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Dear MOA
Members:
Without your help on the morning of April 25, Optometry's
message will not be heard in the Nation's Capital.
As you know, there are many special interest groups with an
anti-optometry agenda. Although they continue to spend millions
and millions of dollars on their lobbying and their other
attacks against us, the AOA has fought back and won -- for
our profession and our patients.
We're proud of how the AOA stood up to organized medicine,
managed care and insurance companies and the Internet contact
lens sales industry in 2005 and 2006. We want Optometry to
keep fighting and keep winning in Washington, DC, and ensure
that ODs are heard loud and clear on Capitol Hill -- where
more and more decisions that impact what we do are going to
be made.
That's why we're contacting you to urge you to attend an important
Optometry-led event in Washington, DC to be held in conjunction
with the AOA's 2007 Congressional Advocacy Conference. More
than 250 ODs and students will travel from across the country
in late April to participate in and be on the frontlines of
the AOA's fight against discrimination against optometry in
Medicare managed care plans, to prevent a massive 10% cut
in Medicare reimbursement next year and ensure that the AOA
is a force when CMS officials design their "pay for performance"
program. We're also going to push to enact legislation to
provide Federal funding for state children's vision programs,
full inclusion of ODs in key Federal health programs, including
the National Health Service Corps, and to crackdown on the
disgraceful prescription verification abuses of online contact
lens sellers like 1-800 CONTACTS, Inc.
The final session of this three-day meeting will be our rousing
Breakfast with [Optometry's] Champions, featuring pro-optometry
Members of Congress who have been selected to receive the
AOA Health Care Leadership Award. It will be held this year
on Wednesday, April 25, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m., at the J.W.
Marriott Hotel in Washington, DC. It is essential that we
have a packed and enthusiastic house, and are able to show
our appreciation to the leaders in Washington who have stood
with us through the battles of the last year.
Of course, as a doctor of optometry in the national capital
area, you already know that you are serving the eye and vision
care needs of Members of Congress, their aides, Federal government
employees and countless opinion makers on national health
care policy issues. As our battles on Capitol Hill continue,
your help is more critical than ever to AOA's advocacy efforts.
The Breakfast with [Optometry's] Champions is a great way
to learn more about or reconnect with AOA's Federal advocacy
activities. Please join your friend and colleagues on April
25th -- at no charge -- and help us ensure that we are heard
loud and clear when we most need to be. Please contact Tess
Milliorn of the AOA Washington office at (703) 837-1345 /
tmilliorn@aoa.org today to RSVP.
Thank you in advance for your leadership and commitment to
optometry.
Sincerely,
Abie Chadderdon, O.D. and John Breiwa, OD
Co-chairs
2007 Congressional Conference
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Details:
AOA Congressional Advocacy Conference
Breakfast with
[Optometry's] Champions
Wednesday,
April 25th
7 a.m. - 9 a.m.
J.W. Marriott Hotel
1331 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC
RSVP
To:
Tess Milliorn
Phone: 703-837-1345
Fax: 703-739-9497
E-mail: TMilliorn@aoa.org
Sponsored
By:
American
Optometric Association
1505 Prince St
Suite 300
Alexandria, VA 22314
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