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  • Because of the perspectives you selected, below are some optional questions to consider addressing to strengthen your letter to editor.

    • What is your business?
    • When and why did you start it?
    • How many employees do you have?
    • What lessons from being a small business owner shape why you care about this issue?
    • How is your business, or you as a business owner, or you as a member of the community impacted by the issue you are writing about?
    • How does your perspective of a business owner shape your feelings about this issue?
    • Can you give a specific example about why this issue is important to you?
  • What branch of the military did you or your family member serve?
    How long? What was your rank/position and what is the right way to refer to you now? Retired? Veteran?
    Why did you decide to join the military? What influenced your decision?
  • What grade do you teach?
    What do you teach?
    What got you into teaching? What influenced your decision to start teaching? Why do you stay?
  • Where are you a student?
    What are you studying?
    When do you hope to graduate?
    Do you have student loans?
    What made you decide on your major? or if you aren't in college yet, what do you hope to be your major?
  • What drives your faith?
    How long have you been a person of faith and what keeps you a person of faith?
    How does your faith influence the issue you are writing about?
  • What type of law enforcement or part of 1st responder are you?
    How long have you been doing it?
    What influenced your decision to become a 1st responder or local law enforcement?
    How does your job as a first responder or local enforcement person influence your position on this issue?
  • What is your role in the medical profession?
    How long have you been a medical professional?
    What influenced your decision to become a medical professional?
    How does your job as a medical professional influenced the issue you're writing about?
    Can you give a specific example?
  • How old were you when you first started hunting/fishing?
    What got you into it? What was it like when you first started?
    How does your perspective of a sportsmen influence the issue you're writing about?
    Can you give a specific example?
  • How long have you had a relationship with the issue you are writing about?
    As a senior, how has this issue influenced you the most?
    How does your perspective of a senior influence the issue you're writing about?
    Can you give a specific example?
  • As a woman, how have you been influenced by this issue?
    Can you give a specific example?
  • When did you know you wanted to come to America? What led you to that decision?
    Can you give a specific example?
  • TIPS FOR GREAT LETTERS TO EDITOR

    • Make it personal, like sharing how you or someone you know has been impacted.
    • Talk about the values behind your motivations to support .
    • Address the elected official directly with the action you want them to take.
  • Message Points

  • Great News: Signing Up for a HealthCare.gov Plan Just Got More Affordable in Tennessee
    Most people qualify for financial help and 88% can find a plan for under $75

    On November 1, the Affordable Care Act marketplaces open for business across the country. The most important thing people need to know is that coverage is affordable and according to the latest analysis from Health and Human Services, people can find even more affordable plans this year than in years past.

    That’s right. This year 88% of Tennesseans can find a plan for under $75 each month because of the financial assistance that is available that lowers someone’s monthly premiums. Last year, 81% of people in Tennessee were able to find a plan for less than $75 each month.

    What does this mean? There are plans at HealthCare.gov this year that are more affordable than ever before. In fact, health experts at Oliver Wyman found that plans with premiums that are zero dollars each month “are more prevalent now than they were”.

    Cheaper plans are available because of Trump’s decision to stop making cost sharing reduction payments which raised costs for certain plans but because of how the ACA marketplaces are structured people’s tax credits to lower their costs will increase dramatically. While the headlines of rate increases have caused a lot of anxiety for people, the facts are that most people will be able to find even more affordable plans.

    Here are the key topline data points from the HHS report:

    • People will pay less for coverage this year than ever before. 88% of people in Tennessee who look for plans at HealthCare.gov will be able to find plans for less than $75 each month. (page 37)

    • Tax credits protect people from rate increases. A 27-year-old earning $25,000 a year will get a monthly tax credit of $472 each month, a 92% increase, from $245 each month. This increase is because tax credits are set against the second lowest cost silver plan and because of Trump’s decision to stop making cost sharing reduction payments the rates for these plans have increased which means tax credits have too. (page 31)
  • Less than a year ago, agencies worked together to complete a thorough evaluation, which consisted of thousands of man-hours of research and analysis, evidence gathering for more than a year, an extensive comment period in which all stakeholders, including the auto industry, were deeply involved and to which the EPA responded. Based on this
    extensive scientific record and stakeholder involvement, EPA made the decision to keep the standards – as they are – out to 2025.

    A rollback of the clean cars standards would take America backwards, endangering public health, forcing Americans to spend thousands of dollars more on gas (instead of on their families) and putting jobs at risk.

    • By 2025, vehicle efficiency and clean car standards are expected to (all numbers are total benefits from
      2012-2025):
    • Nearly double vehicle efficiency;
    • Save 6 billion metric tons of dangerous tail-pipe pollution;
    • Save America 12 billion barrels of oil;
    • Save individual consumers $1,460 to $1,620 in fuel costs by the time the standards are fully
      implemented; and
    • Save Americans $67 billion to $122 billion over the lifetime of vehicles when the standards are
      fully implemented.

    Reversing vehicle efficiency and clean car standards will cost lives Americans deserve clean air and clean water. Rolling back vehicle efficiency and clean car standards will only increase pollution and trigger negative public health impacts like asthma attacks and heart attacks due to impacts from climate change.

    • Weakening standards to cut tailpipe carbon pollution will further contribute to climate change, which can worsen asthma symptoms for the 24 million Americans – including 6.3 million children – who suffer from asthma.

    Rolling back clean cars standards would cost families real money 
    Rolling back vehicle efficiency and clean car standards is a hidden tax on families – literally making everything they do more expensive.

    • The vast majority of Americans support making cars and trucks run on less gas because it saves
      them money. This matters the most to low and middle-income Americans who are hurting the
      most – because gas is a growing share of their household expenses.
    • Lower-to- middle income households ($30,000 or less) report spending up to 10 percent of their
      income on gasoline. The average household spends about $1,500 a year on gasoline. When the
      price of gas spikes, that figure multiplies. In 2025, consumers would save between $3,200 and
      $5,700 over the life of a new car.
    • Existing clean cars standards ensure that Americans who need bigger vehicles for family or work
      have fuel-efficient choices. New truck buyers will save, on average, about $4,800 to $8,200 over
      the lifetime of a new 2025 truck. If corporate lobbyists succeed in rolling back these standards,
      those choices will disappear, and the Americans who need the savings the most will be hurt.
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