Helping women's health advocates get a seat at the state health reform table: Lessons learned from New York State

Raising Women's Voices for the Health Care We Need (RWV) is a national collaboration working to engage a broad array of reproductive health and justice advocates in local, state and national health reform discussions. A central strategy of RWV is helping women's health advocates form effective partnerships with consumer health organizations working in support of quality, affordable health care for all. The MergerWatch Project, one of the founding RWV coordinators, has put this into practice in New York, joining the steering committee of Health Care for All New York (HCFANY). Through its work with HCFANY, MergerWatch is developing and testing strategies for effective participation by women's health advocates in progressive state health reform coalitions. Building on the lessons learned from its work in NY, RWV is extending the model throughout the country by (1) linking women's health advocates in states with existing or emerging progressive coalitions that are advocating for health reform policies at the state level; (2) supporting these formative partnerships by coaching the women's health advocates in how best to join and work effectively in state health reform coalitions, and providing any background information they need to be up-to-speed on health reform concepts, terminology and strategies; and (3) developing and sharing effective strategies for ensuring that reproductive health care is included in health care reform at the state level without unnecessarily generating controversy that could jeopardize the health reform effort.