On Fri Feb 8 12:39:59 2002 wrote:
>
> wrote:
>
> > I wish we could get as much
> > energy worked up over the number of children without health insurance.
>
> Amen. We have much bigger fish to fry, but no one seems willing to get near
> the kitchen.
Allow me to give you a tour of the kitchen:
Once again, I'll put in a pitch for the AAP. First off, they have
an office in Washington DC staffed with full time lobbyists that
are continually meeting with our representatives to Congress in an
effort to shape legislation so that it is child friendly. They
have been hard at work lobbying to push through various health
insurance proposals for children. Over the past five years, they
have succeeded in changing the Medicaid program so that children
who live in families which are slightly about the poverty level
still qualify for coverage. As many of you know, this does not
always work on a state level due to lack of funding and thus really
poor reimbursements to the physicians. And, the most recent budget
proposals that I've seen cut out a lot of the federal funding in
the future. If you are ever in the DC area, the Washington DC
office of the AAP will be more than happy to arrange for you to
meet with congressmen to talk about issues that are important to
pediatricians. They also would appreciate members help in letter
writing/email campaigns.
The AAP also has lobbying efforts organized on a state level. In
addition, they support grass roots campaigns. For the past five or
six years, our booth at the AAP show has been right across the
aisle from the folks who are in charge of these efforts. They can
offer you media kits which include sample letters to the editor, as
well as op ed pieces that can revise for your own local papers.
They have video tapes you can show to concerned parents; they have
slide shows you can give at schools and to larger groups such as
your local Rotary or Elks Club. The support covers a wide range of
issues from health insurance for children to guns and violence.
The lobbying folks are constantly looking for pediatricians to get
involved. While I don't remember the exact statistics, I do
remember that it was an embarassingly small number of pediatricians
that are involved in these rather important projects.
I feel like I'm turning into a one person advertisement for the AAP...
John