Advocacy Tool Kit
Speak up in response to the Heroes (HEALTH) Act of 2023, and Making Community Care Work for Veterans Act.
Here is how your voice can be heard.
Write Your Lawmakers. Here is a sample email:
Dear Senator XXX,
I am (include your personal information here, including where you live), and I am writing to you about S.1315, Veterans’ Health Empowerment, Access, Leadership, and Transparency for our
Heroes (HEALTH) Act of 2023, and Making Community Care Work for Veterans Act. If enacted aswritten, they would be devasting to the Veterans they purport to help by:
1) vastly opening up eligibility for community care that will cause substantial amounts of funds to be diverted from VA to the private sector without referral, oversight, or utilization review.
This will decimate VA’s ability to continue providing high-quality, integrated, whole health care that, research shows, outperforms the private sector. VA will be transformed from being a system that provides healthcare to one that pays for healthcare at significantly higher costs
2) not holding private sector care to the same standards as VA clinicians with respect to understanding Veteran culture and how to care for their complex care needs. Additionally, there is no accountability for the private sector to report their wait times, care quality, or provider training.
We can’t let our Veterans down by unraveling the high-quality, integrated, and comprehensive healthcare found in the VA. I urge you to not support the provisions in these bills.
Sincerely,
Look Up Your Senator. Follow this link to look up the contact information of your lawmaker.
KEY SENATORS TO CONTACT: The Senators listed below serve on the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, where this bill has been referred:
• Jon Tester (D-MT), Chairman • Jerry Moran (R-KS), Ranking Member
• Patty Murray (D-WA) • John Boozman (R-AZ)
• Bernie Sanders (D-VT) • Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
• Sherrod Brown (D-OH) • Mike Rounds (R-SD)
• Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) • Thom Tillis (R-NC)
• Mazie Hirono (D-HI) • Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
• Joe Manchin III. (D-WV) • Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
• Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) • Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
• Maggie Hassan (D-NH) • Tommy Tuberville (R-AL)
• Angus King Jr. (D-ME)
ADVOCACY GUIDELINES
Federal employees can engage in advocacy on Federal, state, and local government levels so long as they do it on their own time, and they use their own resources(e.g., money, computer, phone, non-VA email) off station.