BLUF  |  Only 3 more days to support Congressman Pallone‘s letter to the Defense Department asking for ANSWERS & ACTION on behalf of Total Forces Japan. 

ASK  |  We want you to send the letter to your representatives so they sign, support, and join the discussion as they consider draftings of the FY2024 NDAA. We pre-wrote your letter and included the email Congressman Pallone sent to his colleagues, asking them to sign and show their support by EOD April 20th. 

ACTION  |  View the letter now: https://resist.bot/petitions/PHQOMN
U.S. Phone:  Text SIGN PHQOMN to 50409
Intl. Phone:  Send message SIGN PHQOMN directly to Resistbot on Facebook

UPDATE  |  Your support has provided unmatched drive to tackle the systemic issues regarding access to reliable, timely medical care faced by warfighters, civilians, and their families who are stationed in Japan.

Since our last update, our community experienced two losses of life here in Japan. We've been marching forward in their memory and in memory of the dozen more we've lost in the last 2 years due to access to timely care. We are determined to inform the public and decision makers that band-aid solutions ignore and often exacerbate the pervasive factors that make up this issue. 

Despite “standard processes" and “working groups," the FACT remains that no single agency, organization, or committee is ready to acknowledge that a majority of our routine-to-trauma care is fully reliant on a foreign country who is struggling with their own healthcare shortages, cultural differences, and vast inability to accept U.S. insurance guarantees.

Congressman Pallone’s letter draws attention to the FACT that active duty members, civilians, and their families are vastly unaware that seeking emergency care while stationed in Japan is a gamble with their lives.

It asks members of Congress to consider the FACT that one’s well-treated common chronic condition can quickly become unmanageable and life-threatening despite exhaustive attempts to secure care. 

That a medical emergency can rob you of your life savings (because your federal employee insurance won’t reimburse you due to the wildly different standards of care). That our readiness is threatened when desperate people pay enormous amounts of money to get their medications. That our children aren’t screened for developmental delays, that they can be ripped away from us at a hospital and admitted, treated, and detained for days without our consent or contact. 

That we should know better before taking the job, that we should consider any ailment (or the development of one) to be a reason not to take a post in Japan. That when addressing talent retainment methods for the civilian component, there is a dead silence when it comes to protecting the health security of those employees when they are supporting the military mission overseas. 

That there’s no one overseeing these tragedies that ruin families and careers. And that without proper consideration of all contributing factors, these inherent challenges will remain unresolved. 

It’s simple… we want Congress to know that we deserve better access to reliable care when stationed abroad in countries that aren't required to provide medical care. It starts with ensuring the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act acknowledges that our MTFs need to allow for Total Force Readiness.

Ask your representatives TODAY to sign Senator Pallone’s letter to address civilian healthcare in Japan! Text SIGN PHQOMN to 50409!

In service,
JCMA