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Read MoreJoin our team
Legal Council for Health Justice has several employment opportunities available, including Staff Attorney for Medicaid Advocacy and two AmeriCorps VISTA positions. Visit our careers page to learn more.
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Read MoreMoving 2017
Legal Council for Health Justice has moved its office as of Feb. 3, 2017. Please find us in our new home at: 17 N. State Street, Suite 900 Chicago, IL...
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Read MoreWe Will Fight
Dear friend, Our supporters make all the difference in the lives of the Council’s clients. We value our clients, and we value you. This letter is more than an appeal, it’s a call to action! For all our progress over the years—and there is no way to sugar coat this—we are suddenly entering into a dark, uncertain time that will have a negative impact on our clients, as well as millions of Illinoisans. So right now I’m asking for your support—donate, volunteer, speak up—in order to protect the most vulnerable among us. Your support allows the Council to help those who are often least able to help themselves. Because of you, a record number of individuals this past year received free, expert legal help from the Council. Our work has led to major successes, including significantly expanding access to life-saving healthcare and guaranteeing legal protections from discrimination. But we know that the next president and many in Congress wish to repeal the Affordable Care Act, slash funding for social services for the poor, and chip away at civil rights for scores of Americans. These cuts will have devastating consequences for the Legal Council’s clients, so will you stand with us as we fight on behalf of those in need? With the looming cuts and challenges, our services will be in demand more than ever before. To help us continue making a difference in the lives of those who are least able to help themselves, please make a year-end gift of $25, $50, $100, $250 or more. Some additional highlights that are possible because of your support: Our HIV program staff successfully negotiated with the Illinois Department of Public Health to prevent the termination of life-saving insurance premium assistance to HIV-positive individuals. We greatly expanded services to people at risk for HIV seeking access to PrEP, a medication regimen that is highly effective in reducing infection rates. Nationally, 70% of disability benefit claims are denied, while our homeless program has a 90% client success rate. I am so grateful for your support. Without you, we wouldn’t be able to help the nearly 2,000 clients whom the Council will assist this year. No matter what, the Council will continue to stand firm, fight, and never give up. Thank you in advance for your gift. Onward and upward, Tom Yates, Executive Director P.S. If you prefer, call 312-427-8990 to make your gift. Please also volunteer and speak up against bigotry and...
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Read MoreJustin’s 25 for 25
June 1, 2016 Dear Friends, Family, and Colleagues: In my first week at AIDS Legal Council, almost exactly 25 years ago, I took two calls back to back. First, a successful LaSalle Street banker told me that after his landlord found out he had HIV, the locks on his apartment were changed, his possessions thrown in the alley, his car tires slashed. Reeling from that conversation, I took a second call. A man needed a simple will to ensure his meager possessions would go to his niece, the only family member who still spoke to him after he was diagnosed with HIV. This second case seemed comparatively easy, until he handed the phone to his nurse – it turned out the man was hospitalized – who explained in hushed tones that her patient wouldn’t last the night. Within minutes I found an attorney at a big law firm who promised to “wipe the floor with that rental agency” (she did, and charged nothing, like so many attorneys over the years). Then the legal director and I jumped on the train to see our hospitalized client. He’d been a day laborer all his adult life. Now he was exhausted and emaciated – there was almost nothing left of him. We completed his will, and as we were leaving he said to me, “I think that’s the only thing in my life I ever finished.” That was a typical day in the early years of AIDS Legal Council. The mistreatment of people with HIV was rampant, pernicious, and widespread. In addition to daily indignities, people with HIV faced extremely uncertain futures. Our clients and colleagues died with numbing regularity. Today, as I’m about to celebrate 25 years as a legal advocate with the Council – July 1 is the official anniversary date – the outlook for most people with HIV is very different. Someone diagnosed with HIV can now reasonably expect a normal lifespan. This sea change is due not only to advances in medicine but, just as importantly, advances in social service advocacy. It’s taken an army of lawyers, paralegals, social workers, case managers, peer educators, activists, and advocates to stabilize the lives of people with HIV, especially when those lives are hobbled by generational poverty, mental illness, and governmental neglect. Without a stable life, you can’t make regular doctor appointments, adhere to a complicated pharmaceutical regimen, or access the medical care that can save your life. Once upon a...
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Thank your local congressperson - Legal Council for Health Justice
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Nine hardworking Congresspeople sent a letter demanding answers to charges of discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS by insurance plans. The letter was signed by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL), Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL), Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Rep. Mike Quigle...
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