U.S. government leaders have taken steps to dismantle the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (typically shorthanded as the Affordable Care Act, ACA, or “Obamacare”), and now the International Game Developers Association Boad is exhorting devs in the U.S. to contact their Congressional representatives and express their thoughts on the matter.
This is notable for game makers because many devs (especially indies, a few of whom recently shared their stories with Waypoint) depend in some way on the ACA for their healthcare, and would potentially see their career and way of life affected negatively if the Act were weakened or repealed.
Now, the IGDA is saying that some form of reliably available healthcare is vital not only to individual devs, but to the industry at large.
“We believe that universally available healthcare is not only critical for the well-being of individual game developers, but also for the overall creative health of our industry,” reads an excerpt of the IGDA Board of Directors’ message. “The IGDA will continue to closely monitor how this issue evolves.”
The IGDA is directing anyone interested in contacting their Congressional representatives to the Common Cause organization’s “Find Your Elected Officials” tool, which helps U.S. citizens figure out who their elected representatives are and how to get in touch with them.