What if you lost everything including your health care coverage?

This is the situation facing the recent hurricane victims, especially those who have lost everything including jobs, those who were on public health care that no longer exists, and those who had/have no health care coverage at all. A Bipartisan effort in the U.S. Senate seeks to provide seamless access to health care coverage to all low-income Katrina survivors. Lend your support by taking action on the letter(s) below! 

Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, that you do unto me. . .
 

Thank you for interest in helping the survivors of Hurricane Katrina. Please see the following documents for more information about the potential lack of health care coverage. We hope that you will write to our Senators as soon as possible. Feel free to modify our sample letter. 1. Peace and Justice letter to Senators Levin and Stabenow;  2. the letter to Senators Grassley and Baucus. See the Action Alert Background information from US Conference of Catholic Bishops below here:

BACKGROUND

One of the urgent needs in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is to ensure that Katrina victims have access to health care.  Millions of Americans were affected by Hurricane Katrina and are now homeless, jobless, displaced – or all three.  Those who had health care coverage before may have lost it along with their jobs.  Those who relied on public health care programs may now find themselves in other states, leaving them unsure whether they qualify in their new location and leaving states facing increased health care costs.  Those who had no health care coverage at all before now find themselves even less able to take care of their health care needs.  Whether for injuries sustained in the hurricane or flooding, for existing or chronic health conditions, or for health care needs that arise in the coming months while they are still unemployed and displaced, Katrina victims must have somewhere to go for health care.

There is a bipartisan effort in the Senate, led by Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Max Baucus (D-MT) to see that Katrina victims can get medical care wherever they are, by making sure there is seamless access to health care across state lines for all low-income Katrina victims and that the federal government will fully fund that care, relieving both directly-hit states and states welcoming evacuees of costs they may not be able to bear.  They also propose to waive time limits and work requirements for cash assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and extend emergency unemployment insurance for 13 weeks.

OUR POSITION

Catholic teaching insists that access to adequate health care is a basic human right, necessary for the development and maintenance of life and for the ability of human beings to realize the fullness of their dignity. The Catholic community has consistently worked for access to affordable health care for all, in a way that reflects a priority concern for the poor.  Our faith insists that the poor and vulnerable should have first claim on our common efforts.  They cannot be left behind once again.

Attached is a recent letter from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, chairman of the USCCB Domestic Policy Committee, Fr. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA, and Michael Rodgers, interim president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, to Senators Grassley and Baucus, thanking them for their efforts and highlighting aspects of their proposal that we support. 

ACTION REQUESTED

Contact your Senators and urge them to act quickly to provide relief for Katrina victims:

• Provide health care coverage to all low-income Katrina survivors.
• Ensure full federal funding of health care services for all Katrina victims, wherever they may be.
• Streamline eligibility and enrollment procedures to facilitate access to care for many Katrina victims.
• Allow Katrina survivors to receive TANF benefits without being subject to time limits or work requirements. 
• Extend emergency unemployment compensation benefits for at least 13 weeks, preferably 26 weeks.
• In addition, urge Congress to make all Katrina-related emergency benefits available to non-citizen victims of Katrina, as well as citizens.