URGENT LYME GROUPS: THANK YOU!

Our Lyme language is missing in proposed Senate Legislation!

The Lyme Disease Association, Inc. (LDA) has formulated a letter in support of S-1503 (Blumenthal) to be sent to US Senate HELP Committee Chair & Ranking Member to seek consideration of the bill. LDA urges groups who support the position taken by the LDA to sign onto the letter. Time is of the essence, see History and Why Action Needed below.+

What To Do: Please post and/or distribute this information widely to groups by providing link to LDA website www.LymeDiseaseAssociation.org. Only one Lyme group leader authorized by the group can sign onto the letter and must provide valid contact information. All groups welcome to sign on, including healthcare providers if authorized to do so by their practice. No single individuals, sorry.

READ LDA SIGNON LETTER HERE  (Letter with final signatures sent)

Let Your Lyme Voice Be Heard!   Signon deadline: March 2, 2016

Group Leaders Sign Below to Support S-1503
All fields below are required,* but the letter will contain only name of group, state, and contact name/title, and may contain your email as we think necessary.

‡Group leader title such as: President, Chair, Moderator, Founder, Leader, Facilitator, Director, Administrator, etc.
Healthcare providers must indicate credentials and specialty in title section

History: The “21st Century Cures Act”, HR 6, passed the US House of Representatives and included the Lyme text from HR 789 (Gibson-NY). HR 6 was sent to the Senate for consideration. LDA supports the Lyme language in the “Cures Act.” However, the Senate does not plan to act on HR 6 but is developing its own legislation, which we understand, does NOT contain any Lyme language. We need to ensure that there is a viable bill in the Senate which contains acceptable Lyme language.

Why Action Needed: As the Senate considers its “Cures Act” substitute without any Lyme language included, we need to take action to get HELP Committee action on S-1503 (Blumenthal-CT), a bill introduced in the Senate, June 2015. The Senate might seek to incorporate Lyme language found in a bill like S-1503 that has sufficient Senate support into its “Cure Act” substitute. The Senate could also move S-1503 on its own (a standalone). S-1503 already has a related House bill (identified as such by the Congressional Record Service, CRS) introduced February 2015, HR 665 (C.Smith-NJ).

Bill Details: See information on bills mentioned above
Senate Bill Text S-1503 Blumenthal
House Bill Text HR-665 C. Smith
21st Century Cures Act, HR 6, Information