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Aaron V., Care2 Action Alerts Unsubscribe	7:06 AM (3 hours ago)
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Demand Apple and Samsung Protect Workers from being Poisoned Sign Now Joseph, When Xiao Ya moved from her mountain village to Shenzhen, the teenager was amazed at how large the Chinese city was. She was thrilled to get a job in an electronics factory, where she spent all day cleaning computer chips with industrial solvents. But the job she thought would be her ticket to a bigger and better life made her sick instead. The assembly line was unventillated. She eventually got used to the smell of the chemicals, but worse than the smell was the paralysis. She was soon unable to walk, too weak to work. The diagnosis was occupational benezene poisoning. Sign the petition to urge Samsung and Apple to protect workers like Xiao from being poisoned, and end the use toxic chemicals from their entire supply chain. Complicit, a new documentary, tells Xiao's story, along with those of other workers who have been poisoned while making the devices we can't live without. It is heart-breaking to hear the first-hand accounts of workers dying of cancer just so Apple, Samsung, and other electronics manufacturers can save a few pennies, and so consumers can have the latest upgrade. It doesn't have to be like this. Experts estimate that eliminating dangerous industrial chemicals from the manufacturing process would add less than $1 to the price of each device. Watch the Complicit trailer and sign the petition demanding Apple and Samsung protect workers by removing all known toxins and cancer-causing chemicals such as benzene and n-hexane from all stages of the device manufacturing supply chain. Thank you for taking action, Aaron V. The Care2 Petitions Team

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DISABLED VETERANS FIGHT UNHEALTHY REPUBLICAN BILL.

John Fay, left, leads a line of fellow honor guards from the Lone Star Chapter of the Paralyzed Veterans of American during the Pledge of Allegiance before a Veterans Day parade in downtown Dallas on Nov. 11, 2014. LM Otero AP

NATIONAL

JUNE 27, 2017 6:14 PM

Veterans groups: Repealing Obamacare will hurt disabled, other vets

BY VERA BERGENGRUEN

vbergengruen@mcclatchydc.com

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Several national veterans organizations are warning that Republican legislation to repeal Obamacare will strip health care from the military veterans who need it most, including those who are disabled or struggling with mental health issues.

In a letter sent to all 100 senators Tuesday, Paralyzed Veterans of America, one of the largest nonpartisan veterans’ groups in the country, denounced the “opaque and closed process” of crafting the bill that has not allowed them to weigh in on how it would impact “catastrophically disabled veterans.”

“Congress can no longer fake listening to these men and women,” Carl Blake, the group’s associate executive editor, said in the letter.

thIS NOT THE TIME TO PLAY POLITICAL GAMES WITH VETERANS HEALTHCARE.

Emily Blair, National Alliance for Mental Issues

two other major organizations, Disabled American Veterans and AMVETS, also expressed alarm that the bill could limit veterans’ access to health care. This comes as President Donald Trump, who backs the bill, has said he is following through on his campaign promise to protect veterans by taking high-profile stepsto move towards reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Many advocacy groups expressed frustration at the widely held misconception that all military veterans can seek Veterans Administration care.

“I can’t tell you how many times someone with a puzzled look on their face has remarked ‘Don’t all veterans go to the VA?’” said Will Fischer, the head of government relations at VoteVets, a progressive veterans organization. “It should be crystal clear to people that this [bill] is absolutely a veterans issue.”

Of the more than 21 million veterans in the U.S., only about 8 million receive health care from the VA. In fact, many aren’t eligible due to minimum service requirements, discharge status and different disability ratings. In addition, millions of veterans in rural areas cannot access care at VA facilities.

1 in 10Military veterans who rely on Medicaid coverage for health care

Nearly one in 10 veterans — approximately 1.75 million — rely on Medicaid for health care coverage, according to an analysis of U.S. Census bureau data by Families USA. The bill would cut Medicaid spending by $772 billion, leading to 15 million fewer enrollees nationwide, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Under the Senate Republicans’ bill, an estimated 44,900veterans in Florida would lose Medicaid coverage by 2026, according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank. In Texas, 72,800 veterans could lose Medicaid coverage; in Georgia, 31,8 00 veterans; in North Carolina, 27,900 veterans, and in California, 25,900 veterans.

