Dear John,
There’s a reason the entire month of October is devoted to raising awareness about domestic violence. Sadly, there’s a tragic lack of awareness in our country about its pervasiveness and disparate impact on women of color.
It’s top of mind for me because I just read our new fact sheet on the importance of paid sick days to survivors of domestic violence. We collaborated on it with our amazing partner, the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence.
Whether we know it or not, most of us know someone experiencing some form of intimate partner violence.
That’s why awareness is so critical.
Domestic violence is a pattern of coercive, controlling and abusive behavior that escalates over a period of time, slowly wearing away at a woman’s dignity, agency and autonomy.
Nearly 1 in 3 women will experience physical violence and nearly half will experience psychological violence by an intimate partner in their lifetimes. Even worse, the majority or near majority of Native women, multi-racial women and Black women will experience physical or psychological violence at some point in their lives.
The unique challenges women of color face as gender and race intersect are often overlooked in domestic violence discourse and programs, despite being more likely than white women to experience intimate partner violence. The reliance on police as protectors and the legal system for justice are prime examples of this.
That’s also why I’ve included several resources below that center women of color. I hope you will check them out and share with your networks. And please continue reading for new updates on the impact your generous support is having on centering women's lives in the political debate and fighting profit-hungry companies to protect patients from surprise medical billing.
As always, I welcome your feedback by simply replying to this email. Thank you!
RELATED RESOURCES:
Centering women’s lives in the political debate.
As a supporter of the National Partnership, I thought you would like to know that we are helping to lead a coalition of major women's community organizations dedicated to centering women's unique challenges and contributions in primary debates and debate coverage.
We're building on compelling research conducted by TIME'S UP Now which found that out of 4,000 questions in 123 primary debates held from 1996–2016, only eight questions directly addressed sexual harassment, child care, equal pay or paid leave.
In an open letter to candidates, moderators and pundits that appeared in The Columbus Dispatch — strategically timed with the CNN/New York Times Democratic presidential debate in Westerville, Ohio on Oct. 15 — we called out the pathetic lack of attention to these critical issues and disregard for the outsized impact they have on the lives of women and girls.
Thanks to supporters like you, the National Partnership will continue pushing all 2020 hopefuls — both those who are crisscrossing the country to campaign as well as the current occupant of the White House — to stop ignoring and start speaking directly to the concerns of women.
What you really need to know about surprise medical billing.
If you watched the recent presidential debates or any of the World Series, chances are you saw political ads claiming to be about protecting patients from surprise medical bills.
To be clear, surprise billing is a serious problem, but the group behind these highly deceptive ads only cares about protecting one thing. Profits.
Surprise billing happens when someone goes to a hospital that's in their insurance network and unknowingly receives treatment from an out-of-network physician or specialist, resulting in surprise medical bills that can amount to hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars. And it happens all too often.
That’s why the National Partnership is a key player in the No Surprises: People Against Unfair Medical Bills campaign and is working with Congress to immediately pass the Lower Health Care Costs Act and No Surprises Act.
These two bills have overwhelming bi-partisan support, but their future is uncertain because private-equity-backed physician staffing firms — whose profits rely on the practice of surprise billing — have come together under the pseudonym Doctor Patient Unity and are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into a deceptive, political pressure campaign aimed at defeating our bills and protecting their profits.
We’re working hard on Capitol Hill to set the record straight on behalf of patients, but we urgently need your help to make sure members of Congress are hearing directly from their constituents.
Please take action to demand your members protect patients from surprise medical bills and stand up to profit-hungry companies! Then encourage your family and friends to join us in this fight by forwarding them this email!
Partner spotlight: #1Thing to end domestic violence.
The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence (NRCDV) is the architect of a powerful domestic violence awareness project called #1Thing — which gets its name because we can all do one thing towards eradicating domestic violence. Before Domestic Violence Awareness Month ends at midnight tonight, show your support for NRCDV and join the #1Thing movement.
Thanks for reading this month’s update! And please follow @NPWF on Twitter to stay connected.
— Debra
Debra Ness
President
|
|
