Fighting for Your Health Care
Dear Friends,
Champaign County Health Care Consumers (CCHCC) is celebrating 40 years of grassroots organizing for health care access and justice! Thanks to your continued support and involvement, CCHCC has had a definitive and lasting impact on our local health care system since 1977.
You might be surprised to know that many of the local programs and services that improve our community’s health, and that we now take for granted, came about as a result of CCHCC’s community organizing work – services such as school breakfast programs in county schools, hospital financial assistance programs for low-income people, nurse-midwives programs, prenatal care for low-income women, public health for county residents, free dental care for low-income county children, and more! These, and many more programs, are lasting legacies which CCHCC, with your involvement and support, has given our community.
From its inception, CCHCC has been committed to improving the health care system by making it more responsive to consumer needs. Often, this has required uncovering abuses within the system and challenging unfair policies. Even though these protests have received the most media attention and fanfare, CCHCC is proudest of the program initiatives and positive developments with our local health care system that are a direct result of our work – work that involves bringing consumers together with health care providers to build enduring programs and services that improve people’s lives and health.
It is this history and depth of experience that makes it possible for us to help consumers navigate the health care system on a day to day basis. Knowledge of the policies surrounding health care programs means that we are uniquely able to maneuver difficult cases. When clients encounter obstacles, we can provide a new perspective on the problem and offer solutions that are not obvious, or insight that prevents an even bigger problem from arising.
One client, who would have otherwise fallen through the cracks, has been helped greatly by our understanding of how these programs work. When he needed glasses, we were able to call around and schedule the quickest eye exam. Since he did not have a permanent address, we were able to schedule transportation (paid for by his health insurance) to pick him up from our office. Because we had helped schedule his appointment, we left them our information so that we would get notified when his glasses were ready. He was finally able to see again after months of going without.
Clients like him, and many others, are the reason we do this work and why we fight to protect the advances made by the Affordable Care Act. Despite multiple attempts to dismantle it, the ACA is still around, thanks to your phone calls and public outcry. But the threats are not over. Health care is still under attack and we will have to continue to fight for newer programs like those created under the ACA, as well as older programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and even the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). And that is why we need your support.
Thanks to your support and involvement – whether as a contributor, a volunteer, a Task Force member, or someone who responds to CCHCC’s calls to action – CCHCC has had a tremendous impact on our health care system over the past 40 years. For 40 years, we have mobilized our community to improve the health care system and health care policies at the local, state, and national levels. Our longevity and our track record over the past four decades has equipped us well for the struggles ahead. Our work is more important than ever!
We stand by our founding premise that meaningful reforms of the health care system can only take place when consumers are active in the decision-making process.
Join us in continuing our work for another 40 years. Please fill out the enclosed pledge form, and let us know if you can help with sharing information, joining our e-mail listserv to stay updated and receive urgent calls to action, pledging to become a “health care voter”, or making a contribution to help support CCHCC’s ongoing advocacy and organizing efforts, as well as our enrollment work.
Imagine what we might be able to accomplish with your support and involvement!
Sincerely,
Claudia Lennhoff
Executive Director