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Grassroots Advocacy
April 18, 2019
Categories: Breast Cancer, Custom Breast Prosthesis, Essential News
Updated 7/6/22 Grassroots advocacy is a term that is thrown around in politics, but what is it really? It is the process of communicating with the general public and asking them to contact their local, state or federal officials regarding a certain issue. Elected officials’ purpose should be to represent the views of their constituents. But how do they know what their constituents want unless their constituents speak out? We know that every woman who experiences a
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EW on the Hill April 2-4
April 4, 2019
Categories: Custom Breast Prosthesis, Essential News, Legislative, Let Her Decide
This week, Nikki Jensen and Tom Powers flew to Washington, D.C. to visit 33 offices to advocate for the Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act and to ask for legislators to sign on to support the legislation. This visit is the first since S. 562 and H.R. 1370 were introduced in March. Keeping our legislation in front of key committee members is incredibly important. Meeting with their staff allows us to explain the issue and let them know that constituents in their districts are asking for
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Support Custom Breast Prosthesis Legislation by Joining the Let Her Decide Movement
March 8, 2019
Categories: Breast Cancer, Custom Breast Prosthesis, Essential Advantage, Essential News, Let Her Decide, Social Media
Essentially Women has been working for the past year to have custom breast prosthesis covered by Medicare. Custom Breast Prosthesis legislation is about making sure women have ALL of the choices available to them, whether it be reconstruction, off the shelf breast prosthesis, custom breast prosthesis or to go flat. A little history on the Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act The Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act was originally introduced in 2011, during the 112th Congress by Senator
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Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act bill re-introduced in Congress
March 1, 2019
Categories: Breast Cancer, Custom Breast Prosthesis, Essential News, Let Her Decide
Waterloo, Iowa – March 1, 2019 – Representatives on both sides of the aisle re-introduced the Breast Cancer Patient Equity Act bill that, if passed, will expand Medicare coverage to include custom breast prosthesis as an option for women recovering from mastectomy surgery. The bipartisan bills S. 562 and H.R. 1370 were co-sponsored by Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Lisa Murkowsi (R-AK) in the Senate, along with Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA) and Jackie Walorski (R-IN) in the
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Make Me Whole Again Advocacy: One person does make a difference
November 12, 2018
Categories: Essential News, Legislative
Last week, I had the opportunity to participate in some advocacy training; I learned a lot! (And, that might be the biggest understatement of the year!) The recurring theme of this workshop was "One person can make a difference!" And, that is so true, especially with the Make Me Whole Again campaign. So far, we have 625 letters sent to members of Congress; we have reached 146 lawmakers across 45 states. Thus far, we have three officially signed onto H.R. 6980. All three of these lawmakers signed
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Make Me Whole Again Advocacy: Back to the basics
November 5, 2018
Categories: Legislative
11/5/2018 We have had another great week of advocacy for the Make Me Whole Again campaign, to date we have 606 letters set to Congress. If you watched The Steele Report with Nikki Jensen (VGM - Essentially Women), Jill Roberts (NuCara - New Image Boutique) and Julie Gleason (Unity Point Cancer Center) you know that our window of opportunity of getting this bill passed is very small; so your advocacy efforts - whether they are big or small - are greatly appreciated! One
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Make Me Whole Again Advocacy: Inviting friends to follow
October 29, 2018
Categories: Essential News, Legislative
In just over a month, over 500 letters have been sent to Congress asking for their support of the Make Me Whole Again Campaign; this is great progress. We officially have 3 members of Congress signed onto H.R. 6980; and many more ready! Today, where we need your support is getting the word out across the nation. I have a simple and easy task for you to help make this happen if you are a Facebook user. Go to https://www.facebook.com/MakeMeWholeAgain Click "Invite Friends" In the
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Make Me Whole Again Advocacy: Update
October 22, 2018
Categories: Essential News, Legislative
10/22/2018 The Make Me Whole Again campaign had another great week, as of this morning, there are 512 letters sent to members of Congress and over the weekend, we received the official announcement that Rep. Steve King (R - IA) has signed onto H.R. 6980. Through conversations we have learned that there are many congressmen who are interested in signing the bill; they just need the extra nudge/reminder to do so. That is where you come in! This week I am asking that you contact
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Make Me Whole Again Advocacy: Press Release
October 15, 2018
Categories: Legislative
10/15/18 The Make Me Whole Again campaign has grown quite the following over the last week; I attribute much of that success to "word of mouth." As of this morning, we had 440 emails sent to Congress, which is 357 more than last week at this time! Continue to tell all your patients, friends, family members and acquaintances about the campaign. Hand them your phone or device pre-loaded to the campaign's "Take Action" center where they can send a pre-written letter to their member of Congress. Another
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Make Me Whole Again Advocacy: Easy Daily Engagements
October 8, 2018
Categories: Essential News
10/8/2018 Last week a bill was introduced to the House of Representatives that would allow coverage for Custom Breast Prosthesis from Medicare. This bill has the opportunity to change lives for women across the nation - that is HUGE! So, where do you come in? Now that we have a bill introduced, we need to activate our advocates. Essentially Women members have been e-mailed a toolkit, this toolkit was created to help make advocating for this legislation easier. There is a lot of information