Dear Partners:
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is now law. Congress' work on health care reform is complete for now, but our work is not finished. Persistent public outreach and education is needed to promote the provisions in the new law that will immediately help people and combat the opposition's messages against reform.
As we've discussed in recent editions of the Insider, some states are battling legislative proposals, legal challenges or constitutional amendments opposing reform. Whether you are facing these attacks in your state or not, one of the best things everyone can do is explain what reform really does and doesn't do. The more the public understands reform, the less they support the opposition's agenda. Reaching out to constituencies that will benefit from early improvements - including seniors, small businesses and children and adults with pre-existing conditions - is a good place to begin.
To help you in this work, Community Catalyst's National Health Reform Team will continue to provide you with resources. We will also continue to share updates from Washington, DC and lessons from the states through email updates and the Health Policy Hub (sign up here).
In order to inform our work and help us develop materials that you find most useful, please fill out our online survey. Your feedback and insights are critical to our planning, and we hope you will take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us.
Here are a number of resources focused on planning for implementation, the current legal challenges to the law, and public education and outreach.
- Building on the Foundation: Consumer Advocacy's Role in Successful Health Care Reform - This report, funded by the Public Welfare Foundation, outlines the substantial efforts on the state and national levels required to implement health care reform, the key role of consumer advocates, and the vital need for funder participation.
- Legal Challenges to Health Care Reform Are Unfounded - This one-pager outlines the reasons the referendums, laws or state constitutional amendments to block national health care reform are without legal merit.
- Health Care Reform Will Secure Coverage and Improve Quality of Care - This summary outlines the many strong provisions in the law that will benefit consumers.
- Quick Wins: Who Will Be Helped Right Away By the New Health Care Reform Law -This document identifies some of the immediate "wins" from health care reform and talks about who will be helped.
- Power Point - This updated PowerPoint presentation clearly demonstrates how the health care reform law will help American families. The presentation can be tailored and used whenever you are conducting public education and outreach.
- Talking Points - These updated talking points are designed to help you talk about national health care reform now that it is law and answer questions about legal issues.
- Letters to the Editor Templates - Letters placed in local community papers continue to be one of the easiest and most effective ways to communicate the benefits of reform. Share these templates to identify supporters who can tailor and submit them around your state. See a great example of the use of letters to the editor from Texas in response to an anti-reform op-ed from Gov. Rick Perry.
We thank you for your continued hard work and advocacy, and we look forward to partnering with you in working for successful implementation of health care reform
Sincerely,
Community Catalyst National Health Reform Team