January 21, 2017 – 10:00am at the Idaho State Capitol

Women’s march starting at the Idaho State Capitol building. Our goal is to bring the Women’s March on Washington to Boise to provide Idaho women with an opportunity to participate and be heard. HEAR OUR VOICE!

Agenda:
10:00- Event start/Opening statement (Idaho State Capitol)
10:30- March Start
11:00- March End
11:10- Speakers Start
12:00- Closing/Music (Boise City Hall)

The Women’s March on Idaho has adopted the Women’s National March on Washington purpose statement below:

WOMEN’S MARCH ON WASHINGTON- JANUARY 21st, 2017
OFFICIAL STATEMENT, National Organizers:

On January 21, 2017 we will unite in Washington, DC for the Women?s March on Washington. We stand together in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families — recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.

The rhetoric of the past election cycle has insulted, demonized, and threatened many of us–women, immigrants of all statuses, those with diverse religious faiths particularly Muslim, people who identify as LGBTQIA, Native and Indigenous people, Black and Brown people, people with disabilities, the economically impoverished and survivors of sexual assault. We are confronted with the question of how to move forward in the face of national and international concern and fear.

In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore. The Women?s March on Washington will send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.

We support the advocacy and resistance movements that reflect our multiple and intersecting identities. We call on all defenders of human rights to join us. This march is the first step towards unifying our communities, grounded in new relationships, to create change from the grassroots level up. We will not rest until women have parity and equity at all levels of leadership in society. We work peacefully while recognizing there is no true peace without justice and equity for all. HEAR OUR VOICE.

McCall Poster Sessions for March On Idaho

Thursday and Friday: Jan. 19-20, 5-7 pm

Mccall Super 8, 303 S. 3rd Street, McCall

This is an opportunity to meet each other, make posters, arrange carpools, etc for the People for Unity March on the Idaho State Capitol on January 21. Bring your extra poster making supplies, slogan ideas, and happy vibes to the conference room at Super 8. Don’t necessarily have to be a Democrat to participate, just have to be a supporter of inclusion, tolerance, diversity, justice, etc. Now more than ever let’s focus on the values we share. SANDEE DINGMAN

Local Health Care Professionals Stand Up Against Obamacare Repeal in Star News Editorial and Idaho Statesman Guest Editorial 

STAR NEWS, MCCALL, IDAHO
OPINION?THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2016

Revised for Idaho Statesmen
Health-care repeal would turn back the clock
BY Bill Thomas, LCSW, Edith Welty, M.D. and Thomas Welty, M.D.
If the Affordable Care Act (ACA)-Obamacare, is repealed this January by Congress, over 30 million people will lose health insurance. People right here in Valley County who get coverage from the Idaho Health Exchange could within a year have no health insurance.
Those who promote repeal of the ACA have had seven years to come up with a replacement plan, but they have no plan, just slogans.
Prior to the ACA, the private health care market was in a death spiral. Rates were going through the roof and fewer and fewer people were able to get private individual plans. If you had a pre-existing condition, you were denied insurance or were charged rates that were unaffordable.
Passage of Affordable Care Act did the following:
Reduced by 32% the uninsured rate in Idaho from 2008 to 2015 .
Guaranteed benefits – like maternity care, prescription drugs, and mental health care . Removed higher premiums for women based solely on gender.
Protected 129 million people with pre-existing conditions like cancer, asthma, and diabetes from being denied coverage or charged higher premiums
Saved millions of dollars by providing no-cost preventive services like cancer screening and vaccines.
Removed lifetime caps on benefits for 105 million people.
Brought the uninsured back into the doctor?s office and away from costly hospital emergency departments. Enabled doctors to provide outpatient care before illness became an emergency.
Enrolled 100,000 Idahoans in the Idaho Health Exchange in 2015. Over 70 percent got subsidies to reduce their monthly premium payments. (However, those with income below 100 percent of poverty are not eligible for subsidies because the Idaho Legislature refused to implement Medicaid expansion, creating a gap in coverage for low income people.)
Made family planning services available for free, reducing unattended pregnancies and pregnancy complications.

The ACA is based on three basic principles, like a 3-legged stool.
Individual Mandate: Everyone must have insurance. You can not wait until you are sick to get insurance. Over 20 states prior to the ACA tried to set up a health exchange without an individual mandate, and the premiums in this ?high risk pool? rose dramatically, because only sick people enrolled.
Premium subsidies based on income. If you take away the subsidies, many will be unable to afford health insurance.
People with pre-existing conditions are not charged more for their health insurance.
If you remove any one of these three legs, the stool will fall. If you set a grace period of a few years for repeal, the exchanges will crash long before the actual deadline. Insurance companies will start pulling out of the market. Millions will lose coverage.
Why should I support Obamacare, if I have employer-based or other private insurance? An increase in the numbers of uninsured will increase the costs to hospitals, and unpaid bills will be passed on to the insured customers. We are all in this together.
In spite of the rhetoric about ACA being repealed, we still recommend that individuals who do not have health insurance sign up during the current enrollment period that lasts until Jan. 31, 2017. Go to http://yourhealthidaho.com to sign up. Do your own research. A family of four, two parents in late 30s or early 40s with two children making $50,000 per year can get a good plan for around $315 per month.
With ACA, countless people have benefited by getting needed surgery they had put off and getting outpatient care for their diabetes, heart disease, or mental health issues, instead of getting so ill they require hospitalization.
If you have seen the benefits of the ACA in your own life, call Senator Crapo at (208) 224-6142, Senator Risch at (208) 224-2752, and let them know your experience, and ask them not to let Congress repeal the Affordable Care Act without first having a comparable replacement.

(Bill Thomas, LCSW, Clinical Social Worker, Edith Welty, MD, and Thomas Welty, MD, live in McCall.)