The Texas Homecare & Hospice Political Action Committee (PAC) held its first event of the year last week with the Burgess for Congress campaign. We coordinated our efforts with the TAHC&H March on Washington so that advocates and PAC members who traveled to our nation's capital could hit the campaign trail while in Washington, DC. The lunch was held on March 9, our first day of March on Washington, at the Capitol Hill Club.
| Home care advocates with Dr. Michael Burgess at our recent Burgess for Congress event. |
At the lunch, Dr. Burgess (R-Lewisville) was able to share his vision for health care and TAHC&H members were able to engage him in a group question and answer. We spoke about including home care in the health care continuum, Medicaid/Medicare stances of other prominent leaders, and his ideas for improving health care delivery.
Although the PAC does not endorse candidates, the PAC Council does decide when we support candidates and at what amount. Dr. Burgess was chosen with attention to his long history of supporting home care and his influence over health policy. He was recently appointed as Chairman of the Energy & Commerce Health Subcommittee.
Campaign involvement at events like these are critical to the TAHC&H advocacy program. It allows us the important opportunity to engage with lawmakers face to face for a more extended amount of time. Home care is constantly competing with other interests for the attention of legislators. Campaign events are one more way to grow our relationships and elevate home care & hospice priorities as election issues.
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It may seem like the most recent election just happened but, believe it or not, Members of Congress are already back out on the campaign trail. Estimates put the cost of a competitive Congressional race at $1.6 million dollars according to the non profit group Maplight. This level of fundraising means most legislators hold almost weekly campaign events and employ full time campaign managers.
Want to support our PAC? Go to www.tahch.org/pac. Gifts or contributions are not tax deductible.