On the Road Again

Drive for Our Lives bus visits Memphis

By Allison Donald
Save My Care is a grassroots community of Americans from all fifty states who have come together as a movement to oppose the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and push for positive solutions for our health care challenges.  As a result of their work and the work of countless organizations like the Memphis Center for Independent Living and ADAPT the bill to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act never made it out of the Senate.  The Drive for Our Lives bus tour is a continuation of the Save My Care movement which aims educate and engage in civic outreach to protect our healthcare.   

On Thursday the Drive for Our Lives bus returned to Memphis in front of City Hall with Diana Baker, a nurse, Faith Pollan, Planned Parenthood representative and myself, representing Mid-South ADAPT and MCIL. The program was telling real stories of Tennesseans who have been affected the Affordable Care Act.   

Diane Baker spoke about being a nurse at a rural hospital and the desperate need for them to remain open. Hospitals like the Copper Basin Medical Center in Polk County are at risk of closing due to lack of funding. Copper Basin Medical Center is the only critical access hospital in Polk County, Tenn. Many other rural hospitals across Tennessee will meet this fate and the people who rely on this hospital for medical treatment will suffer because there means of getting help has been forced to close its doors.

This healthcare debate ultimately is about people like Faith Pollan who chose to use the services provided by Planned Parenthood have an abortion and take charge of her own reproductive health.  Planned Parenthood guided her through one of the most difficult decisions a woman may have to make.  It is important for us as disability community to stand with organizations such as Planned Parenthood. Organizations such as this one allow women with disabilities access to care who may not have health insurance and cannot afford some aspects of prenatal care.

In Tennessee people receiving Long Term Supports and Services make up 3% of Medicaid enrollees, but account for 20% of the cost.  The services provided by Medicaid that help people with disabilities live in the community are at risk of being cut severely if law makers choose to constitute block grants.  If we did not have those provision in the Affordable Care Act then we will be forced into nursing and our liberty and freedom as Americans will be taken away.  Mid-South ADAPT and MCIL are working to gather support for the Disability Integration Act (HR 2472) and (S910).  This piece of civil rights legislation will make it a mandate that people with disabilities receive supports and services that allows us to live, work, and play in our respective communities.  We realize that we even though we may have won the battle the fight for our lives is not over.

If you would like to join us in the fight to protect our healthcare you can visit www.savemycare.org for more details and to find out where the next stop on the Drive for Our Lives bus tour will be.