June 10, 2009
Dear Partners,
As national health reform moves forward, we want to make sure you are kept up to date on the latest developments. We recently added NEACH partners to the general Community Catalyst health reform email list, in order for you to gain insights about broad national health reform issues. You should already be receiving these email alerts, and we hope they have been useful to you. As a reminder, Community Catalyst is NEACH's parent organization and I am a member of Community Catalyst's national health reform team. Please know that Community Catalyst is consistently looking at the national health reform debate with NEACH's views and priorities in mind.
NEACH will also continue to send out our own alerts on health reform, specifically focusing on children's health care issues. In this alert, we include a document outlining NEACH's proposed health reform priorities that we ask for your comments on and details on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee health reform bill that was released yesterday.
NEACH HEALTH REFORM PRIORITIES
In our May 13th alert, we noted that the Senate Finance Committee's paper on health coverage included some policy options related to children's health. However, neither this paper nor the health reform debate in general references children and their unique health care needs as much as we would like. NEACH is hoping to draw increased attention to children's issues in national health reform. We convened a small group of partners to write and review a document that highlights three main priority areas: Medicaid, medical homes, and the Family Opportunity Act. Please click here to read this document.
I traveled to Washington this past Monday to meet with Senate HELP Committee Members from outside New England and was able to touch upon some of the priorities in this paper. We would like to partner with all of you to review this document and then distribute it to the New England Delegation. We would very much appreciate your feedback on these priorities.
Action Step
Please review NEACH's health reform priorities below and email Maia Fedyszyn (mfedyszyn@communitycatalyst.org) with comments or suggested changes by Monday, June 15th.
SENATE HELP COMMITTEE HEALTH REFORM BILL
On Tuesday, June 9th the Senate HELP Committee released its health reform bill entitled "Affordable Health Choices Act". For more information about the 615-page bill and its timeline, please review the press release from the Committee. In the coming week, Community Catalyst will produce a bill summary and comments on the bill's contents and NEACH will work with other national children's groups to identify and respond to the bill's provisions that affect children. Look for alerts from Community Catalyst and NEACH on these topics in the near future.
We also wanted to let you know that three New England Senators on the HELP Committee-Senators Chris Dodd (D - CT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D - RI), and Bernie Sanders (I - VT)-have co-sponsored a Resolution (S.Res.170) that calls for health care reform to benefit all children and specifically protect Medicaid coverage for the most vulnerable children. Senate Resolution 170, sponsored by Senator Bob Casey (D - PA), states that the Medicaid program should be strengthened in health care reform legislation and that low-income children should not be moved into a health care exchange system that could disrupt and diminish their benefits and access to care.
Action Step
For CT, RI, and VT partners, please call Senators Dodd, Whitehouse, and Sanders and thank them for supporting children in health care reform by co-sponsoring Senate Resolution 170.
For MA, ME, and NH partners, please ask call your Senators and ask them to sign on to Resolution 170.
Click here for contact information for the New England Delegation.
HOUSE BILL AND SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE BILL
We know that the House health reform bill and the Senate Finance Committee's bill are scheduled to come out next week. Stay tuned for more information from us.
Thank you for your continued advocacy of children's health care issues. As always, please feel free to contact me (617-275-2929, arosenthal@communitycatalyst.org) directly with questions.
Sincerely,
Amy Rosenthal
Project Director
