SISTER SIMONE CALLS ON SENATORS TO STOP THE “DESTRUCTION OF HEALTHCARE IN OUR NATION”

(Washington, DC) – Today, Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive Director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice and leader of Nuns on the Bus, released a video for senators urging them to “stop this destruction of healthcare in our nation.”

Sister Simone also recorded video messages to Senator Shelley Moore-Capito of West Virginia, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, Senator Dean Heller of Nevada and Senator Rob Portman of Ohio.

 

The video follows a letter signed earlier this week by 7,150 Catholic Sisters from all 50 states and Washington, D.C., to the entire U.S. Senate asking them to reject any upcoming proposals that would repeal the Affordable Care Act or cut Medicaid, citing their “belief that healthcare is a universal right.”

 

Sister Simone, who authored the letter, said, “The mission of Catholic Sisters has always been to serve our nation’s most vulnerable people. As such, we are united in opposition to the current Republican healthcare proposals.”

 

The letter states, “As Catholic women religious, we have witnessed firsthand the moral crisis of lack of quality, affordable healthcare in this country. We have seen early and avoidable deaths because of lack of insurance, prohibitive costs, and lack of access to quality care. We fought for the expansion of coverage in the Affordable Care Act because we saw the life-giving value of crucial healthcare programs such as Medicaid. This program covers over 70 million Americans, including children, pregnant women (and nearly half of all births in this country), people with disabilities, people struggling to get by, and senior citizens. Further, some of our fellow women religious rely on Medicaid in nursing homes when we can no longer care for our sisters at home.”

 

Read the full text of the letter and see all 100 pages of signatures from the 7,150 Catholic Sisters here.

 

Catholic Sisters sent a similar letter in 2010, calling on the House of Representatives to cast a “life-affirming YES vote” on the Affordable Care Act. It was widely attributed as crucial to the final passage of the ACA.

 

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NETWORK, advocates for justice inspired by Catholic sisters, educates, organizes, and lobbies for economic and social transformation. They have a more than 40-year track record of lobbying for critical federal programs that support those at the margins and prioritize the common good. www.networklobby.org

 

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