded health, wholeness
and human dignity. Martin Luther King,
Jr., whose birthday
we just commemorated, famously wrote in his "Letter from
Birmingham Jail" that "Justice too long delayed is
justice denied." Less well known is his admonition that
"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health
care is the most shocking and inhumane." Let us not
delay health care justice any longer. This is your
moment for political courage, vision, leadership and
faith. We urge you to take heart and move meaningful
health care reform forward.
Sincerely,
National Organizations:
African Methodist Episcopal Church
American Association of Pastoral
Counselors
American Baptist
Churches
USA
American Friends Service Committee
American Muslim Health
Professionals
Buddhist Peace Fellowship
Church Women United
Community of Christ Ecumenical
Ministries
Daughters of
Mary and
Joseph
Disciples Justice Action Network
The Episcopal Church
Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America
Faithful America
Faithful Reform in Health Care
Islamic Medical Association of
North America
Jewish Women International
Mennonite Central Committee U.S. Washington
Office
National Council of Churches of
Christ
USA
National Episcopal Health
Ministries
National Ministries, American Baptist Churches, USA
NETWORK, A National Catholic
Social Justice Lobby
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Washington
Office
Progressive National Baptist
Convention
RESULTS Faith in Action Project
Sojourners
The National Advocacy Center, Sisters of the Good Shepherd
Union
for Reform Judaism
United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries
United Methodist Church, General Board of Church in Society
State/Regional Organizations:
Arizona
Ecumenical Council
Arkansas
Interfaith Alliance
California
Council of Churches
Colorado
Council of Churches
Delaware
Ecumenical Council on Children and Families
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon
Florida-Bahamas Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Florida
Council of Churches
Illinois
Campaign for Better Health Care Faith Caucus
Interfaith Fellowship for
Universal Health Care of Connecticut
Justice & Witness Commission of
the Kansas/Oklahoma
Conference of the United
Church of
Christ
Kentucky
Council of Churches
Lutheran Advocacy Ministry - Colorado
Lutheran Advocacy – Illinois
Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in Pennsylvania
Lutheran Advocacy Ministry of Oregon
Lutheran Office for Public Policy
in Wisconsin
Lutheran Office of Governmental
Ministry in
New Jersey
Lutheran Office of Public Policy – California
Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington State
Michigan Unitarian Universalist
Social Justice Network
Missouri
Health Care for All
Missouri
Jobs with Justice
New
Mexico
Conference of Churches
North Carolina
Council of Churches
Parish Nurse Ministries of New
York, Inc.
Pennsylvania
Council of Churches
Virginia
Interfaith Center for Public Policy
Washington
Association of Churches
Wisconsin
Council of Churches |
