State Update

Health Access: Another Success for “Coalition Advocacy”

Governor Romney’s signing of An Act Providing Access to Affordable, Quality, Accountable Health Care in April marked a major victory for the Massachusetts Medical Society. The new law not only extends health insurance coverage to 90 to 95 percent of the state’s approximately 550,000 uninsured over the next three years, but it will also provide physicians with $81 million in additional reimbursements over the same time period. This success was another example of the Society’s strategy of “coalition advocacy.”

Given the broad and growing scope of legislation that affects physicians and their patients, the MMS adopted a strategy of joining with allied organizations whenever possible to achieve our mutual goals. When dealing with complex, major initiatives with multiple stakeholders, it has become imperative for all key advocates to work together or else risk not having a voice when the final decisions are being made. While this approach takes time and resources, it has clearly been worth the effort, as evidenced by the Managed Care Patients’ Bill of Rights (2000), the Statewide Workplace Smoking Ban (2004), and now the new Health Access Law.

According to John McDonough, executive director of Health Care For All, “The Massachusetts Medical Society participated in informal discussions dating back to 2004, when we were developing a consensus approach to covering the uninsured. The Society then joined us in the ACT coalition in advocating for comprehensive legislation that met the needs of both patients and providers.” ACT Campaign Manager Fawn Phelps noted that the many diverse organizations working together in the coalition made for a more compelling case at the State House: “The fact that we represented such a varied group of coalition partners -- from traditional health advocates and providers to labor unions and religious leaders -- made our case stronger.”

The MMS is currently involved in several other legislative coalition initiatives, including the Children’s Health Access Coalition (expanding access and affordability), School Nutrition (limiting the sale of non-nutritional food and beverages in schools), the SAFE Coalition (strengthening seat belt enforcement), Tobacco Free Mass (expanding tobacco control efforts), and the Disparities Working Group (eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care).

– Steve Shestakofsky