PWNers Organize, Mobilize, Lead and WIN on Health Care!

September 28, 2017: In Washington, D.C., and in states across the country, PWN-USA members stood up and fought hard to protect the promise of the Affordable Care Act from the latest attack, the Graham-Cassidy bill. It was the worst of a series of terrible bills that would have stripped health care coverage from millions, gutted protections for preexisting conditions, dismantled Medicaid, defunded Planned Parenthood and eliminated the guarantee of essential health benefits like prescription drugs, hospitalization, mental health and substance abuse, maternity care and more.

PWN-USA Pennsylvania in action Tuesday

The very day the bill was officially pulled for lack of votes–Tuesday, Sept. 26–members of PWN-USA Pennsylvania held a die-in outside Sen. Pat Toomey’s office in Philadelphia, complete with tombstones and body bags (see above and right). “Repealing essential health benefits will have a devastating effect on  my health outcomes as a woman living HIV and preexisting conditions,” said Teresa Sullivan, PWN-USA board member and PWN-USA Pennsylvania senior member, who participated in Tuesday’s action. “My family and friends I care about will lose valuable, lifesaving health care if  Graham and Cassidy health bill is passed.”

We Need One More “No” Vote to Save the ACA. ALL HANDS ON DECK!

Thursday, Sept. 21

ISSUE: It’s now or never. Senate Republicans have just over a week to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and the devastating Graham-Cassidy proposal is gaining steam, even though it will do exactly what previous repeal bills would have done: strip health care from millions; end protections for pre-existing conditions; allow insurers to refuse coverage for essential health benefits like prescription drugs, hospitalization, lab work, contraceptives, and reproductive health; and decimate Medicaid, on which over 40% of people living with HIV rely to stay healthy.

PWNers Work to #KillTheBill from Coast to Coast

Masonia Traylor at the People’s Filibuster in Washington, DC, June 27

Members of Positive Women’s Network-USA have dedicated enormous time and energy to stop the GOP repeal of the Affordable Care Act, first through the House Republicans’ “American Health Care Act” (AHCA), and now through the Senate Republicans’ “Better Care Reconciliation Act” (BCRA). We are fully aware that it has been a long haul, but the fight is not over yet. So we must keep that same momentum and fierce determination to #ProtectOurCare as we battle Trumpcare in the Senate.

We are in this fight together. Here are just a few things that our fierce PWN members and allies have been doing to spread awareness and stop this dangerous bill:

• PWN-USA CO member Mary Jane Maestas was arrested in DC in a sit-in in Senator Cory Gardner’s office 6/28–you’ll see her around the :30 mark in this clip from the Rachel Maddow Show

• PWN-USA OH member Olga Irwin participated in a protest outside Sen. Portman’s office and spoke to the media about her concerns with how Trumpcare could harm people living with HIV.
• PWN-USA Board Member Venita Ray from Texas organized a phone bank in Houston: 5 people made 257 calls on Monday 6/26!
• PWN-USA Colorado members have been protesting outside Senator Cory Gardner’s office in Denver, CO, and have been trying to chase him down during the recess–and recording and posting videos addressed to him, since he is dodging his constituents.
• PWN-USA Board Member and PWN-USA TX Senior Member Evany Turk organized a 30 young adults to phone bank target Senators while visiting her mother in Chicago.
• PWNer Masonia Traylor from Atlanta, GA, provided powerful testimony at the People’s Filibuster in Washington, DC. (see photo at top of story)
• PWN-USA’s Executive Director Naina Khanna also spoke at this event (see photo below).

• PWN-USA Policy Fellow Shyronn Jones organized a meeting with Senator Perdue for July 6th, by using the PWN-USA Action Alert template to request an appointment with Senator Perdue, found a form on his website to request a meeting and got a meeting with State Director and State Policy Director. She also submitted an op-ed to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
• PWNers Gina Brown and Grissel Granados were among the 6 members of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS who resigned June 14 in protest of the administration’s lack of strategy or focus on the epidemic, highlighting the disastrous health care bills as evidence of its disregard for people living with and vulnerable to HIV.
• PWNer Gina Brown submitted an op-ed to the Times-Picayune about her decision to leave PACHA, and was also interviewed and quoted by the Daily Beast, TheBody.com, and The Hill about her decision.
• PWNer Grissel Granados had an op-ed published in SELF Magazine about her decision to resign from the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.
• PWNer Connie Rose from Las Vegas organized a phone bank in Nevada.
• PWN ally Bryan Jones organized a phone bank in Cleveland.
• PWN-USA Policy Fellow Arianna Lint participated in a protest of the health care bill outside Sen. Marco Rubio’s office.