Health Advocates in Tallahassee and across the state for final week of campaign.

In our final week of the Impacting the Legislative Session campaign, Health Care for Florida coalition members convened virtually across the state and in-person to hold meetings with elected officials and their teams. Although this week was slightly shorter for legislators with Passover and the upcoming Easter weekend, we were still able to participate in a dynamic array of activities while visiting the House and Senate for our final scheduled week in Tallahassee. In each of our meetings, we continued to uplift the policy priorities of our coalition members, namely:

Closing the Coverage Gap – HB 511/SB 1098 increases the eligibility ceiling for Medicaid from 31%  up to 138% of the federal poverty level. 
Ensuring a Comprehensive Adult Dental Benefit – HB 1461/ SB 984 codifies the agreement of managed care plans to provide comprehensive dental benefits to Florida’s Medicaid enrollees. 
Inviting the Agency for Persons with Disabilities to Participate in the Budget Estimating Conference – SB 898 gives APD a real chance to address the iBudget waitlist by allowing them to create an annual budget that actually meets their needs.

As our Impacting the Legislative Session campaign draws to a close, we are happy to share back the extent of our activities in the Capitol. Below is a (not even comprehensive!) list of the members and staff we met with on our policy priorities. As you can see, over the past five weeks we’ve had over 44 meetings with House & Senate teams, attended 4 committee hearings, led 2 legislative advocacy trainings with partners, and attended 2 press conferences on health access issues in our state!

Above all else that we’ve accomplished, the incredible advocacy work of our coalition members shines brightest. We count ourselves so privileged to have been accompanied to Tallahassee by so many thoughtful and passionate health advocates. Our coalition members came from all across the state, unique individuals with diverse passions, politics, and professional experience, and joined together so cohesively as one unified group focused on our shared vision for equitable access to quality care in our state. It has been nothing short of amazing to watch the strong relationships our coalition members have built with lawmakers as they’ve shared their very personal, often harrowing experiences of lack of access to care, and in each meeting offered those same officials actionable steps they can take to affect meaningful health systems change.

Overall, we have been relieved to find members across both sides of the aisle embracing not only our storytellers but also our broader health advocacy work across all policy priorities. In response to constituent stories regarding health barriers they face, we have been grateful to hear elected officials and staff repeatedly commit themselves to this work and resolving these issues in the short and long term. We all recognize no fixes are instantaneous, but there’s no question that it will take all of us, working together, to build a better health future.

As the close of session also draws near, we turn our minds now to appreciate the long term nature of this important work. The five week whirlwind of session visits for Health Care for Florida was just one piece of a much larger puzzle. We return to our homes, our families, and our coalition partners near and far, remaining virtually closer now, and unified we look forward to the ongoing work that remains – not only in terms of maintaining these legislative relationships we’ve worked so hard to foster this session, but more importantly -- to continuously creating forward momentum across interpersonal, community, and state levels to advance and ensure the health and wellbeing of all Floridians.

We hope you have enjoyed following our weekly Tallahassee round ups, and are already planning for next year! In the meantime, please enjoy our meeting list:

Week 5 