Healthcare Affordability

The lack of affordable healthcare is crippling millions of families across the United States. In 2022, BlueWaveNJ fought successfully for important legislative steps that could ease the burden. Our Healthcare Committee conducted multiple call-to-action campaigns, contacting their federal representatives about two specific issues:

• INSULIN AND OTHER PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: On April 29, our Healthcare Committee members took action and called their representatives in support of the long-awaited $35/month limit on insulin costs under Medicare. In addition, they urged their representatives to empower Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of key medications.
  
  Passage of both of these provisions was an important victory. It will lower out-of-pocket expenses for consumers, and is expected to save the government $100 billion over the next ten years.
  
   
  
• THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT (ACA): In mid-July, our members called their representatives to ask specifically for an extension of the ACA subsidy boosts, which were scheduled to expire at the end of 2022. This would have left many middle-income families facing a “subsidy cliff,” costing them thousands of dollars. Later in July, our members called to urge their representatives to support the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which included the ACA subsidy provision along with other important healthcare measures.^[a]
  With the passage of the IRA, including the ACA subsidy extension, families will not face “the cliff” again through 2025 — at which point a new act of Congress will be necessary.

To see the July call to action, click here.

In addition to these call campaigns, BlueWaveNJ held substantive discussions with our federal representatives about the S.A.L.T. deduction, and the importance of not withholding support for the IRA over that single issue.