News

Your Help Is Needed – Advocate for Children’s Health

The following is from Madeline Bell, CEO of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia:

The U.S. Senate is working to pass its version of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), a bill that will harm children covered by Medicaid. Over 43 percent of CHOP’s patients count on Medicaid for everything from well-child visits to lifesaving care.

Children could see their healthcare cut by $40 billion or more over 10 years if the Senate incorporates key components of the bill that was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives on May 4.

If you share my concerns, there are three ways you can advocate for children – and for CHOP:

  1. Call your U.S. Senators. Calling your U.S. Senators is an effective way to advocate for children. Each call is logged, and seeing the number of calls they receive helps Senators understand how strongly their constituents feel about protecting Medicaid for children. You can find your Senators’ numbers here. Call today and tell them why protecting Medicaid matters to you, our hospital and our patients.
  2. Send electronic letters to your U.S. Senators. Visit the Speak Now for Kids website, enter your information and send the prewritten letter. You can also personalize the letter to share why protecting Medicaid coverage, access to care and funding for children’s health is important to you.
  3. Post to social media. Use social media to share why Medicaid matters to you, our hospital and our patients. Make sure to include the hashtag #KeepKidsCovered in all social media posts/tweets.

As I’ve said before, we all know that children don’t vote. Thank you for all you do to lend our most vulnerable patients your voice!

Madeline