Advocates said that the legislation will leave some of the most vulnerable veterans without options, including those requiring disability care or struggling with mental illness.

The effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act “comes at a time when we are facing a mental health crisis in the veterans community.... This is not the time to play political games with veterans healthcare,” said Emily Blair, the lead on veterans’ issues for the National Alliance for Mental Issues.

Roughly 20 veterans commit suicide every day, according to data from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The cuts to Medicaid in the Senate bill “will devastate and decimate the ability for these veterans and their family members to access the needed primary care, specialty care, including mental health care and substance use treatments, that are life-saving,” Blair said. “These veterans are some of the most vulnerable in our society.”

40 percentThe drop in the rate of uninsured veterans under the age of 65 during the first two years of Obamacare’s coverage provisions

Even if Congress were to act to open up the VA’s system to all veterans, it is unclear whether the VA would be able to handle even half of the veterans currently covered under Medicaid, Paralyzed Veterans of America told senators in Tuesday’s letter.

“You may need to see a psychologist once a week and can’t get to the VA once a week,” said Andrea Callow, a Medicaid policy analyst at the consumer group Families USA. “For veterans with chronic conditions, traumatic brain injuries, or post-traumatic stress disorder who need ongoing treatment, Medicaid is really a tremendous support, and for many the largest source of support.”

Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid was expanded to those earning 138 percent of the federal poverty limit in states that chose to participate. The line had previously been drawn at 100 percent.

“Taking $772 million out of the Medicaid program means that essentially nobody is safe,” Callow said. “Veterans, children, everyone will feel those cuts.”

The cuts would save the government $321 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The White House expressed skepticism about the projections put out by the CBO on Monday that 22 million Americans would lose coverage, saying the office has a “history of inaccuracy, as demonstrated by its flawed report on coverage, premiums, and predicted deficit arising out of Obamacare.”

Military veterans as a group saw dramatic gains in health care coverage under President Barack Obama’s health care law. The rate of uninsured veterans under age 65 fell by nearly 40 percent during the first two years of Obamacare’s coverage provisions, including the Medicaid expansion, a study by the Urban Institute think tank found.

The number of veterans without health care coverage fell from 980,000 in 2013 to 552,000 in 2015. The families of veterans also gained from many provisions in the Affordable Care Act, according to the study. The rate of veterans’ spouses without insurance fell from 9.2 percent to 5.5 percent, and the rate among children dropped from 4.5 percent to 2.9 percent.

“This bill isn’t just unacceptable, it’s downright shameful,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said Tuesday while on a conference call panel with the Amputee Coalition and the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association on Tuesday. The groups said that the new bill threatens proper care for two million Americans who are amputees, including military veterans.

Health care for people who have lost limbs and require special care and rehabilitation would only become “worse and more expensive” under the new bill, Duckworth warned.

“I will do everything I can to stop Trumpcare in its tracks,” she said.

Fisher said his organizations will not allow Republicans to get away with not answering questions about the bill’s consequences for veterans’ care.

“These are people who may be in dire straits,” he said. “If they decide that it’s a good idea to rip healthcare from veterans by slashing Medicaid… we’ll make it our mission to not allow them to go to church or a community event without their constituents pointing at them and saying ‘You are punishing veterans.’”

