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Hello, [representative’s name]!
My name is [your name], and I’m a constituent from [city, state name] whose life is impacted by macular degeneration. I’m calling to ask for your attention to this growing epidemic and its impact on the daily lives of your constituents, like me.
I’ll keep it brief.
The American Macular Degeneration Foundation (AMDF) will be in DC on February 24 for Access in Sight Day. In partnership with the National Alliance for Eye and Vision Research (NAEVR), there will be a Macular Degeneration Congressional Briefing at noon in Rayburn Room 2043.
I request that at least one member of your staff attend the Congressional Briefing to get up to date on the state of macular degeneration in the U.S. Your office’s attendance will be recognized and shared with the AMD community via AMDF’s website.
Further actions I respectfully request of you as a member of Congress are:
- Fund the National Eye Institute for Fiscal Year 2025 at $896.5 Million (the same as FY2024) to preserve and accelerate the development of new treatments.
- Reverse the 2008 statute that limits Medicare coverage for low vision assistive devices and rehabilitation services, to improve productivity and quality of life for millions of Americans.
- Support the nation’s Vision and Eye Health Surveillance System with support of $10 million through the CDC for Fiscal Years 2025 and 2026, to sufficiently gauge and conduct community-based programs that preserve the sight of Americans.
- Join the bipartisan Congressional Vision Caucus, whose members are dedicated to strengthening and stimulating a national dialogue around policies related to vision loss, blindness, and visual impairments or disabilities.
- Maintain the National Eye Institute as a dedicated institute within the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and insist that any discussions of NIH restructuring include appropriate stakeholder input.
If you are not in support of any of these asks, can you tell me why, and what other plans you will be supporting to ensure that vision research, care, and services continue to keep pace with the growth of vision loss (in large part due to an aging population) in the U.S.?
Thank you so much for your time and hard work [representative’s name].