| The latest news from and for state health care advocates |
May 2012
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In each edition, we'll feature an action, victory, campaign, or interesting tactic shared by a state advocate. Send us your updates. |
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In This Issue:
Buzz around the States
Georgians for a Healthy Future played a critical role in a coalition effort to ensure passage of HB 1166. As a result of the law’s passage, child-only health insurance plans will once again be available in Georgia. These plans are for children who do not qualify for Peachcare or Medicaid and cannot get health insurance any other way.
Advocates at Colorado Consumer Health Initiative worked closely with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy and the Colorado Hospital Association to advocate for passage of the Hospital Payment Assistance Program, legislation that was recently signed by Governor Hickenlooper. The law requires hospitals to provide information about discount programs and charity care to consumers and to offer reasonable payment plans before sending low-income, uninsured Coloradans to collections.
The hard work of Minnesota advocates paid off when Governor Dayton recently vetoed the Unified Trust Account Bill, which, if enacted, would have created “a multi-layered and complex system” that weakened consumer protections and handed power over to health insurance corporations.
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States in Focus
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When reaching out to the small business community, rely on your relationships with local organizations that are trusted by small business owners. Also consider using online tools and traditional media to reach the broader business community.
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Florida Advocates Successfully Engage the Small Business Community
Small business owners not only make strong allies during the ongoing battle to implement the nuts and bolts of the Affordable Care Act, but they are also invaluable spokespersons for the law. However, it can be very difficult for advocates to cultivate relationships with small business owners because they are often strapped for time and leery of becoming involved with polarizing issues. In the past several months, advocates at Florida CHAIN have made great headway in their efforts to reach and engage this community around the historic benefits of the Affordable Care Act.
A key component of Florida CHAIN’s outreach strategy was partnering with community organizations that were already trusted by and connected to small business owners. For example, Florida CHAIN hosted several events about the health care law with local chambers of commerce throughout the state. One such forum, co-hosted with Hispanic Health Initiatives, Inc., and the Orlando Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, captured the attention of more than 50 small business owners in the Latino community.
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Florida CHAIN also used both online tools and traditional media to successfully engage the small business community. For instance, last month, Florida CHAIN released a video highlighting how the Dale Marby Animal Hospital in Tampa benefits from the Affordable Care Act’s small business tax credit. The video was viewed by more than 10,000 Twitter followers, and the story was published in the Tampa Bay Times.
In the coming months, Florida CHAIN plans to build on recent successes with the small business community by focusing on developing small business leaders into spokespeople for the law. In addition, they plan to use their outreach strategy to identify more small business owners who benefit from the law.
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An effective strategy for generating media coverage of a newly released report is to partner with other interested organizations to expand your reach. In addition to being a great opportunity to work with other organizations, such partnerships can often lead to significant media coverage that would be difficult to achieve on one’s own.
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Illinois Advocates Use Report to Draw Attention to Budget Crisis
Last month, Campaign for Better Health Care co-released a report with Families USA to draw attention to the potential impact of proposed Medicaid cuts on the state’s economy. The report highlights how Governor Quinn’s proposed $2.7 billion in Medicaid cuts—an 18 percent reduction—would put more than 25,000 jobs in danger and potentially cost the state more than $3 billion in lost business activity.
Campaign for Better Health Care partnered with the Illinois Hospital Association, a strong coalition partner, to push out the report to the media and a large network of partner organizations. As a result, the report garnered phenomenal media coverage with a total of 75 articles published in news sources across the nation. Campaign for Better Health Care also worked with the Associated Press to print a story the morning the report was released. After learning about the severity of the issue at hand, many members of the community contacted their legislators to voice their opposition to the proposed budget cuts.
The release of the report happened to coincide with an advocacy day that Campaign for Better Health Care organized in advance. They planned for a faith caucus to trek down to the state’s capitol to talk to legislators about the exchange and proposed cuts. Since the report had just been released, this was the perfect opportunity to share the data and key findings with legislators. Campaign for Better Health Care used the data and findings to create talking points, fact sheets, and other materials for members of the faith caucus to use while speaking with legislators. As a result, members were able to advocate effectively about the importance of protecting Medicaid from budget cuts.
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Advocates in Ohio have prioritized health equity by hiring a new health equity director and developing a statewide leadership group to focus on this issue. As a result, they are promoting health equity more effectively in their Affordable Care Act implementation work, which is strengthening their overall work and efforts to promote equality of opportunity and access to health care for all.
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Ohio Advocates Keep Disparities Issues on the Front Burner
The Universal Health Care Action Network of Ohio (UHCAN Ohio) has made a significant commitment to strengthening its impact on health equity through its advocacy work. Last year, UHCAN Ohio hired a health equity director and, under her guidance, began to assemble the UHCAN Ohio Health Equity Committee, a statewide working group composed of community, faith-based, and public health organizations, among other health equity leaders. The main goals of this committee are to 1) advocate around key Affordable Care Act implementation issues that hold the greatest potential to address health disparities and 2) develop strategies to build the capacity of organizations representing communities of color to address health disparities through implementation.
UHCAN Ohio invited organizations to join the committee and offered in-depth trainings on the Affordable Care Act in return for a commitment to attend monthly committee meetings. In January 2012, the committee—comprising organizations that were hand-picked because of their close work with racial and ethnic communities—convened for its first of four meetings thus far. Working together, the 26 member-groups created a position paper outlining the health equity issues they aim to address through their Affordable Care Act implementation work.
The committee is advocating for increased funding for consumer assistance programs and for community health workers to play a strong role in those programs. A state representative has asked the committee to submit language around this issue for the state’s exchange bill. While the fight for health equity is not over, the committee’s dedication to the issue is already yielding tremendous results.
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Beat of the Month
Gear up for the first day of summer by listening to Summer of ‘69 by Bryan Adams.
Advocate Tip:
Check out a New Report on the Impact of Children’s Health Care Advocacy!
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Mathematica Policy Research recently released new findings on the impact of children’s health care coverage advocacy in the states. Click here to read the report and enhance your advocacy efforts!
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New Resources from Families USA and Stand Up for Health Carey
Take me to back issues of the Beat!
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