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August 2024 Newsletter

Health Care is a Human Right

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Community Change sees health care as an essential part of economic justice:everyone in the U.S. should have access to it, and no one should have to go into debt to receive the health services they need. We believe health care is a human right, and over the years we’ve fought to make it more accessible, affordable, and equitable. We helped win the Affordable Care Act in 2010, and when the ACA came under attack in 2017, we and our partners mounted a grassroots defense of the program. When Trump threatened to gut Medicaid – which provides health care to more than 80 million low-income adults and children – Community Change once again mobilized with allies and partners to make sure the voices of people who depend on the program were part of the defense.

>While more people have gained health care coverage in recent decades, there are significant disparities in health outcomes, especially among people of color. This month, we’re spotlighting the work we and our partners are doing now to make health care more accessible and to address the racial and gender disparities that persist in our health care system. Check out Reclaiming Our Power: Health Equity , for first-hand accounts from grassroots partners at the front lines of the movement. Read on to learn more about the campaigns we’re supporting in the Midwest and South to build a larger movement to make health care available to everyone, regardless of income level, race, gender, or immigration status.

PROGRAM UPDATES

Defeating Red Tape and Bureaucratic Barriers in Indiana

When Medicaid was signed into law nearly 60 years ago, our country took a big step toward a more equitable health care system. But efforts to limit access to it, especially in low-income communities of color, have always been part of the picture. Read about how we helped our partner Hoosier Action strike down bureaucratic and unfair structural barriers to Medicaid coverage.

 

Building a Health Care Movement in North Carolina and Ohio

Driven by grassroots energy, we are nurturing a rising community-based health care movement, particularly for maternal and child health, in collaboration with those most impacted by the inequities in our healthcare system.

  • In North Carolina, our partner Action NC is addressing the problem of maternal health deserts in Fayetteville, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, and the surrounding rural areas. Their membership is planning to build on the momentum of the state’s recent Medicaid expansion to make sure their needs are met. In the face of increasing hostility toward reproductive rights, Action NC is exploring how to create and share resources that help Black people access reproductive care at every stage of life.
  • In Ohio, the Ohio Organizing Collaborative’s CEO Project works to make access to child care affordable for parents while ensuring providers are not shouldering the cost of providing care. Recently, they’ve expanded their work to include organizing doulas and other birth justice workers who lack anational infrastructure necessary to win thriving wages and support for certifications and training.

The Cascading Impact of Medical Debt

In The hidden toll of medical debt on housing and employment in Wisconsin, Communications Fellow Kat Klawes writes, “Keep my story and the stories of millions of other Americans struggling with medical debt or high healthcare costs in mind when you head to the polls this November. Together, we can elect leaders who will fight for access to healthcare, fight against health insurance company’s greed, and ensure no one is financially ruined due to the cost of healthcare.” Our award-winning Fellows program counters the impact of disinformation and challenges status-quo narratives about poverty and inequality with content that reflects lived experiences.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Before You Go

  • On the second day of the DNC, Community Change Childcare Changemaker Emma Biggs, a childcare provider from North Carolina, spoke on a panel titled Care Can’t Wait: Our Economy Runs on Care. “My message is to let people know that care work, what we do when we care for people every day, is the backbone to our economy,” she said. Read more in this piece in The Charlotte Observer.
  • We are thrilled that care is on the agenda in Kamala Harris’s campaign! We started talking with voters about care back in May, so we’re ready for this moment. There are over 19 million people with children and 154,000 childcare workers in the five swing states where Community Change Action and Community Change Voters is talking with voters this cycle. Vibes meteorologist and Community Change Electoral Data Manager Benjamin Oh breaks down what child care voters are prioritizing.
  • Join us for our Movement Cocktail Reception on September 19, 2024 at Lost Society , in Washington, DC, from 5:30 to 7:00 PM ET to meet and mingle with Community Change staff and some of our partners at the front lines of grassroots power-building as we gear up for November. Be sure to register here if you can join us!

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