Local residents will gather for a celebration of the Affordable Care Act’s two-year anniversary and its local impact at 23 house parties and events in 17 cities throughout Wisconsin. (See Calendar of parties) Three Members of Congress (Tammy Baldwin, Ron Kind, and Gwen Moore) will participate in many of these events.  These events are open to the media, upon request.
 
 The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is also known as health reform.
 
WHAT: House parties and local events to celebrate health reform’s local impact and two year anniversary
WHO: Local citizens, Members of Congress, other headline speakers
WHEN: March 19-23, 2012 (Second anniversary week for health care reform)
LOCATIONS (some have multiple events): Appleton; Brookfield; De Pere; Eau Claire; Elkhorn; Germantown; Green Bay; Greendale; Hartford; Holmen; La Crosse; Madison; Milwaukee; Racine; Readfield; St Francis; Waukesha.

Each event will discuss how the Affordable Care Act impacts local residents two years into implementation, and how important the debate over the law is to health security and freedom.
 
For more information contact Kevin Kane, Health Care Organizer, Citizen Action of Wisconsin. (414) 550-8280 kevin.kane@citizenactionwi.org

About the Affordable Care Act
The ACA eliminates discrimination for pre-existing conditions for kids (adults in 2014), eliminates lifetime coverage limits and phases out yearly limits, lets young adults stay on parents’ insurance until age 26, provides small business tax credits to provide health care, requires free preventive care to be provided for people on private insurance and seniors on Medicare, and offers discounts for seniors on the Medicare Part D prescription drug program who hit the “donut hole” coverage gap.
 
It also will set up “competitive healthcare marketplaces” by 2014 – also called exchanges – that will make it easier for citizens to buy private insurance. Similar to purchasing hotel rooms or airline tickets online, by forcing insurance companies to compete, exchanges will drive down costs, guarantee choice, and put us in control.
 
More about the law can be found at www.healthcare.gov. More about its impact in Wisconsin can be found at www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/03/04/new-data-affordable-care-act-your-state.