An open letter to my representative about the "Big Beautiful Bill"
Medicaid expansion and the CFPB save lives
Today’s letter is written by a 50501 SC volunteer and disabled veteran. They encourage you to write your own version and share it with your representatives.
Representative Wilson,
I am a veteran. My wife is a pastor. We both have served this country in different ways — me most notably through military service, and her through gospel. We’ve also both relied on programs like VA healthcare and Medicaid at critical points in our lives.
After graduating seminary, but before receiving her pastoral call, my wife had no employer-sponsored insurance. I had no employer-sponsored insurance as I was using my GI Bill benefits to attend school. My VA healthcare benefits do not extend to my wife. Luckily, the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) filled that gap. Without it, there would have been a three-month lapse in coverage, or six months when accounting for our move. That’s half a year without insurance under this reconciliation bill’s new requirements. One ER visit could have put us in debt for life.
Even after she got private insurance and canceled her ACA coverage, UnitedHealthcare continued charging her for five months. Our bank eventually reversed the charges. I reported the issue to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Department of Insurance. I don’t know if the government ever got its money back, but I tried.
That’s why the CFPB matters. Since 2011, it has clawed back over $21 billion for American consumers, about $3 of taxpayer money back in their pocket for every $1 spent. That is accountability and good stewardship, plain and simple.
Medicaid and the CFPB are both safety nets that help Americans stay afloat while they work, study, serve, or recover. They protect the vulnerable and uphold the dignity of honest effort. The reconciliation bill’s work requirement, using a 30-90-day lookback, would destroy that safety net for many South Carolinians, including families like mine. Cutting CFPB funding in half would only serve the financial institutions it holds accountable.
Fight fraud, not your constituents.
Support the tools that work: Medicaid and the CFPB.
I ask you, not just as a veteran, but as a fellow American, to vote no on this bill. Keep your oath to the Constitution. And to the people it serves.
Thank you,
A constituent and disabled combat veteran
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This is social murder
I guess I'll call Mace again, for all of the good it will do. That woman is too far gone! At least when her aid answer they are polite, and they send me a professional form letter when I write.