You may want to print this out and edit to your liking, including adding a bit of your personal story about how macular degeneration affects you.
If you have to leave a message, be sure to include your full name and zip code. This allows the staff to verify you are a constituent in their district so that your call is logged.
To find the phone numbers for your representatives, click here.
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 2075.
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 2027 at $1 Billion, to match growing public health needs. We urge Congressional support to increase this funding in the FY27 appropriations requests.
Reject any future proposed consolidation of the National Eye Institute (NEI) by maintaining the NEI as a dedicated institute within NIH in FY27 appropriations.
Support access to low vision assistive devices and services by urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to rescind the Medicare “Low Vision Aid Exclusion” at 42 C.F.R. § 411.15(b).
Protect Vision and Eye Health Funding in FY 2027 by restoring the Vision Health Initiative at the CDC in the FY27 appropriations package to at least its 2025 level.
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.
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].