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PACT Members:
Many thanks to all of you who initiated congressional
letter-writing campaigns in your states last year to
support our efforts to recognize respiratory
therapists under the Medicare home health services
benefit.
Our efforts continue on this issue, and this year we
anticipate that Congress will consider major health
legislation that could incorporate our home health
language.
The AARC is asking Congress to introduce this language
into legislation. Our language would still be
incorporated into a larger health care package, but a
separate piece of legislation would help AARC
members to focus on this issue as well as gain the
attention of and, hopefully, the support from other
Members of Congress.
The AARC needs you to continue your grassroots
letter-writing campaigns. Ask the RTs in your state
to
write their Members of Congress requesting that they
introduce this language into legislation. [The
Capitol
Connection section on AARC's web site has been updated
with new information.] Explain to your fellow
RTs that even if they've already written letters on
this issue, they can write again
These letters will increase the effectiveness of your
congressional visits during the upcoming PACT
meeting. As you know, lobbying efforts at this year's
PACT meeting in Washington, D.C. will focus on this
issue. Your visits with your Members of Congress
and/or their health staff will be more effective if
they've
received a multitude of letters prior to your visit.
Constituent letters are key to our chances for success
on this issue. We are in a competition to gain the
attention of congressional members who are being asked
to focus on a number of highly publicized health
issues. In this kind of fight, each and every letter
counts.
Thanks, again, for your time and effort on this issue
and other PACT activities. If you have any questions
or comments, please feel free to contact me.
Jill
Jill A. Eicher
Director of Government Affairs
American Association for Respiratory Care
1100 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-548-8538 (Tel.)
eicher@aarc.org
www.aarc.org |
Political Advocacy Care Team (PACT) Report
PACT meeting focus on one -- the recognition of
respiratory therapists under the Medicare home
health services benefit. If AARC members are to
become a constituent base that successfully lobbies
Congress, then we must start by focusing our
constituent efforts on one issue at a time. Again,
even if you
do not work directly in home health care, you must
pursue this issue on the basis that it is beneficial
for
patients to have access to respiratory therapists in
the home, and that respiratory therapy is a profession
that is not divided along care sites.
focus on bills that address
emergency preparedness and/or bioterrorism issues
The PACT participated in rallies and committee
meetings with the Massachusetts Nurses Association
and was formally recognized at these meetings. At the
Massachusets annual meeting, Michael S.
Dukakis, former presidential candidate and previously
Massachusetts’s governor, spoke about RTs’
political effectiveness at the state and national
level; Margaret O'Malley, Massachusetts Nurses
Association spoke on single-payer health care; Jill
Eicher, AARC Director of Federal Government
Affairs, spoke on political action by the AARC. At the
PACT booth, participants wrote letters to their
legislators. Together, Massachusetts and Rhode Island
met with the FI.
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