Effective Strategies for Educating Public Officials & Advancing Public Policy
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This document outlines strategies for enrollment assisters to advocate for public policy issues. It discusses the importance of advocacy and defines key terms. The document encourages assisters to share consumer stories and experiences with public officials to educate them. It provides guidance on permissible advocacy activities and explains how assisters can comment on proposed rules or share issues with various government agencies. The goal is to empower assisters to make their voices heard in order to advance policies that help consumers.
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Effective Strategies for Educating Public Officials & Advancing Public Policy
- 1. Families USA Enrollment Assister Network | 05.2016 Effective Strategies for Educating Public Officials and Advancing Public Policy
- 2. FamiliesUSA.org Enrollment Private Market Health Systems Transformation Medicaid Health Equity Families USA
- 3. FamiliesUSA.org Agenda What is advocacy? Why is it important? What does Families USA do? What can YOU do? How do you do “it”? Success! Q&A
- 4. FamiliesUSA.org What’s in a Word?
- 6. FamiliesUSA.org 6 Your Voice Matters
- 7. FamiliesUSA.org What is Your Voice in the Process?
- 8. FamiliesUSA.org In 2015, 4,600 assister programs helped 5.9 million consumers Consumers Assisters Public Officials Your Unique Perspective
- 9. FamiliesUSA.org How We Advocate Legislative Meetings on the Hill Testimony Executive Meetings with agencies Commenting on Regulation Judicial Media Public Opinion
- 10. FamiliesUSA.org Policy Priorities Assister funding, training, and resources Improve the Marketplace application and call center Encourage the adoption of streamlined enrollment Medicaid expansion to eliminate coverage gap Coverage affordability Adequate coverage
- 11. FamiliesUSA.org Families USA In-person debriefs Assisters@ FamiliesUSA.org Assister surveys Partner calls We Want to Hear from You!
- 13. FamiliesUSA.org Can Assisters Advocate? • Public Policy = • Advocacy = • Public Education
- 15. FamiliesUSA.org Assisters are Advocates! Nonprofit • Cannot endorse a specific candidate • Limited in ability to promote specific legislation • Focus on the issue Federal funding • Federal restrictions on lobbying • Some advocacy falls within scope of grant duties State regulations • Many states have restrictions on assister activities
- 16. FamiliesUSA.org Conduct public education activities to raise awareness of the availability of qualified health plans Distribute impartial information about enrollment in qualified health plans and the availability of premium tax credits Facilitate enrollment in qualified health plans, Medicaid, & CHIP. Provide referrals to health insurance consumer assistance or ombudsman, or any other appropriate state agencies, for any enrollee with a grievance, complaint, or question regarding their health plan Provide information in a manner that is culturally and linguistically appropriate to the needs of the population served by the Exchange 16 How Many Hats Do You Wear?
- 17. FamiliesUSA.org 17 How Many Hats Do You Wear?
- 18. FamiliesUSA.org Now, it’s Your Turn…
- 19. FamiliesUSA.org Federal State Local How Can You Engage?
- 20. FamiliesUSA.org The Rulemaking Process Agencies issue proposed rule Public comment period Final rule
- 22. FamiliesUSA.org Media State Department of Insurance Medicaid Agency U.S. Department of Health and Human Services State Primary Care Association Insurance Company or MCO State Advocacy Organizations National Advocacy Organizations Elected Officials Who to Engage?
- 23. FamiliesUSA.org HHS Regional Office HRSA Regional Office Consumer Support Group CMS National and Federal Levers
- 24. FamiliesUSA.org State Medicaid Agency State Department of Insurance State Legislators State Marketplace State Levers
- 26. FamiliesUSA.org Public Policy Toolkit Making Your Voice Matter
- 29. FamiliesUSA.org Story Bank Toolkit Creating a plan Building infrastructure Collecting stories Developing stories Disseminating stories
- 30. FamiliesUSA.org But What About PII? Collecting Consumers’ Health Care Stories: What Enrollment Assistance Organizations Need to Know
- 31. FamiliesUSA.org Steps to Get There Identify your issue Pinpoint your audience Develop your message Practice your delivery
- 32. FamiliesUSA.org Complete enrollment assistance, then tell a consumer how they can share their story Make sure consumers know that sharing their story is voluntary Provide consumers with tools to share their story while they are with you in person For Enrollment Assisters
- 33. FamiliesUSA.org Social Media Organizational Blogs Outreach and enrollment events Earned Media Press events Ways to Highlight Stories
- 35. FamiliesUSA.org As an Enrollment Assister, can you...?
- 36. FamiliesUSA.org As an enrollment assister, can you reach out to an elected representative during work hours and tell them to vote a certain way, for a specific bill? No.
- 37. FamiliesUSA.org As an enrollment assister, can you reach out to an elected representative during your own time and tell them to vote a certain way, for a specific bill? Yes.
