232214 We sparked a movement, now let's sustain it: Lessons learned and strategies for the future

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 : 11:10 AM - 11:30 AM

Byllye Avery , Avery Institute for Social Change, Provincetown, MA
Every successful movement needs to reflect on the lessons learned to improve its work going forward. Many women's health activists have difficulty perceiving our work for health care reform as successful, since the limitations of the bill that passed are so obvious. However, the successful establishment of the right of poor adults to health care is cause for celebration. The new rules allowing all able-bodied adults to qualify for Medicaid regardless of which state they live in overturn 40 years of racially-motivated discrimination by many state governments. This accomplishment is just one of the important advances we accomplished through successful advocacy. What lessons did we learn about how our strategies and tactics worked? How should we apply these lessons to the work going forward? The speaker will examine the various tactics used by the Raising Women's Voices campaign, explain how the tactics flowed from women's health movement emphasis on listening to women, and discuss how to apply these tactics as health reform moves to the states. When do we use insider strategies? When do we work within state health reform coalitions? When do we raise our voices as women?

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Diversity and culture
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Identify which states will be required to change Medicaid eligibility to begin covering single adults as a result of health care reform.

Keywords: Women, Access to Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a co-founder of Raising Women's Voices for the Health Care We Need. I have developed strategies to bring women's concerns to policy makers, and have conducted analyses to assess how well proposals meet the needs of women and their families.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.