Never Give Up, Never Surrender

Your mission today, should you choose to accept it: Make a public comment urging the Medicare/Medi-cal system to require hospitals to monitor and prevent #COVID infections.

Looking at the title of the proposed rule, it seems to be several different things, linked by semicolons. I think the covid monitoring fits under "Quality Programs and Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program Requirements for Eligible Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals."

I edited and shortened the sample letter (the second link), including adding a bit about immune-compromised patients, and removing all the referencesa.

Link to make a comment: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/05/01/2023-07389/medicare-program-proposed-hospital-inpatient-prospective-payment-systems-for-acute-care-hospitals

Link to a sample letter you can copy and edit:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1273-_VIbfaUPvlRo0MXBXEq7gJozNQn6udHhA8HniCs/

Link to a formatted pdf you can attach as a comment instead:
https://substack.com/redirect/d8ee9a6b

[The first line of this post, and the links, are copied from a Mastodon toot.]

The USDA has published a proposed rule that would take food benefits away from a lot of people, and public comments are needed to protect those SNAP benefits by slowing it down and helping fight it in the courts. If this sounds familiar, yes we've been here before, and recently: The subject line on the email from Northwest Harvest is "Say it again--#HandsOffSNAP".

Taken from that email:

We need you and everyone you know to submit a public comment in opposition to this proposed rule by 8:59 PT on September 24. USDA must review every unique comment submitted on the rule, so more comments means a longer review period to delay implementation of a final rule, and comments from different perspectives can bring out issues that legal teams can explore to file a lawsuit to challenge or block a final rule.

Here are the tools and resources to use and share with your networks to write your comment and urge others to do the same:

Write your Comment

Review this FAQ about the Categorical Eligiblity Rule to understand the proposed change and how to comment.

Find templates that you will personalize in order to craft your comment here. There are templates you can use if you are an individual or submitting on behalf of an organization. (Hint- you can do both if you can speak on behalf of an organization!) ....

Submit your Comment

Once you've written you've written your comment, you can submit it through FRAC's comment portal or if you have attachments, you can submit your comment directly through the regulations.gov website.

The administration is trying to sneak through a change in the immigration definition of a "public charge." Under the proposed rule, immigrants could be turned away if they earned less than 250% of the federal poverty line and use any of a variety of programs such as Medicaid or SNAP (food stamps).

Comments are open, but only through the 15th. Please write in about this.

MIRA has information about the proposal, hints about what to put in comments, and a form you can use to submit comments if you don't want to use the federal government's website.

ETA: Starlady looked at the Federal Register and found that we have until December 10 to comment.