Public relations strategies that shape policy,The New Haven Mayor’s Task Force on AIDS had a simple series of requests. They asked us to:
- organize a citywide network of activists who would help shape the course of HIV/AIDS policy;
- develop an AIDS/HIV public policy agenda that would win the support of a diverse segment of the City's people and organizations; and
- train people living with HIV/AIDS and the groups serving these people to play an active role in the public policy debate surrounding AIDS/HIV programs.
Our first step was to build a network of Task Force members and friends who could be reached by fax, e-mail or regular mail. Working with the Task Force and New Haven's Public Health Department, we drafted a survey to identify training needs and shared policy priorities.
Working from survey results, we facilitated a series of Task Force planning meetings to develop a set of policy priorities. We matched network members as 'buddies' with key lawmakers.
We also learned that some pharmacies in the City were demanding full payment of a Medicare co-pay before releasing medicine that controlled the HIV virus. This practice grew out of a lack of clarity in regulations regarding the co-pay.
If a pharmacy does not collect the $1 Medicaid co-pay, then they loose that amount of money. In a sense, it comes right out of the pharmacy's profit margin, a margin that is already pressed thin by government efforts to cut health care costs. At greatest risk of financial damage are small independent pharmacies - usually the ones that serve city neighborhoods with high concentrations of Medicaid patients.
The Task Force decided the best long-term solution was to repeal the Medicaid Co-pay. We used this issue as an effective organizing tool throughout the project and helped win repeal of this co-pay by Connecticut's General Assembly.
Until the Co-pay died, we helped pharmacists and Medicaid patients understand how the system works. To do this, we:
- convened a meeting between pharmacists and local health officials to clarify that Medicare patients who could not pay were supposed to get their medicine without paying; and
- educated people living with HIV/AIDS of this how the system works. Our message in Connecticut Medicaid Patient Advisory: "It is really simple: if you can't afford to pay the co-pay, you don't."
We also convened a meeting with local legislators and aldermen to discuss HIV/AIDS priorities. We coordinated an expanded presence of New Haven residents at the annual AIDS Day at the State Capitol and issued action advisories as needed to win several legislative battles.
Results: we built a process and grassroots lobbying network that continues to be used by the Task Force. Together, we resolved the Medicare co-pay problem, helped repeal this fee and won increased state funding for HIV/AIDS programs.