Workshops I
11:00am-12:30pm

Children's Health: What's Next for SCHIP?
How will SCHIP fare in the second Bush Administration? This workshop will provide an update on the status of federal SCHIP funding and state enrollment policies. We will also gaze into our crystal ball and look at early forecasts for reauthorization.  

Taking Big Pharma to Court: Using Lawsuits to Stop Rx Price Gouging
Learn how advocates can use litigation to strengthen their organizing, expose the tactics of the drug industry, get money back to consumers who've been ripped off, change drug industry behavior, and garner public support for real policy reform. Come find out how to join this important front in the battle for affordable and accessible drugs.

Low-Income Medicare Beneficiaries and the Part D Benefit: If You Build It, Will They Come?
Implementing the low-income provisions of the new Medicare drug benefit will be one of the major challenges of the coming year. The limited success of the Medicare drug discount card program previews some of the problems that lie ahead. Come find out what we can do at the national, state, and local levels to make the new program work.

What's Wrong with the Right's Agenda? AHPs, Interstate Insurance, HSA's, and Individual Tax Credits
These proposals -- the centerpieces of President Bush's plan to reduce the number of uninsured Americans -- get a lot of press attention and look reasonable at first glance. This workshop will examine why these proposals not only won't help low-income people afford insurance but may actually harm people who now have coverage.

Talking with Senate Staff
This session will give participants an overview of the upcoming Senate legislative year and what advocates should expect from the Senate.

Media Training 101
Talking to the media and doing it well require practice and skill. Learn the basics of how to talk to reporters and get your message across in our hands-on interactive session.

Leveraging the Power of Online Political Citizens in Health Care Advocacy
"Influentials" are people who are considered opinion leaders in their community. A disproportionate share of people who are politically active online are also influentials. This workshop will explore how health care adocates can tap into those influentials and leverage their power for the benefit of their own advocacy efforts.

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Workshops II
4:00-5:30pm

The Medicaid Fight Ahead - Onward into the Fog
Our community faces an uphill struggle to save the Medicaid program from federal budget cuts and caps. One of our biggest challenges is how to talk about Medicaid to the public and policy makers. This workshop will offer a roundtable discussion of messages and tactics we all can use to win the fight to save Medicaid in 2005. Bring examples of your own to share!

Immigrant Health Successes and Challenges: Ask the Experts
During 2004, several attempts to further restrict immigrants' access to health care were beaten back, but many barriers remain in place. This workshop will provide an overview of federal developments over the past year and look ahead to the issues likely to arise during 2005. We will then discuss what state and local advocates can do to improve health care access for immigrants in their region.

Using Cost Effectiveness Information to Benefit Consumers and Reduce Drug Spending
Given the high cost of prescription drugs, efforts to contain spending must be factored into coverage expansions. However, drug industry marketing fuels a demand for the highest-cost therapies, and too often, payers' cost containment is conducted without regard to medications' overall effectiveness. This session will explore another approach to containing drug costs and educating consumers to be better informed partners in prescribing decisions.

Building Momentum for Universal Coverage
This workshop will describe state efforts to build public support for health insurance coverage expansion initiatives that are significant steps toward universal coverage. The road may be long, but the engine is on—thanks to strategic thinking and perseverance by advocates.

Talking with House Staff
This session will give participants an overview of the upcoming House legislative year and what advocates should expect from the House of Representatives.

Drowning in Medical Debt: Can We Turn the Tide?
Concerned about the growth in medical debt? This workshop is for you. Hear from a consumer advocacy group that has built a national reputation by exposing medical debt problems. Find out why the class action lawyer who took on big tobacco is now suing your local nonprofit hospital. Explore the opportunity to use medical debt as a wedge issue in health reform discussions in 2005.

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Workshops III
10:45am-12:15pm

When Good Waivers Go Bad: What Can State Advocates Do?
Medicaid 1115 waivers, once used to expand coverage, are now being championed in several states as a way to cut and cap entire state Medicaid programs. What can we do to stop it? Advocates from Tennessee, New Hampshire, and Florida will tell us what is being proposed in their state and what advocates are doing about it.

Language Access and Cultural Competency: Can We Close the Gap?
Health care consumers with limited English proficiency continue to encounter language barriers and culturally inappropriate care, resulting in worse health outcomes and exacerbated health care disparities. This workshop will discuss promising advocacy strategies to improve access to linguistically and culturally appropriate health services.

Formularies: Navigating Mazes to Get the Drugs You Need
Drug plans use formularies and benefit structures to lower drug costs; they can also use them to "cherry pick" and discriminate against high-cost patients. Under the new Medicare drug program, plans can vary benefits and covered drugs. There are serious concerns about access barriers that plans' drug lists and benefit structures will present, particularly for low-income patients and those with special medication needs. This workshop talks about formularies in Medicare and lessons from states' experiences with formularies in Medicaid.

