Heartland Alliance believes that a strong health care system, available to everyone, is a basic tenet of a just and humane society. No one should be denied health care because of their income, background, or health condition. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a significant step towards ensuring that everyone who needs health care can receive it.
Prior to the ACA, many of the people that Heartland Alliance serves were limited in the care that they could receive by their ability to pay, the complexity of their conditions, and their ability to navigate a patchwork of safety net services. Challenges like homelessness, severe mental illness, opioid dependence, and histories of trauma often went untreated, while human potential went untapped.
The ACA has allowed those we serve to afford and receive the treatments they need, and we see every day how this is changing lives. Those we serve can now access the treatment they need to recover from opioid addiction, get back to work, and reconnect with family. Our participants can get the surgery they need to regain their quality of life and the tests needed to catch a serious health concern early enough to treat it. These services just would not be available without Medicaid health insurance provided by the ACA.
We are disturbed by current efforts in Washington to pass the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and reverse this progress. The AHCA would lead to 24 million people losing health coverage nationwide, including over one million Illinoisans. It would upend the current Medicaid system, reducing health care availability for those with the lowest incomes and the largest health problems. And it would threaten many of the most critical services that Heartland Alliance provides – from behavioral health treatment, to chronic disease management, to supportive housing for the homeless.
The AHCA would not only result in lost coverage and services, but would also be a blow to our economy, causing thousands of lost jobs and a monumental loss of $40 billion in funding to our already crumbling state budget.
Heartland Alliance joins concerned citizens from around the country in upholding the human right to health care and the belief that the health of our national depends on the wellbeing of all our citizens.
Read Keith’s Story | Call Your Legislator | Donate Now
