An artist, gamer, and movie lover, Curtis McLaughlin (above) has been part of the Health Care for the Homeless Art Group for more than five years.
Art is one of my coping skills. I can be anywhere and create art wherever I go.
09.20.17
We've all grown a little numb to efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA)—after so many failed attempts. Meantime, hurricanes, earthquakes and North Korea consume our attention. But the latest repeal effort could be the most viable yet—and the most damaging.
The Cassidy-Graham bill, a rushed, last-ditch effort sponsored by Republcian Senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, would have the same dangerous effect on millions of Americans as previous ACA repeal efforts. According to the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, it would "cause many millions of people to lose coverage, radically restructure and deeply cut Medicaid, eliminate or weaken protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and increase out-of-pocket costs for individual market consumers."
Read much more here and here—both sound and nonpartisan sources of information and analysis.
Meantime, please join critical efforts to stop this legislation in its tracks. While we don't have to worry about our own Maryland senators opposing the bill—even our governor has come out against it—we do need to worry (a lot) about senators from states where votes are in play.
If you have friends and/or family members in the states listed below, please email or call them right away and ask them to call their senators with a simple message in opposition of the Graham-Cassidy bill, which would reduce access to care and increase homelessness. The Congressional switchboard is 202-224-3121. It will take 20 seconds—and help save many more lives.
An artist, gamer, and movie lover, Curtis McLaughlin (above) has been part of the Health Care for the Homeless Art Group for more than five years.
Art is one of my coping skills. I can be anywhere and create art wherever I go.
Client storytelling is a staple of the nonprofit business model, ever present in advocacy, clinic tours, fundraising—and news articles like the one you are reading right now.
The Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition (TRAC) has been the driving force in championing trans rights policy changes in Maryland. Due to stigma and structural discrimination, transgender people—particularly transgender people of color—experience high rates of homelessness. Following the implementation of the Trans Health Equity Act in January, we talked with TRAC leadership about their work and community.
Since starting in January 2022, REI Health Specialist Arie Hayre-Somuah, LMSW, MPH has worked with our clinical teams to identify health disparities and move us closer to health equity. This year, she is turning her focus to the topic of health literacy.