Thursday, January 28, 2010

The State of Health Reform

Last night, President Obama appealed to members of Congress not to walk away from health care reform and the millions of Americans who are counting on it. We, too, call on Congress to act together to quickly pass meaningful, comprehensive health reform this year. Heart disease and stroke patients can’t afford to wait. Just watch these stories from patient advocates sharing their personal experience with the nation’s healthcare system.

Despite what you might be hearing in the media, health care reform is not dead, and neither is the American Heart Association’s work on it. We need your help to keep the pressure on Congress to enact meaningful, comprehensive reform. Health care reform won’t happen overnight, but with the voice of You’re the Cure advocates we can send a clear message to Congress that failure is not an option. In fact there is something you can do right now. We want to share the powerful stories of heart and stroke advocates with lawmakers, so please take action and send your lawmakers the latest You’re the Cure video today.

You can read the AHA CEO’s statement to the press on the President’s State of the Union address on our website.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Joshua's Story

Joshua Lemacks was born with a severe heart defect that required complex surgery as soon as he was born. Mark and Jodi Lemacks chose the doctors that would give their son the best chance of survival. Even though the insurance company approved the out-of-network care, the Lamacks family ended up $85,000 in debt.

The Lemacks family shared their story with the Washington Post. Read it here.

"This is what health-care reform should be about. It should be about allowing people like Joshua to live and have a happy, healthy life," says Jodi in the article.