| The latest news from and for state health care advocates |
October 2009 |
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In This Issue:
Buzz around the States
Rhode Island holds a “No More Tricks” costumed march and rally for health care!
Texas Impact hosts Advocacy Camp 2009 to teach people of faith how to engage in the public policy process.
Connecticut Citizen’s Action Group rallied with Senator Dodd and President Obama for health reform on Friday, October 23.
Pennsylvania advocates say: It’s Time to Read the Bill! All across the state, day-long readings of H.R. 3200 have been attracting a lot of attention.
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States in Focus
Coalition Work Pays off Big for Missouri on National Day of Action
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Working in a coalition can come with its challenges, but it often enhances events by increasing turnout and hype. It’s also helpful to join work going on at the national level—national-local partnerships can attract even more people and press to your events. |
On October 20, national groups banded together to tell Congress that the time has come to deliver on health care reform. But the success of the day is also due to the work of state groups who were excited to get involved. In Missouri, the statewide coalition jumped right in to complement and strengthen national efforts.
“Missouri advocates wanted to add their own action component to the national call-in day,” said Missouri Jobs with Justice Organizer, Amy Smoucha. The groups decided to organize people in the community to get the word out that October 20 was a national day of action for health care reform. Their rush hour “Honk for Health Care” visibility events successfully earned media attention and generated calls to Congress. According to Amy, the events were a simple and great way to mobilize people.
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Residents of Missouri were flooded with the health action message. People received emails and phone calls asking them to call Congress, they passed groups crowded at intersections during rush hour, and they saw a variety of news sources covering the massive day of action. The combined efforts of the groups turned out over 250 people at 10 intersections across the state. The large activist turnout in conjunction with the national focus on a day of action attracted a lot of press to the events, both from TV and print outlets.
Amy boasts that this day of action was a great example of the value of coalition-based activities. The coalition included a broad range of Missouri groups, from religious organizations to unions and policy groups. This strategy contributed to the great turnout at intersections and generated a buzz for health care across the state. Missouri’s hard work contributed to the broader national effort which generated over 300,000 calls into Congress in one day, a truly tremendous accomplishment.
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The passage of health reform is closer than ever, and women stand to benefit greatly. Women, especially mothers, have always played a large role in the personal and political landscape of health care. National and state groups recognize the unique role women play in the fight for health care reform by bringing the health care leaders of the home to the forefront of advocacy efforts. |
Organizing Reform’s Best Advocates: Women
As our mothers and grandmothers, nurses and midwives, women are society’s primary care givers, and right now, health insurers routinely discriminate against them. Women are most likely to make household health care decisions and are generally supportive of reform. In fact, they have been and continue to be some of the most vocal activists. It’s crucial to continue educating women about the real benefits they will gain under reform to further broaden the support from this powerful demographic. The passage of health reform could finally put women on equal ground in the health care system.
Several national and state groups have already successfully taken advantage of this organizing opportunity in their campaigns. The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) just recently launched a campaign, Being a Woman is Not a Pre-Existing Condition, that focuses on the inequities women face in health care. For example, women have continuously been denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions as routine as a cesarean section or, shockingly, rape. NWLC calls on women to demand an end to gender-based insurance company discrimination, and to demand affordable, comprehensive benefits, including reproductive health care. It’s time for women to stand up against this injustice and not tolerate it any longer.
Washington Community Action Network also centered a large-scale event around women earlier this year. A coalition of more than 190 groups organized a march for health care with the theme Mothers Leading the Way on Health Reform, in Seattle in late May. More than 500 mothers led more than 5,000 people in the massive march down the streets of downtown Seattle. The utilization of mothers as leaders of the march highlighted the importance of health care legislation for Seattle families. Mothers are powerful voices in the home and in the community—their participation led to the broad support and huge success of the event. Go here to watch a video of the march: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zJVOHmvMsw.
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Although many groups in Georgia worked on health care, they acknowledged the need to develop a new organization in the state that would provide a different type of health care advocacy. Although the new group comes at the tail end of reform, they stand to play a key role in advancing health care in the state. And it was the advocacy community that called for the group to play that role. Passing health reform is the first step in a long process, and now Georgia is equipped to take advantage of reform. |
New Group Launches in Georgia to Unify Health Advocates
About a year ago, on the edge of a full-fledged health care debate in Washington, the advocacy community in Georgia realized something was missing. At the state capitol there was a multitude of groups working on health care—a kids group, a disabilities group, disease groups, a tax group, etc.—but there was no broad consumer advocacy group centered solely on health care issues with grassroots power. Out of this need, came Georgians for a Healthy Future. Cindy Zeldin, the Executive Director, credits the creation of the new group to a great collaboration. She points to her board as representative of this collaboration—it consists of people from the groups mentioned above that work on health care but have other policy priorities as well.
Georgians for a Healthy Future launched officially on October 22 at the statehouse in Atlanta. The organization’s mission reflects its origin: to build and mobilize a unified voice, vision and leadership to achieve a healthy future for all Georgians. Because the group is just getting off the ground towards the end of the health reform fight, they are focused more on the work that will need to be done in January and beyond. With these goals in mind, their first issue brief, Coverage, Access, Affordability, and Quality: With National Health Reform at Hand, Where Does Georgia Stand?, is timely and lays the groundwork for the finale of health reform and the start of implementation in Georgia. With health reform on the cusp of passage at the national level, Cindy’s group will seek to build continued support for the bills in Georgia and make sure their state can make the most of reform. With Georgians for a Healthy Future in place, the advocacy community in Georgia is ready for the next stage of health care reform: Implementation.
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With the holidays approaching and the health care debate coming near its end, health reform will surely be a hot topic at dinner tables and gatherings. It is so important for supporters of reform to speak to friends and neighbors about the benefits of reform. Families USA has recently launched a Neighbor to Neighbor Campaign complete with tools for people to talk to family and friends about health reform. Check them out here. | |
New Resources from Families USA
What would you like to see in the State Health Beat? Contact Lydia Gottesfeld to share your thoughts and opinions.
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