House Republicans are continuing their hasty push to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. They are, however, divided on the details with Trump selling his vague and false vision, GOP leaders pushing through a terrible plan that has people paying more (unless you are wealthy or an insurance executive!) and getting less, and the fringe elements of the party arguing that the plan isn't destructive enough. All this, along with your vocal activism, has the ill-advised "repeal and replace" forces on the run.

Republicans are trying (yet again) to repeal our health care. Their plan would push more than 24 million people off their health coverage, just to boost profits for drug and insurance corporations and give tax breaks to billionaires. Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ), my congressman, is leading the charge. My name is Barbara Blonsky and I live in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) literally saved my life. I was diagnosed with breast cancer more than 20 years ago. Because of the ACA, I have been able to get the care I need, even though I have a pre-existing condition. Now, Rep. MacArthur is pushing other Republicans to repeal the ACA and undermine protections for people like me, with pre-existing conditions. It would also gut Medicaid and raise premiums. Sign my petition and demand Rep. MacArthur and his Republican pals drop their bill. Let's kill this bill before it kills us.

The American people want and need universal healthcare, and this can only become a reality if the entire United States Congress and the President can voice their support for H. R. 676, which, if passed by Congress and signed by the President, would expand our current Medicare system to cover all Americans. The United States can no longer afford to be the only developed and industrialized nation in the world which does not grant healthcare to its people as a right and not as a privilege.

President Donald J. Trump March 20, 2017 The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, DC. 20500 Dear Mr. President, My name is Suzanne Stewart and I urgently need your attention please, Mr. President. I’m writing on behalf of 100 million Chronic Pain patients. There are many Americans who live with daily chronic pain illnesses and we need your help. The CDC, DEA and “Big Brother” Pharma companies are trying to “hurt” the American chronic pain community. We need you and Tom Price, HHS, to help us keep the pain medications that we need in order to have some semblance of life with somewhat controlled pain. We seem to be losing our medications because we are being “lumped together” with Heroin addicts. Every time a celebrity dies from an overdose, they blame it on the Opioids and not the misuse and abuse of pain medications along with recreational street drugs. Physicians shouldn’t be afraid to prescribe Opioid pain medications to their chronic pain patients due to repercussions from government agencies. Physicians are leaving in droves because of the propaganda surrounding an “Opioid epidemic”. Mr. President, we are not addicts, nor are we “addicted” to our medications. We only take them for pain relief. If you ask true chronic pain patients, we’ll tell you that we hate taking these medications and wish we did not depend on them. This is the key word, sir, “dependent”! We are not addicted to our medications, we do not get cravings nor do we get “high” from them. An addict seeks out their drugs at any cost and looks forward to taking them because of the “high” they feel. As pain patients who take our medications responsibly, we get some kind of relief from the daily chronic pain that we live with. Imagine the normal daily routines such as showering, brushing your teeth and getting dressed. These routines raise our pain and we are so fatigued afterward, that often we cannot schedule anything else that day! We are “dependent” yes, but NOT “addicted” to our medications. We need the Physician / patient relationship to choose what is necessary and best for our pain control. The P.R.O.P. Dr.’s and others like them, who are against the use of Opioids, are just misinformed. While other groups wish to make money off of us because they own addiction treatment centers. They can get rich from chronic pain patients who are treated as “addicts”. Many chronic pain patients are feeling hopeless, while our Dr’s are afraid and leaving in droves. They aren’t able to prescribe Opioids anymore for their established patients living daily with horrific chronic pain conditions. Mr. President, please help the American chronic pain community? We are fearful that the life that we have known with a little bit of pain control for many years, is going to be (or is being) stolen from us? People are being told that they will have to go to their Dr or pharmacy every 3-5 days in order to get a prescription for pain medications. Nobody would ask a Diabetic or a heart patient to do that! People are being taken off of their Opioid pain medication abruptly, during one visit to the Dr’s office. Often it’s a Dr. that they’ve gone to for years and where they are established patients. This is happening to the pain community because of misinformation and fear! I am an Ambassador for the U.S. Pain Foundation, sir; and I’m a patient health advocate. I do public speaking, write for the National Pain Report, Health Magazine, and I am a patient leader for WEGO Health. I am disabled and depending on the day, I use a wheelchair, walker, motorized scooter or a cane. My pain is much lessened due to the medication that I take. I have been living with several high chronic pain illnesses, including systemic CRPS, since 2002. I’ve tried several medications and different treatment modalities. I also have an Immune deficiency illness that prevents me from being a candidate for a Spinal cord stimulator or an Intrathecal pain pump. I don’t think anyone should be FORCED to have an invasive surgery; when a pill with little side effects could help them. Do you know that NSAID’s cause 16,500 deaths in the USA annually? That is only counting the patients with Rheumatoid and Osteoarthritis. If deaths from the gastrointestinal toxic effects from NSAIDs were added separately, then it’d be the 15th most common cause of death in the U.S.! Mr. President, I am imploring you to help me and the 100 million other chronic pain patients in the USA, who are diligent and who take the medications responsibly. Please help us to be allowed to continue our pain medication regiment. These proposed strict rules will only turn chronic pain patients to the streets and then many more will die from getting the wrong kind of pain medications mixed with “who knows what”? The good pain patients who are left with no other choice; I feel, will be desperate. I’m begging you, sir, please read my letter and please talk to me if you’d like. I’ll do anything to help my fellow pain warriors and myself. We need your help to make others understand that we are “chronic pain patients” and not “addicts”! We don’t crave the medications. We don’t get any kind of “high”. But Opioids do give us some relief from our daily chronic pain. We are just real people with diagnosed high pain illnesses. Please have Mr. Price to talk to pain patients like me and listen to the U.S. Pain Foundation’s ideas. I/we understand that something needs to be done. If they make medications that cannot be crushed, melted or changed; that would help to keep the drug addicts from melting, chewing or altering the medications in order to get high. But please see the difference between pain patients and drug addicts. Help us, the true chronic pain patients, to not lose our medications that give us some semblance of a life with our families. Sincerely, Suzanne Stewart Ambassador, MI- U.S. Pain Foundation Author/Blogger, Patient Mentor RSDSA Patient Leader WEGO Health CC: Tom Price, Health and Human...