Expanding Employer-Based Coverage: Lessons from California's Prop 72
California advocates came startlingly close to winning a major expansion of health coverage for workers (49.2 percent in a ballot initiative), despite $18 billion in scare tactics funded by Wal-Mart and McDonalds. Learn the lessons (and pitfalls) of messaging for a majority as advocates in California and other states renew this fight. Join us to watch the ads (including the return of Harry and Louise!), hear the war stories from those inside the campaign, and learn from a prominent pollster who tracked the results.

Health Care Is a Progressive Moral Value
This workshop is designed to help participants frame health care as a progressive moral value and to communicate the need for reaching out to and organizing within faith communities for health care justice.

Funding Health Care Advocacy: What Role Can Foundations Play?
A conversation with several foundation officers about the roles that foundations are playing and can play in funding health care advocacy. The conversation will include various approaches taken by foundations in supporting advocacy efforts, barriers encountered in supporting advocacy, how advocacy efforts are evaluated, and other topics raised by the attendees.

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Workshops IV
4:00-5:30pm

Case Closed: Threats to Patients' Rights
Managed care is still here, and consumers continue to face problems and are in need of protections. This workshop will discuss recent threats to beneficiary appeal rights in private insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare. It will discuss the practical implications of the recent patients' rights Supreme Court case, Aetna v. Davila,  constitutional challenges to the rights of Medicaid beneficiaries, ongoing monitoring and regulation of health plans, and how consumer health assistance programs can help.

Dual Eligibles: Double Trouble in 2006? (Session is repeated on Saturday morning)
On January 1, 2006, prescription drug coverage for 6.4 million dual eligibles will change from Medicaid to Medicare. Ensuring continuity of care and access to appropriate drugs for beneficiaries is an enormous challenge for state policy makers and advocates. Come find out what you can do to make sure your state is planning the right policies for the transition.

Drug Spending: What Can States Do with Less Bargaining Leverage?
In 2006, with dual eligibles no longer getting prescription drugs through Medicaid, states will have less leverage in price negotiations with drug companies. But they will still need drug price and spending reduction strategies. This workshop looks at things states are doing now and planning to do in the next few years to address rising drug prices and overall spending.

Dare to Get Involved: Taking Action to Improve Minority Health
This workshop will introduce several practical community-based efforts and strategies to improve minority health and expand access to health care among racial and ethnic minorities.    

Creating and Implementing a Fund-Raising Plan
This workshop will provide advice on how to successfully create and implement a diversified fundraising plan for your organization.  Varied, "real-world" strategies, suitable for both smaller and larger consumer health advocacy organizations, will be analyzed and discussed.

Health Insurance in the Age of Wal-Mart and Kelly Services
Employers like Wal-Mart and Kelly Services are creating a race to the bottom by lowering the standard of wages and health coverage for low-wage workers. This workshop will discuss non-standard work trends and employer practices that deny health insurance and provide substandard insurance products to low-wage workers.  We will also discuss Wal-Mart and other companies' reliance on public programs to keep their workforce healthy and productive, and strategies to highlight this issue in efforts to increase access to health coverage for low-wage workers.

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Workshops V
10:45am-12:15pm

Access to Care in Medicaid and SCHIP
Access to care for people enrolled in Medicaid and SCHIP continues to be an issue of great concern to state advocates. This workshop will cover the latest research on access to care in Medicaid managed care in New York City, recent trends in access to dental care nationwide, and other emerging issues in access to care.

State Coverage Expansions - Roundtable Discussion
So many states, so little time! In response to many requests, this workshop will give participants a chance to share information about their state's expansion initiatives and campaigns. You'll have a chance to share experiences in your state and to learn more about expansion strategies in other states. In these dark times, let's focus on some of the bright spots.

Improving Your Web Site
Your Web site is -- or should be -- a key element in "marketing" your organization and reaching your goals. Come hear from the experts, who'll share tips on how you can make sure your site is appealing and easy to use. Plus, find out the pros and cons of "content management systems" for organizations operating on a shoestring.

Dual Eligibles: Double Trouble in 2006? (Repeat of Friday afternoon session)
On January 1, 2006, prescription drug coverage for 6.4 million dual eligibles will change from Medicaid to Medicare. Ensuring continuity of care and access to appropriate drugs for beneficiaries is an enormous challenge for state policy makers and advocates. Come find out what you can do to make sure your state is planning the right policies for the transition.

Why Women Rely on Medicaid - and the Dangers Ahead
This workshop will explore issues around women's access to private employer- sponsored and individual health insurance and the importance of Medicaid to women. The discussion will emphasize recent expansions for women with breast and cervical cancer, as well as state expansions that provide access to family planning services for 2 million women not otherwise eligible for Medicaid. The workshop will also look at the possible impact on women of budget cuts at the state and federal levels.

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