- 38. FamiliesUSA.org As an enrollment assister, can you reach out to an elected representative and share your experience about your position and discuss the importance of an issue? Yes.
- 39. FamiliesUSA.org Enrollment Assisters are Busy All Year
- 40. FamiliesUSA.org In-person Assistance Resources Use our infographics to facilitate conversations & appointments with consumers. http://familiesusa.org/sites/default/files/product_documents/enrollment/Consumer_Health%20Insurance%20Basics_FACTSHEET_GettingExtra Assistance_070115_web.pdf http://familiesusa.org/product/7-questions-ask-when-buying-or-renewing-health-insurance-marketplace
- 41. FamiliesUSA.org Enrollment Assister Resource Center
- 43. FamiliesUSA.org Webinars: • “Make Your Voice Heard: Enrollment Assisters in Public Policy” • “Follow Up: Increase Your Impact & Keep Them Coming Back” Social Media: • #Enrollment365 to highlight year-round efforts Issue Briefs: • “Public Policy Toolkit for Enrollment Assisters” • “Collecting Consumers’ Health Care Stories: What Enrollment Assistance Organizations Need to Know” Resources
- 44. 1201 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 1100 Washington, DC 20005 main 202-628-3030 / fax 202-347-2417 Questions? Jessica Kendall jkendall@familiesusa.org Liz Hagan ehagan@familiesusa.org Heather Bates hbates@familiesusa.org Sign up for the Enrollment Assister Network: http://familiesusa.org/navigators-and-assisters-resource-center/enrollment- information.html
Editor's Notes
- Families USA has four major health policy areas that we work in that are all viewed from a health equity lens: Enrollment- improving enrollment processes to make it easier to enroll Private Market– which works on improving health coverage within the individual and group market– making sure that health networks are adequate, provider directories are accurate, and many other health insurance issues HST– improve the quality of health care Medicaid– Medicaid expansion and Medicaid defense– protecting Medicaid gains Get enrolled, stay enrolled, have access to quality affordable coverage and ideally have better health
- I want to start off today by going over a couple of housekeeping items Closed to the press– free to ask questions It is recorded and will be posted Listen-only mode– chat box for questions Any questions we don’t get to follow-up We are going to start the webinar by going why eligibility appeals are important to assisters and consumers --- I am going to highlight a recent announcement about post-enrollment Finally, we will end today’s webinar with the a Q&A section
- Image credit: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/We_Can_Do_It%21.jpg Advocacy takes many forms not one size fits all The types of advocacy we engage in at the federal level
- Why is their voice so important?
- Quote credit Margaret Mead: http://www.interculturalstudies.org/Mead/biography.html Brief discussion The activity: Ask everyone to come up with three issues that they see consumers facing in either getting enrolled or in utilizing their coverage Ask them to voice them What is their role in improving them?
- Image: Planned Parenthood is part of the Cover Missouri coalition offering free health insurance enrollment assistance. Credit: Ann Wade - See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2015-11-12/health-issues/planned-parenthood-offers-help-with-aca-enrollment/a48907-1#sthash.LLl0c9SS.dpuf
- Image credit: http://education.mnhs.org/northern-lights/learning-resources/chapter-7-minnesotas-newcomers/branches-federal-government Advocate through the 3 branches of the federal government Legislative branch– meetings on the Hill with key members on important issues Right now, there are several harmful bills to key provisions of the ACA– want to be sure our voice is heard For example, the elimination of repayment caps to reconciliation for low-income Marketplace enrollees Executive branch is been a major source of advocacy because responsible for the implementation of the ACA Regular meetings with CMS, HHS, HRSA Commenting on regulation; agencies are responsible with implementing the law (go over rulemaking process in next slide) Judicial branch: Can’t influence the court directly but use strategies of media and public opinion Example: King vs. Burwell– made sure that people were at the Supreme Court to tell stories of how tax credits impacted their lives; relying on the Marketplace subsidies for coverage All of these kinds of advocacy require PARTNERSHIPS
- What the enrollment team regularly advocates on We shape our policy priorities based on your feedback! Gaps in policy Troubles with implementation What issues are the most pressing First few are ENR, others are areas for FUSA to work on. But we use info from you.
- Assister survey out til april 29—why we did it/ what we will do.
- Less formal opportunities, too Here is recent example
- We use these terms interchangeably.
- But nothing is ever that simple.
- Assisters are advocates but there are some rules that may need to keep in mind when you are doing advocacy efforts… Restrictions on navigator and other federal funds: To expend funds related to any activity designed to influence the enactment of legislation, appropriations, regulation, administrative action, or Executive order proposed or pending before the Congress or any state government, state legislature or local legislature or legislative body Elephant is gif– see in presentation mode
- Here’s what you are SUPPOSED to do, but what if you can’t?
