Advocacy is a very important thing when you have chronic disease.  Due to my RA, I support the Arthritis Foundation's (AF) work in getting the Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act passed. The AF says this:

Your opinion is important and matters to your Members of Congress.  Please take a moment out of your busy schedule to help your Senators and U.S. Representatives understand how arthritis affects you in your daily life and ask them to cosponsor the Arthritis Prevention, Control & Cure Act if they haven't already.  Let them know how this legislation will improve the lives of the 46 millions of Americans living with arthritis.

In light of that, I've added these links to help people do that.  I ask that you do take time to contact your elected officials and ask them to support this.  If they already support it, thank them.  The AF's website on Advocacy has many suggestions for getting involved. 

Some quick statistics on arthritis from the CDC:

Quick Stats on Arthritis

Prevalence

• 46.4 million adults in the United States have doctor-diagnosed arthritis (just over 1 in 5 adults). Read more.
   

• The percentage of adults with arthritis ranges from 22% in Hawaii to 35% in West Virginia. State median is 27% in 2005. View the prevalence data for each state—list of states—clickable map.
   

• Arthritis affects all race and ethnic groups: 37.2 million white adults, 4.6 million black adults, 3.1 million Hispanic adults, and 1.6 million adults of other races have arthritis. Read more.
   

• The risk of arthritis increases with age and is more common among women than men. Read more.

Impact

• Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in the United States. Read more. Nearly 19 million adults say that arthritis limits their usual activities in some way. Read more.
   

• 8.2 million working aged U.S. adults (about 1 in 20) report work limitations due to arthritis or joint symptoms. Read more.
   

• Blacks with arthritis have more activity limitation than whites. Blacks and Hispanics with arthritis have more work limitation and severe joint pain from arthritis than whites. Read more.

Costs

• In 2003, the total cost attributed to arthritis and other rheumatic conditions in the United States was 128 billion dollars, up from 86.2 billion dollars in 1997. ($80.8 billion in medical care expenditures and $47 billion in earnings losses). Read more.
   

• Medical expenditures (direct costs) for arthritis and other rheumatic conditions in 2003 were 80.8 billion dollars, up from 51.1 billion in 1997. Read more.
   

• Earnings losses (indirect costs) for arthritis and other rheumatic conditions in 2003 were 47 billion dollars, up from 35.1 billion in 1997. Read more.
   

• States ranged from $121 million in Wyoming to $8.4 billion in California. Read more.

Interventions

• Effective strategies exist to reduce the impact of arthritis. Read more.

Please do take time to support the AF's mission. For those of us with arthritis, it could mean the difference in marginal treatment vs. great treatment.  

Contact Congress

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