The Cover SC Medicaid Expansion State Coalition has set an Advocacy Call Day on Tuesday, April 21.
The League of Women Voters of South Carolina is a member of this coalition. We are inviting our League members—and all South Carolinians—to call your South Carolna State Representative's office on April 21 and ask them to support commonsense solutions that help working South Carolinians who cannot affort private health insurance but earn too much for assistance.
Take action
On Tuesday, April 21, business hours:
- Choose from the calls script options below. Use the messaging tips for more ideas.
- Call your State Representative. Depending on the time of day of your call, you’ll likely speak with a staff member, so leave a message. Voicemails matter as well.
- Let the CoverSC know you made the call by emailing info [at] coversc.org.
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Spread the word to your coworkers, friends, neighbors, and peers across the state.
We hope to reach each and every SC State Representative on April 21 to make a buzz about the need for affordable healhcare, and we can't do it without your help!
This call should be about work, responsibility, and keeping communities healthy—while avoiding political pitfalls/traps/entanglements, which means not specifically mentioning Medicaid Expansion as it is a trigger for too many legislators.
- Many South Carolinians work full-time, pay taxes, and play by the rules.
- Too many of these workers earn too much to qualify for assistance—but too little to afford insurance.
- Without coverage, they delay, modify, or simply do not get care, which hurts families, employers, and local hospitals, and drives up the long-term cost of healthcare.
- We want the Legislature to address this issue this session.
Call script options
OPTION 1: Working Families Focus
OPTION 2: Workforce & Economy Focus
OPTION 1: Working Families Focus
Hello, my name is ___, and I live in (Town) in Representative (X’s) district. I’m calling to ask Representative (X) to support solutions that help working South Carolinians who fall into the healthcare gap and can’t afford coverage. These are people who work hard, pay taxes, and are doing the right thing—but they have no realistic healthcare options. I hope the Representatibve will work with colleagues to address this issue during the session. I can leave my name and number or you can just pass this along to Representative (X). Thank you.
OPTION 3: Community & Hospitals Focus (maybe focus this script on rural areas?)
OPTION 4: Short Voicemail Version
Messaging tips
- NOTE: Please do not reference CoverSC. We would like you to either reference your own organization or speak as a concerned citizen.
- Don’t use the terms “Medicaid expansion,” “Obamacare,” or bill numbers
- Emphasize working, employed, tax-paying South Carolinians.
- Always be respectful and calm and try to not argue, explain a lot, or debate.
- Thank staffers (by name if possible) for their time
- These staffers hear about bill numbers all day long. Just remember, you are not asking for a specific vote today—just leadership and engagement on a real problem facing working South Carolinians.
- Input personal stories. Examples: talk about the strain on hospitals would be great coming from someone who works at a local hospital…or whose daughter is a nurse there and sees the stress in the ER first hand…or a son that works in construction and can’t afford insurance because he’s single….
Contact Teresa Arnold if you have questions at tcarnold74 [at] gmail.com.
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If you do not follow Cover SC on your social media, you might consider following so that you can be on the lookout through Cover SC's social media. For more information on the issues, please visit this website at www.coversc.org.
