Action Items
Link to Legislators to Contact
July 27, 2025
The pair of bills, SB 322 and HB 1460, will grant the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General authority to oversee hospital mergers, acquisitions, and major financial transactions that may jeopardize patient access and public health. These bills are in response to the closing of a health care system in Delaware County, which closed its two remaining hospitals, leaving thousands of employees without jobs and the surrounding communities without access to local hospital care. This was the result of corporate greed, when private equity's primary goal of making maximum profit, was allowed to plunder our health care system.
HB 1460 has passed the House but SB 322 is stalled in the Senate.
Message to PA Senator Kim Ward
(The message below can be used as is, modified, or you can create your own message on this topic. A message in your own words is the most effective.)
In these chaotic times, with the funding of hospitals and nursing homes in question, passage of SB 322 would eliminate the threat of private equity's further deterioration of our health care system. Passage of SB 322 would be very timely. Please use your leadership position to accomplish this goal.
July 20, 2025
Despite procedural objections and a walk out, the Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to advance Emil Bove’s nomination to a Senate floor vote. Nine hundred former DOJ lawyers wrote a letter opposing his confirmation. Bove noted his support of Trump running for a 3rd term and questions arose about Bove’s involvement in the DOJ review of the Epstein case. It also has been reported that Bove has been instrumental in decisions to defy court orders.
ACTION STEPS
Call/email Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick and demand they oppose the nomination of Emil Bove to serve as a federal judge. His assistance in the Trump administration’s repeated defiance of court orders makes him unfit to serve on the federal bench.
July 12, 2025
Discrimination against Veterans
With the recent changes to the Department of Veterans Affairs patient and staff policies and bylaws, the door is open for widespread discrimination. A comparison by the US Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs showed that the current versions of bylaws, changed in secret and without notification, allows discrimination in treating patients and hiring medical professionals.
ACTION STEPS
Contact Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick and your Representative (Reschenthaler or Lee) and express your outrage at these changes.
Here’s the message for them:
Patient and staff policies and bylaws for the Department of Veterans Affairs have recently been secretly changed. They now open the door for discrimination regarding gender, marital status, even political party in treating patients and in hiring medical professionals. This is unacceptable and I expect my Senators and Representative to publicly object to this change.
July 5, 2025
It’s Official: the Big Bad Bill has passed.
Despite overwhelming public outcry, Republicans in Congress pushed through the most unpopular legislation since the 1990s - making devastating cuts to the care and services millions rely on:
X 17 million people will lose health insurance coverage (Vox)
X 4.7 million people will lose access to food via SNAP (Commonwealth Fund)
X $1 trillion in healthcare cuts that will affect all of us.
These cuts are not numbers on a spreadsheet. They are people’s lives. These cuts will devastate all of us.
People who rely on Medicaid to manage chronic illness. Families using the ACA to afford cancer treatment. Children who depend on SNAP or school lunches to get through the day. Hospitals on the brink, now pushed closer to closure.
These programs are lifelines. And Republicans in Congress just took a machete to them.
We’re grieving. We’re angry.
ACTION STEP
In Guy Reschenthaler’s districts, 18,645 citizens will lose Medicaid; 11,071 will lose SNAP benefits. Call/email Representative Reschenthaler. Tell him you’re grieving and angry because his support of the Big Bad Bill will cause xxx (fill in an effect on you or on your family. Tell him that you WILL remember this vote when he’s up for re-election next year.
June 8, 2025
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON HB 1500--CYBER CHARTER SCHOOL REFORM
The state’s 500 public schools have passed a resolution calling for charter school reform. The current system was developed in 2002, and school districts are asking for a more representative use of tax dollars for public education. House Bill 1500 is dedicated to a long overdue charter school reform. This legislation promotes a flat cyber school rate of $8,000. Funding for K-12 private/religious school vouchers has increased nearly twelve-fold over the past two decades with local school districts tasked with increased costs.Pennsylvania residents know very little about how this money is spent or who benefits. The time for more information and reform is now.
MESSAGE TO PA State Senators
I urge you to vote yes on House Bill 1500, the cyber charter reform bill. It will align tuition rates with cybers' actual costs and address the deficiencies in accountability and transparency.
Call or email your Senator:
Senator Kim Ward
Senator Joe Pittman