| The latest news from and for state health care advocates |
November 2010 |
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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
Wyoming advocates talked reform on the radio.
Campaign for Better Health Care organized a community forum at the University of Illinois at Chicago focusing on how the Latino community benefits from the Affordable Care Act.
Jon Gould, deputy director of Children’s Alliance in Washington, reframed election results as he looked ahead to state budget cuts for programs such as CHIP on Inside Olympia.
In partnership, numerous groups in New Jersey came together to agree on 12 principles that the state should consider when creating Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).
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States in Focus
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Coalitions should look for many diverse allies to partner with during health reform implementation. These allies provide a varied expertise and abilities that can assist in helping defend and promote the Affordable Care Act.
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The Health Law Advocates of Louisiana Hit the Ground Running
The Affordable Care Act will encounter challenges on many fronts: implementation, funding, and even litigation. To face these battles, state advocacy networks will need to be stronger than ever—and in Louisiana, a new organization is helping to build that strength.
Health Law Advocates of Louisiana (HLA/LA) is the newest member of a relatively young advocacy community in the state. HLA/LA partners with grassroots organizations, such as the Louisiana Consumer Healthcare Coalition (LCHC), to advance the statewide movement for universal health care access. According to Jauna Crear, executive director of HLA/LA, the organization was established in February 2010 by a group of Louisiana health care access advocates led by the founder of Health Law of Advocates of Massachusetts, Stephen Rosenfeld, and the executive director or the Louisiana Consumer Healthcare Coalition, Moriba Karamoko. After an expedition to Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Rosenfeld saw the many issues facing the people living there, including limited access to health coverage. He saw an opportunity to help Louisianans gain that coverage through policy and legal advocacy and community organization.
This vision led to the creation of Health Law Advocates of Louisiana, an organization that provides free legal assistance to eligible Louisiana families. Many Louisianans have difficulty cutting through the legal, administrative, and financial barriers that stand in the way of obtaining health care treatment, and HLA/LA strives to alleviate these barriers. HLA/LA clientele includes children, the elderly, working families, and individuals with chronic conditions and disabilities.
Although Jauna is just getting her feet wet as executive director, she is excited about the impact that her organization can have in her community. In addition to winning legal victories for health care consumers, Health Law Advocates of Louisiana has made a splash in the advocacy community in the state. HLA/LA plays a unique role because it can interact directly with consumers to educate them about their rights and the new benefits of the health reform law. The organization also has the opportunity to address specific problems that consumers may face getting health care services in the system.
As attacks on the Affordable Care Act escalate, diverse and strong coalitions will be essential to securing full and effective implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The energy, new ideas, and ability to reach new consumers and fight for health care justice will be valuable assets that HLA/LA can bring to the table during implementation in Louisiana.
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Engaging the grassroots on issue-based campaigns can be a difficult task, especially over a long period of time. To do it well can be very time consuming and labor intensive. With implementation issues that sometimes seem all-consuming, organizing conference calls can be a good way to keep grassroots activists engaged and to lay a foundation for an educated and committed grassroots base.
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Pennsylvania Advocates Use Conference Calls as an Organizing Tactic
In the year leading up to the signing of the Affordable Care Act, there was a wave of activism across the country. To show support for the bill, people attended town halls, wrote letters to the editor, shared their story in the media, and lobbied members of congress—all of which created a movement to pass health reform. However, it’s been difficult to sustain grassroots involvement throughout implementation for a variety of reasons. And because most of the implementation work falls to states, sparse resources have made prioritizing policy and organizing objectives that much harder. The Pennsylvania Health Access Network (PHAN) has found that organizing weekly conference calls to educate consumers and ally organizations on the benefits of the law is a successful way to engage the grassroots.
In the past eight months, the PHAN leadership team, which is composed of eight state groups, such as the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center, Pennsylvania Health Law Project, and Consumer Health Coalition, has organized nearly 20 calls on a variety of topics, (link to pdf) including Health Care 101 featuring Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz and Rural America and Health Reform featuring Jon Bailey from the Center for Rural Affairs. Project Director of PHAN, Antoinette Kraus, said, “These calls have been covered by the press, helped grow our coalition tables, and provided an invaluable means to educate a broad spectrum of participants across the whole state.”
By coordinating the conference call series, the leadership team is able to reach a larger list and share the work load, which leaves more time for each participating organization to accomplish other work. Antoinette added, “To keep the grassroots engaged between calls, PHAN also encourages activists to lead community forums on the new law, submit letters to the editor using a letter writing tool through DemocracyInAction, and share their personal story. This video is an excellent example: Georgeanne Kohler shares how the Affordable Care Act would have helped her brother who passed away in 2009.
Keeping the grassroots engaged is tough work, but when done right it can have big pay off. The organizing work PHAN is doing not only helps advocates fight back on attacks, but also strengthens the call for good implementation policy decisions at the state level.
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By taking the time and energy to formalize a process to create the new coalition, Michigan groups have been able to work together, bring in new partners, and generate excitement and enthusiasm for an entirely new avenue to influence ACA implementation. They hope this new coalition will be able to move the dial on public opinion and make health care policy decisions more consumer friendly.
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Groups Come Together to Raise the Consumer Voice in Michigan
In April 2010, just after the Affordable Care Act passed, several Michigan groups organized a meeting of advocates, legislators, media, and consumers to discuss the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for its implementation in Michigan. The meeting was enormously successful and left groups feeling energized about the need to do this work in Michigan. At the same time, it quickly became clear that there was a need for a strong, organized, consumer input to really tackle these challenges for successful state implementation.
After the large meeting, the Michigan League for Human Services and about eight or nine other key organizations came together to exchange ideas about how to fill this need. Out of those discussions, a new coalition called the Michigan Consumers for Healthcare Advocacy (MCHA) was formed. The purpose of the new group is to provide a consumer voice in all aspects of implementation of the Affordable Care Act, emphasizing public education and involvement in policy decisions. With an early donation of $10,000 from a private foundation and strong commitment from a core group of partners, the group hit the ground running.
Over the last five months, they have expanded their coalition to include more than 50 groups, produced a concept paper, and formalized their plan to engage diverse consumer constituencies, allied stakeholders, and everyday, average consumers in Affordable Care Act implementation. The group meets monthly to talk about new strategies and created three work groups covering policy issues, education, and grassroots involvement. These work groups have been meeting regularly to develop their own set of activities and plans to tackle upcoming implementation issues.
The coalition currently is seeking initial funding for a project director as well as regional organizers to staff the project. But in an effort to keep new partners engaged prior to receiving formal funding for the project, they have made a strong effort to make the formation of the coalition a transparent process. Jan Hudson, senior policy analyst with the Michigan League for Human Services, has been coordinating this effort and says that posting notes for every meeting and making sure all the partners are in the loop on key decisions has allowed the coalition to remain very engaged and active. Jan also emphasized that because they have had such a formalized, structured process with clear goals, MCHA has attracted new partners including the American Cancer Society, the faith community, and county health plans.
As the groups work to get full funding for this project, Jan says they are hopeful about their prospects with a variety of in-state funding sources. And in the meantime, the group is moving forward—after all, implementation decisions are being made now!
Beat of the Month
As you read the Beat, enjoy Daylight by Matt & Kim.
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Thanksgiving is a time when families and friends come together to eat and be thankful. As we all know, it is also a time for friendly conversation and sometimes... politics! Use this guide to talk about the Affordable Care Act around the Thanksgiving dinner table, and make sure your family and friends know the facts!
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New Resources from Families USA and Stand Up for Health Care
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