Since January 1, 2014, Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been available to all the states. However, Virginia legislators have repeatedly failed to act on implementing this program that makes health insurance available to as many as 400,000 Virginians, mostly working poor Virginians. Coverage under the Medicaid expansion provisions has already been federally funded by money that was set aside by the Affordable Care Act -- 100% federal dollars through 2016, 95% in 2017, and a gradual reduction to 90% in 2020 and after. We have already paid the taxes to fund this program, yet the medical coverage has never been made available to Virginians!

"I went to work with my right eye shut and face swollen. I had a painful tooth ache that led me to the emergency room. Eventually, I found out I had an abscess tooth with severe pain, fever and inflammation. I took only that one day off of work because I could not afford to miss days and still be able to feed my family. As a single mother and sole provider in my house, getting sick was not an option for me. My job would not accept a doctor’s note even though they could see the swelling in my face and pain in my eyes. It was very embarrassing when customers would see my physical pain and suffering. I know I deserve paid sick days and the time off to take care of myself when something like this happens." - Lisa.

All workers need time to care for themselves or a loved one. Earned sick time ensures workers can afford to take time they've earned to go to the doctor or stay home with a sick child -- without losing pay. We don't need a fake 'flexibility' act, we need the Healthy Families Act so we can earn sick time wherever we work in the U.S.A.

I care about Missouri's children! I care about Missouri's economic health. I am against economic segregation and our children - rich or poor - deserve quality healthcare.

The Republican health care bill that House Republicans and President Trump pushed earlier this year was dangerous for people, but now Republicans are talking about making it even worse. Instead of working together to make a better health care system and building upon the Affordable Care Act, they’re giving into demands of the extreme right to give insurance companies more power, and making health care costs even higher for working people.

I am disabled and receive Social Security Disability. I don't know how I'd live without Social Security Disability and I'm sure there are tens of thousands others like me.

Too many U.S. families simply cannot afford to take time to welcome a new child, support a chronically ill family member, or battle illnesses like cancer -- because if they take time, they lose their salaries. Support this petition to pass paid family leave so that families in the U.S. can access and afford this vital work-family policy.

In 1960 IKE warned us against the "military-industrial complex." People are making a profit off war. This ought not be for this provides an financial 'incentive' for war -- which ought not be. Similarly, other things should not be for profit (see the suggested list).