INDIANA SENATOR EVAN BAYH

[GitOverIt]

He did his homework it sounds like

April 18, 2005



Ms. Sally Evans
Crown Point, Indiana 46307-9700

Dear Ms. Evans:

Thank you for contacting me regarding psoriasis and psoriatic
arthritis funding. I understand your concerns, as these conditions affect the
lives of Americans of all ages.

According to the National Arthritis Action Plan, lead by the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Arthritis Foundation, and
state health departments, one million new patients develop arthritis each
year. Nearly 8.4 million young adults between the ages of 18 and 44 have
arthritis, and it is estimated that by the year 2020, 60 million people will
have arthritis. An additional 4.5 million adults suffer from psoriasis,
another immune-mediated disorder, approximately 23 percent of whom
develop psoriatic arthritis. The state of Indiana is among the highest third
of states reporting cases of arthritis.

You will be pleased to know that I voted with my colleagues to
increase funding for the National Institute of Health in Fiscal Year 2004
(FY 2004) by $1 billion over the FY 2003 level, for a total of almost $28
billion, as part of the appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor and
Health and Human Services. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of
2005, which passed the Senate and House of Representatives on November
20, 2004 and was signed into law by the President on December 8, 2004,
provides $28.6 billion in funding to NIH for FY 2005, $515 million of
which is to be set aside for the National Institute of Arthritis and
Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases. This financial support is essential to
advancing and utilizing scientific knowledge in order to better the health
and improve quality of life for all Americans. Please be assured that as the
appropriation process continues for this year, I will keep your views in
mind.

Thank you for contacting me. I hope the information I have
provided is helpful. My website, http://bayh.senate.gov, can provide
additional details about legislation and state projects, and you can also
sign-up to receive my monthly e-newsletter, The Bayh Bulletin, by clicking
on the link at the top of my homepage. I value your input and hope you
will continue to keep me informed of the issues important to you.


Best wishes,





Evan Bayh
United States Senator

EB/ DM

Sincerely,

Evan Bayh

[jgirl]

Sally...when are they gonna give you your wings and halo already :p

[SandraJean]

Sally,

That is a great letter you received!! Thanks for sharing it with us.

Sandy

[wackydog]

It seems SOMEONE is listening - and Mr. Bayh just gained a couple more "approval points" in my book! Thanks for sharing this good news.

[Nanicker]

I wish I could vote for him! I didn't get anything back from my Missouri guys. Like I said, they are too busy trashing everything in this state to care about a little "rash"

Go Senator Bayh!! Woohoo!!

Nancy

[TerpRubin]

Sally:

1. That's great that you got that response! Absolutely wonderful!

2. You do realize that the man probably didn't write it himself, right? ;) But it does mean that SOMEONE in his office is paying attention, so we've certainly got hope! Great job!

Josh

[GitOverIt]

Yes, josh I figured DM (or someone) was the researcher....but what the heck even lawyers have researchers one person can't do everything......
At least he voted "for us" ;)

[misales]

Good job Sally, you've got good people and a good state down there in Indiana.

[K9pal]

I wrote to him too, but I didn't get a reply (yet)!! :(
Oh well, at least you did and it was a GOOD one. That's what counts!!

[meghan_72]

Congratulations!!

I'm curious to know what you wrote to him. It obviously was a very powerful letter to receive such a detailed response! Any chance you could share your letter?

Also, just as important did he vote for the Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act 2005? ;)

[GitOverIt]

I sent the letter posted on this web site's home page plus I added my own 2 cents....I also sent more letters from this site I'm posting

http://www.psorcurenow.org/
and day before yesterday I received this from Michael Paranzino
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Friend:



Tomorrow, the psoriasis community will have a rare and wonderful opportunity, and I wanted our supporters to be the first to hear about it. Also, I urge you to take action in the three ways described below.



I have been invited to testify tomorrow before the powerful House Appropriations Subcommittee that is currently writing next year’s $29 BILLION budget for federally-funded medical research at the National Institutes of Health. I am going to look these Members of Congress in the eyes and try to convey to them the profound impact psoriasis has on so many lives, and why we need psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis research funding dramatically increased from the tiny sums that have been invested in it over the last 10 years. (I’m also going to alert them to the fact that many insurers are denying patients access to needed treatments.) All I can say is I will do my best to deliver for our community.



This is a coup for the psoriasis community—every year, hundreds of groups battle for the opportunity to testify, since these are the most powerful lawmakers in the House when it comes to medical research funding. Tomorrow, in many cases for the first time ever, these key lawmakers (and the powerful Subcommittee staffers who help write the funding bill) will hear about psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. To make the most of this, I need your help in 3 ways:



1—Send me an email **ASAP** to michael@psorcurenow.org and tell me in one to five sentences what you most want to tell Congress about this disease. I will read everyone’s thoughts and do my best to incorporate them into my Congressional testimony.



2—If you have been waiting to see if Psoriasis Cure Now is "for real," it is time to get off the fence. If you have not already done so, please make a secure, tax deductible contribution right now to help us expand our work. What would we do with your contribution? Every health reporter in America, and every Congressional office, should get a copy of the first Congressional testimony about psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in years—but to reach them all using specialty wire services would cost about $900. Please contribute $10, $25, $100 or $900 right now so we can continue to deliver our message to these key decision-makers, as we will be doing tomorrow with our testimony. This link will get you to our secure contribution center: http://www.psorcurenow.org/contribute.php Thanks!



3—Check out our “Latest News” page Wednesday for an update on how the Hearing went. We will also post our testimony there. In fact, you may want to check out this page at least once a week for the latest news of interest to the psoriasis community: http://www.psorcurenow.org/latestnews.php



When we launched this organization on January 26, 2005, we promised to be your voice in our Nation’s Capital, fighting tenaciously for the 6.5 million Americans with psoriasis and/or psoriatic arthritis, and their families. Yet even we never expected to be testifying before Congress just 12 weeks later!



But this is just the beginning. Please spread the word about our group, and get your friends and family to join us in this important work. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.



And keep your fingers crossed that words don’t fail me tomorrow!



Sincerely,





Michael Paranzino

Psoriasis Cure Now

michael@psorcurenow.org

(301) 571-2393


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