Action Alert: Senate Passes Family Opportunity Act

Action Alert: Senate Passes Family Opportunity Act – Urge House to Do the Same

Please contact your Representative and urge him/her to cosponsor and push for passage of the Family Opportunity Act of 2003 (S. 622/H.R. 1811). This legislation would help thousands of middle-income families access health and mental health services for their children with severe mental or physical disabilities. Last week, the Senate passed an amended version of the bill offered by Senators Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA). Our goal is to support House passage of the Senate-passed Family Opportunity Act (FOA), S. 622.

What You Can Do: Ask Your Representative to Support and Pass the Family Opportunity Act Today!

1. To identify your Representative, visit the U.S. House of Representatives Web site. Enter your zip code to get your Representative’s name and phone number.
Find your 9-digit zip code (you will need this to locate your Members of Congress)

2. Please call your Representative and ask for the staff member who handles health care. A sample phone script follows.

Sample Phone Script:

I am (name), a psychologist constituent calling from [town and state] in support of the Family Opportunity Act (S. 622/H.R. 1811):

Too often, middle-income families of children with severe mental or physical disabilities are unable to obtain health insurance to cover the exceedingly high costs of care for their child with a disability;
Medicaid coverage should be available for these families to help them properly care for their child's special needs;

I urge Representative XXXX to ask the House leadership, including Speaker Denis Hastert (R-IL) and Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-TX), to adopt the Senate-passed version of the Family Opportunity Act, S. 622.

Additionally, I ask Representative XXX to cosponsor the House companion bill, H.R. 1811, to show his/her support for the Family Opportunity Act. I look forward to hearing how the Representative votes on this crucial children’s mental health bill.

Thank you for your consideration.

More background and legislative history of the Family Opportunity Act available here.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact Deborah Cotter via email or at (202) 336-5668, in APA's Public Policy Office. We would appreciate hearing from you if you call your Representative. Please let us know the response you receive.