Vera Bergengruen: 202-383-6036, @verambergen

How Senate Bill Would Break Trump's Biggest Health Care Promises

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	A SPECIAL REPORT FOR THE OBAMA  FOUNDATION. AROUND THE WORLD PEOPLE ARE CHASING MONEY AND POWER TO THE DETRIMENT OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. IF THEY WORKED  IMPROVING THE ENVIRONMENT THERE WOULD BE LESS STRESS. EXAMPLES FROM THE PAST. MY FIRST STEP TRYING TO SAVE THE WORLD  AS A CANADIAN CITIZEN WORKING FROM CANADA, I  HELPED A BLACK SENATOR FROM CHICAGO BECOME PRESIDENT BY USING MY OLD COMPUTER TO GENERATE LOTS OF  FREE PUBLICITY WITHIN THE U.S. DURING HIS ELECTION CAMPAIGN. I HAD PLENTY OF STRESS IN THOSE DAYS TRYING TO WRITE  SOLUTIONS TO A DOZEN SOCIAL PROBLEMS AND GENERATE ENTHUSIASM FOR THE WORLD HUMANITARIAN PEACE AND ECOLOGY MOVEMENT. AL GORE HAD A BETTER ORGANIZATION. STEP NUMBER TWO:  A FEW YEARS LATER I ASKED THE NEW PRESIDENT TO HELP  AN AUSTRALIAN GENIUS MANUFACTURE ELECTRIC CARS.  STEP NUMBER THREE: AS A CANADIAN CITIZEN WRITING FOR THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT, NOBODY KNEW WHO I WAS AND I COULD NEVER RAISE MONEY FOR THE WORLD PEACE MOVEMENT. NOBODY CARED BUT IT DID NOT STOP ME FROM SHOW-CASING GREAT ARTICLES AS WELL AS WRITING A FEW MYSELF.. STEP NUMBER FOUR: SOME GREAT PEOPLE GAVE ME A BLOG SPOT. HUMAN4US2.BLOGSPOT.COM WHERE I FIND MY  "BEST WEB SITES" LIST AND I LOCATE YAHOO AND FROM THERE I CAN WATCH FREE GREAT OLD MOVIES DATING BACK DECADES. YOU ARE ALL INVITED TO DO THE SAME. STEP NUMBER FIVE. LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING...RELAX.. =================================== I  NEVER LIKED SOLICITING MONEY BUT ON THE OTHER HAND THE PEACE MOVEMENT NEEDS HELP AND WORLD WAR THREE IS SOMETHING I  BELIEVE SHOULD BE AVOIDED AT ALL COST. THE DESTRUCTION OF MEDICAID IN THE U.S. IS NOT A NICE ONGOING PROJECT. DONATE TO THE WORLD HUMANITARIAN PEACE AND ECOLOGY MOVEMENT TODAY BECAUSE I NEED A NEW AND FASTER COMPUTER. IN EXCHANGE I CAN PROVIDE PRACTICAL POWER BOOSTING IDEAS FOR GOVERNMENTS AND SOCIAL GROUPS AS WELL AS FOR BUSINESS LEADERS. ONE OF THESE IDEAS MAY BE JUST WHAT YOU NEED! STEP NUMBER SIX: WAIT FOR A REPLY BUT DON'T HOLD BREATH. human4us2.blogspot.com    human4usbillions@gmail.com ADDRESS: 3851-56TH.,ST., LAVAL W. QUEBEC, CANADA. H7R1M5 =========================================================
	Hi, there!  We aren’t checking messages delivered to info@obama.org. If you’d like to get in touch, please feel free to submit your comments here. Your perspective is important to us—whether you’re sharing a story or suggesting ways we can work together to inspire change in our communities. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing in from the South Side, South Dakota, or even South Africa, we want to hear from you. And we hope you’ll be in touch. Thanks for reaching out! —The Obama Foundation Team ================================== FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES: — YourAlaskaLink.com Paid Medicare coverage would be cut to 100 days of skilled nursing care. The population of Alaskans 65+ is expected to  reach 110,000 people by 2021.                                                                         Montana: A Medicaid Gap                                         More than 79,000 Montanans are covered under expansion, which was previously estimated to largely vanish by 2024 under the House version of the bill. Health care analysts say the Senate version of the bill just pushes back this date and could result in even greater cuts to Medicaid over time, compared to the House version, by resetting the inflationary adjustment in 2026. Medicaid represents 38 percent of federal funds coming  into Montana. The state’s share of Medicaid cost makes up 10 percent of state spending. Previous estimates from the state Department of Health and Human Services show Montana would need an extra $251 million a year to maintain present coverage under reduced federal funding. — Missoulian New Hampshire: Rising Costs For families like hers with severely ill members, the Senate proposal has many things not to like - yet last week’s announcement of another health insurer exiting  the Obamacare exchange market points to the rising costs many middle class families face getting coverage under that Affordable Care Act. — Union Leader Michigan: Care for Women Planned Parenthood has 19 health centers in Michigan. In fiscal 2015, the centers served 63,805 patients for services that includes breast exams, pap tests, prenatal visits, testing for pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease and providing birth control and abortion. — mLive.com Maine: Cuts in Rural Areas Rural Maine would be hit especially hard, as the outlying areas of the state are more reliant on Medicaid  funding for health services. Rural hospitals would be under more financial stress if the Senate bill were to be  approved. — PressHerald.com Virginia: Calls to Slow Down Virginia legislative budget leaders had a quick response  to a new health care plan proposed by Republicans in the U.S. Senate — please don’t do what you just did. The Republican co-chairmen of the Joint Subcommittee  for Health and Human Resources Oversight said Thursday that the Senate’s current proposal “fails to address the inequities in the federal funding allocation between states” for the Medicaid program that Virginia has operated in partnership with the federal government for a half-century. — Richmond Times-Dispatch Ohio: Hidden Extra Costs Senate Republicans say through their healthcare bill that they want states to take more responsibility for Medicaid, and their bill says it will give them that flexibility. Yet the bill to dramatically alter Obamacare may actually tie the hands of Ohio in a little-noticed way, costing the state hundreds of millions a year. — Cleveland.com She says if this bill passes, it will bring a tremendous burden on her family, not to mention other families  supporting elderly loved ones and those who depend on government assistance. “What are we saying to these people in this country?  ‘You don’t matter.’ And I’m sorry, I think it’s sinful,  I really do,” [Jeanetta] Russell said. — Cleveland19.com Correction: June 26, 2017  An earlier version of this article misidentified the source of a news report from Virginia. The publisher was The Richmond Times-Dispatch; it was not The Richmond News. For breaking news and in-depth reporting, follow @NYTNational on Twitter. A version of this article appears in print on June 27, 2017, on Page A11 of the New York edition with the headline: Health Bill Gets a Wary Reception, From Coast to Coast. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

