By Joe Touschner
This week, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families hosted a Child Health Summit to build momentum around covering uninsured, eligible children and moving to coverage for the whole family under health reform. The summit convened state officials, advocates, providers, and others to share information, network, and discuss ways the state could move forward, both in extending coverage and assuring that care is accessible once kids are enrolled. CCF Co-Executive Director Joan Alker was one of the featured speakers (big thanks to AACF for the invitation!). In addition, CMS Senior Adviser Donna Cohen Ross outlined the Connecting Kids to Coverage Challenge. Wisconsin Medicaid Director Jason Helgerson shared his state’s success in several areas, from reducing costs while improving coverage to implementing an online application tool to looking ahead to setting up an exchange. Presentations and other materials from the summit will be available soon on the AACF website.
The summit was a great success–it educated and inspired attendees. The Arkansas media covered it extensively, Joan was interviewed for one TV news report:
And AACF Health Policy and Legislative Affairs Director Elisabeth Burak spoke to another station — find the video here.
Child health summits have proven to be a great way to focus attention on kids coverage, renew commitments from old partners, and generate new allies. In recent years, advocates in Iowa, Washington, Texas, and Oklahoma, among other states, have hosted such summits and we hope to participate in more of them in the years to come.