- TRANSITION SENTENCE: LET’S DISCUSS HOW YOU ACTUALLY DO IT NOW THAT WE’VE DISCUSSED THAT IN THEORY YOU CAN DO IT
- The slide depicts the transition of our webinar from talking about Local, issue-based advocacy– advocating on an series of issues State advocacy– coordinated state efforts Federal advocacy
- Thought it might be good to go over the rulemaking process and how they can play a role especially if we are asking for their input for our comments
- Policy advocacy and direct services complement each other (enrollment assisters and us!) Policymakers need to understand how systems impact people in their communities Advocacy can better how things are working on the ground! Direct-service organizations are content experts in the areas of their work Larger social change often needed to fulfill vision of organization How we use feedback from the Assister Inbox to shape our comments
- Do not forget to mention State Based Marketplaces here, even though they do not have a box, they should be mentioned.
- CMS governs the Marketplace Support Group– assister rules HRSA– CACs for health centers HHS
- State Marketplace board members directors and staff
- Want to capture your audience (unlike the photo) Monitoring and enforcement Share best practices File complaints with proper agencies
- Enrollment assisters are advocates– you all advocate for the consumers you serve every day. Enrollment assisters have a wealth of knowledge of the real experiences consumers go through when trying to access health insurance and health care. This knowledge is extremely important in shaping policy to improve our health care system. Already working to inform and educate public officials Outline the basics of the policy process at the state and federal level Who is your audience and how to reach out Although some Public policy toolkit is online and interactive
- Stories are a great way to show the impact of policies Unsure how to start collecting stories from the consumers you help? FUSA has an interactive story banking toolkit to give you the basics of story collection all the way to vetting stories for the media
- Everyone person in this room has a story to share…you just may not know it.
- Takes you step by step through the process
- Don’t worry we have a resource for that too! Brief name above But the important thing to know is that you can collect stories with the right guidelines in place!
- Identify your issue Identify your audience Develop a clear and persuasive message Connect Your Message to Your Audience Using a Local Perspective or a Direct Impact Be Courteous and Respectful in All Communications
- Just a few reminders: Keep this separate from the enrollment process and make it clear that it’s voluntary Make it easy. That’s important for the consumer, and for you. The harder you make it for them, the more time consuming it will be for you, so let’s make it as simple as possible.
- When asking consumers for their consent to share their stories, it’s helpful to know what could happen with them. It doesn’t mean you tell consumers every possible scenario (and many you won’t know) but it is helpful to know that consumer stories can be used in a variety of ways. Facebook, twitter, blogs, updates to board for health centers, embedded in grant applications to highlight your work. In sum: it’s a lot of easier to share consumers stories in a variety of ways that works for both your health center and for the consumer, if you have their consent to do it. The various ways you highlight stories become increasingly difficult if you have to find a consumer after you have the idea, which happens all too often. Hey Liz- can you find me a consumer to speak at our outreach event this week? HRSA wants a success story- can you find one to share? It’s easier if you have them at your finger tips than have to scramble all week to meet the specific request.
- Highlight successes? Last year we re-authorized CHIP Tax SEP during OE2
- POLL QUESTIONS Deep dive into reaching the SEP population Those that have expanded Medicaid, have given a lot of comments More effort to reach those who aren’t in the Medicaid population Limited time frame to enroll Complex messaging Churn between Medicaid and QHPs
- POLL QUESTIONS Deep dive into reaching the SEP population Those that have expanded Medicaid, have given a lot of comments More effort to reach those who aren’t in the Medicaid population Limited time frame to enroll Complex messaging Churn between Medicaid and QHPs
- POLL QUESTIONS Deep dive into reaching the SEP population Those that have expanded Medicaid, have given a lot of comments More effort to reach those who aren’t in the Medicaid population Limited time frame to enroll Complex messaging Churn between Medicaid and QHPs
- POLL QUESTIONS Deep dive into reaching the SEP population Those that have expanded Medicaid, have given a lot of comments More effort to reach those who aren’t in the Medicaid population Limited time frame to enroll Complex messaging Churn between Medicaid and QHPs
- 3 goals Empowered to help raise consumers voices, both those who have gotten enrolled and those that don’t have a coverage option available to them Lastly, have a better vision of how celebrating and highlightin your work helps everyone in this room and in the great state of Texas
- Resources for assisters on our website. WE have monthly webinars but also produce issue briefs, fact sheets, blogs, and 101 materials. We also have a monthly “slideshow” showing top resources we’ve found from across the country. Have sign in sheet for people to sign up for EAN
- You will find announcements for our webinars and all of the other materials today promoted through our weekly newsletter, which comes out on Thursdays!
- Anything else you would like to see, please do not hesitate to let us know! We always love to hear from you.