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Obama.org Unsubscribe	4:28 PM (6 hours ago)
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Hello Joseph -- I wouldn't have met my husband were it not for Barack Obama. I had been on the 2008 Obama campaign since day three, and I was in charge of organizing the LGBTQ community: planning the campaign's presence at Pride festivals and parades, registering LGBTQ Americans to vote, and identifying LGBTQ volunteer leaders across the country to organize their own communities. Tyler and I met at a Pride event the campaign put together in Chicago, and we hit it off: We were both from Illinois, we both loved Barack Obama, and, like so many others at that event in 2008 and around the country today, we both would do just about anything to empower people to be active citizens and take ownership of their democracy, no matter who they were, what they looked like, or who they loved. A photo of me marching in Chicago Pride Parade in 2008. The two of us went on to work for President Obama in both the White House and on his re-election campaign, and I'm so proud of the progress we collectively made for LGBTQ rights over the past decade. June 26th is a particularly good day to look back. It's the anniversary of the two Supreme Court cases decided during the Obama Administration that led to marriage equality in our country -- United States v. Windsor in 2013, which struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, and Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, which affirmed the fundamental right to marry for same-sex couples. President Obama is fond of quoting Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." But President Obama would be the first to admit that the arc isn't always smooth, and we have to work to bend it. There's so much we still have to do to achieve full equality, and we at the Obama Foundation are committed to doing everything we can to empower and support the LGBTQ community -- and I take that responsibility personally as a member of the Foundation's diversity and inclusion council. As part of our efforts, we talked to LGBTQ leaders in Chicago about how they're organizing in their communities, and what citizenship means to them. I hope you take a minute to learn about their work -- I guarantee you'll be inspired: https://www.obama.org/pride Happy Pride! Jamie Citron Obama Foundation Pitch in today to support the Obama Foundation's work, including empowering citizens and communities: