Advocate

PHA’s Advocacy Action Center provides the tools you need to educate your elected officials about pulmonary hypertension. Check back throughout the year to make your voice heard on legislation and regulation that impacts the PH community.

Advocacy August

During August, Members of Congress leave Washington D.C. and focus on meeting with constituents in their home states. This year, many of those “meetings” will take place by phone, but they are still critically important. Planned phone calls with congressional staff allow you to educate Members of Congress about the importance of extending insurance coverage of telehealth and other topics important to the PH community.

PHA is Here to Help!

Request an August call with your congressional offices now. PHA is here to help with:

  • Scheduling your call
  • Planning what you want to say
  • Answering questions and following up

Use this form to contact PHA and get started!

Ask Your Senators to Support Copay Assistance

More health insurance plans are forcing people with pulmonary hypertension (PH) to pay twice for their medication. The plans require them to pay their full deductibles out of pocket while also using copay assistance. Some plans refuse to accept non-profit assistance grants to force people with expensive medications off the plan.
In the next few weeks, Congress will have an opportunity to stop these unfair policies at least through 2021 by including an Emergency Access to Marketplace Insurance provision in the next COVID-19 legislation. Ask your senators to support the provision — an important first step toward banning these burdensome, expensive practices.

Email them now!

TAKE ACTION! TELL CONGRESS TO FULLY FUND HEALTH RESEARCH

Researchers across the country depend on grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to pay for the work of understanding, treating and ultimately curing PH. NIH receives the money it needs to make those grants each year from Congress. Join PHA in asking Congress to fully fund NIH and other federal agencies important to the PH community.

TAKE ACTION

ASK CONGRESS TO SUPPORT THE SAFE STEP ACT

Step therapy shifts an individual from one medication to another based on the cost of the medication rather than physician recommendation. The Safe Step Act protects individuals with life-threatening illnesses like pulmonary hypertension from risky step therapy requirements.

TAKE ACTION

“MEET” YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS BY PHONE

Did you know you can “meet” your Members of Congress from the comfort of your home? A scheduled phone conversation with legislative staff can be a highly effective way to engage them in fighting PH. PHA will manage the scheduling and provide materials to help your conversation run smoothly. Request a phone meeting now.

Request a Phone Meeting

SCHEDULE AN IN-PERSON VISIT

Your members of Congress work for you. Meeting with them in their local office is a powerful way to move fighting PH to the top of their agenda. Get started scheduling your visit by contacting PHA at Advocacy@PHAssociation.org or 301-565-3004 x749.

STAY INVOLVED

When you join PHA’s grassroots advocacy network, we send you the resources you need to stay in touch with your Members of Congress a few times a year about the issues that impact your life. Be heard. Be a PH advocate.

Join the Campaign

“For me, it was important to remember that our Members of Congress are people just like us.  When you meet with them, all you have to do is speak clearly and honestly and be prepared with PHA information. Also, having other PHers with you makes it all so much easier.”

Diane Ramirez, PHA Advocate

“I am so happy that I had the opportunity to share about my sister’s situation. I want to do it again.”

Jane Armstead, PHA Advocate

“Being active in advocacy gives me another way to fight PH besides the physical fight. We all have the right to be heard by our elected representatives, so there’s nothing to fear… just do it!”

Perry Mamigonian, PHA Advocate

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