After several weeks in secret drafting among thirteen Senators and leadership staffs, the Senate healthcare bill has finally been released.  It isn't good.

• Compared to the House's AHCA, it cuts Medicaid funding to the states more slowly, but more deeply. This cuts care for people with disabilities or mental health conditions, the elderly, the working poor, and millions of children living in poverty.
• Like the House bill, it permits waivers for coverage of preexisting conditions, essential health benefits, and more. This permits states and insurers to opt not to cover certain conditions or benefits.
• Like the House bill, it slashes taxes on the wealthy, redistributing wealth back upwards.
• The Senate bill entirely removes the individual mandate, encouraging healthy people to leave the market and drive up costs for those who remain.
• Like the House bill, it does not require larger employers to provide healthcare benefits.

We have visited our fellow senators' offices and we have held and attended town halls to share our health care stories and concerns.  Now we have to make their phones ring off the hook.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to vote by July 4th, giving just two weeks to digest and debate a bill that will affect 1/6 of the U.S. economy and every single American.

Senator Roberts: Roberts has said he supports this bill. He believes that anything at all would be better than Obamacare. Tell him that's just not true.

1. "Anything" is NOT better than Obamacare, and this is demonstrably worse: premiums will rise for most people, and coverage will be cut.  It's not right to pass a law that will hurt millions, so that Congress can then start fixing it. Tell him YOUR story!
2. Want Obamacare to work better? Stop backing and passing legislation that sabotages the ACA.

Senator Moran: Moran has said that he'll evaluate the bill to make sure that it helps Kansans. In particular, he's looking for four things.  Tell him that this bill does NOT meet his standards.

1. Protection of pre-existing conditions: Under the Senate's bill, states and insurers could decide to limit coverage.
2. Affordability: Watch for the CBO score. Its analysis showed that under the very similar House bill, premiums would rise faster than under Obamacare
3. Accessibility: He wants to be sure that rural hospitals aren't hurt. But slashing Medicaid would severely impact rural hospitals.
4. Protection for people with disabilities: Moran is concerned about the impacts of cutting Medicaid.  

Call, have your family call, have your friends call, and have your friends' families call. It will take all of us to keep this bill, which will cause so much harm to so many, from becoming law.