Getting to the Finish Line Conference 2009
July 14-15, 2009
Conference Materials
Session Slides and Handouts
Day 1: Tuesday, July 14, 2009
8:30 to 8:45 Welcome
8:45 to 10:00 State of the States: A Quick State Tour
Handout: Recent State Activity on Children’s Coverage
Handout: Narrative and Finish Line Snapshot
One person from each state will update other attendees on their work over the last year including notable achievements and challenges.
Moderator: Joe Touschner, CCF
10:15 to 12:15 Health Reform: What’s at Stake for Children and Families
This session will provide the latest information on the health reform proposals being developed and considered by Congress with an emphasis on what they would mean for children and families. The role of states will also be discussed. Finally we will review communications and messaging strategies to help align the components of your work to cover children and families at the state level with health reform efforts at the national level.
Presenters: Joan Alker, Jocelyn Guyer, & Cathy Hope, CCF
2:00 to 3:00 CHIPRA: How Do We Make the 4.1 Million Kids a Reality?
The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) of 2009 presents many new opportunities and significant new funding to cover millions more children across the country. This session will review these new opportunities, provide the latest information on implementation, and allow for a brief discussion about how national reform efforts intersect with this work.
Presenters: Tricia Brooks & Jocelyn Guyer, CCF
3:15 to 4:30 Breakout Sessions
Access to Care: An Insurance Card that Means Something
Handout: Kaiser Access to Care Policy Brief
Handout: Kaiser Community Care of North Carolina Policy Brief
Children need more than coverage, they need access to quality care to stay healthy. During this session we will hear from advocates about potential solutions in states that have been leaders in addressing access problems.
Moderator: Joe Touschner, CCF
Presenter: Tom Vitaglione, North Carolina Action Children & Amy Rosenthal, New England Alliance for Children’s Health
Maintaining the Gains
This session will focus on states that have created more coverage opportunities for children and look at strategies for successful implementation and maintaining the policies once they are in place.
Moderator: Liz Arjun, CCF
Presenters: Ruth Schubert, Children’s Alliance & Jon Peacock, Wisconsin Council for Children and Families
4:30 to 5:00 Grantee Discussions
How Are We Doing? (Finish Line and Narrative Grantees)
We have been working together for more than a year through the Narrative and Finish Line Projects. CCF and Spitfire want to hear from you about what we can do better to support you in your efforts.
Moderator: Liz Arjun, CCF
CBPP CHIPRA Implementation Project (CBPP Grantees)
CHIPRA Implementation Project Grantees will gather to get acquainted and discuss moving forward on project goals and technical assistance needs.
Moderators: Donna Cohen Ross & Shelby Gonzales, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
Day 2: Wednesday, July 15, 2009
8:00 to 9:00 Breakfast Discussions
Evaluation Update (Finish Line and Narrative Grantees)
Handout: Draft Issue Brief
The evaluation team for the Insuring America’s Children (IAC) project completed visits to six of the Finish Line states to examine the opportunities and challenges that face grantees as they advocate for expanded coverage of children. This roundtable will share the findings from those visits with a focus on the lessons learned for making progress in a difficult economyand solicit your feedback on the findings.
Presenters: Ian Hill, Urban Institute & Debra Draper, Center for Studying Health System Change
Meet and Greet (CBPP CHIPRA Implementation Project)
Grantees will meet with Ed Walz to learn how Spitfire Strategies can provide technical assistance on communications to advance the goals of the project.
Presenters: Ed Walz, Spitfire Strategies & Donna Cohen Ross, CBPP
9:15 to 10:30 Moving Forward in Bad Budget Times
Ongoing budget challenges are likely to present real obstacles to maintaining the gains you’ve made or to move ahead on children’s coverage. In light of this reality, the goal of this session is to provide concrete tools to respond to the arguments that there isn’t enough money to maintain or expand coverage for children. The session will cover successful strategies and communications tools for addressing the “we can’t afford it” argument, including information about potential revenue sources that may be available to help confront these challenges.
Moderator: Ed Walz, Spitfire Strategies
Presenters: Nick Johnson, State Fiscal Analysis Initiative, CBPP, & Laura Guerra-Cardus, Texas Children’s Defense Fund
10:45 to 12:00 Breakout Sessions
Longtime champions feeling unreliable during tough times? Old friends thinking the kids coverage mission is accomplished? This session explores ideas and opportunities to help existing champions and partners see the whole picture and recruit new allies during stormy weather for gains when the skies clear.
Moderator: Ed Walz, Spitfire Strategies
Presenters: Karen Crompton, Utah Voices Children & John Bouman, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law
Coverage for Immigrant Children: New Opportunities in CHIPRA & Strategies to Make it Happen
CHIPRA included an exciting new opportunity for states to cover lawfully residing immigrant children with federal financial support. This session will include an overview of the new policy and suggest strategies for getting this policy adopted in your state.
Moderator: Elizabeth Burke-Bryant, Rhode Island Kids Count
Presenters: Joan Alker, CCF, Carrie Fitzgerald, Iowa Child and Family Policy Center, & Korey Capozza, Utah Voices for Children
12:45 to 1:00 Looking Forward to our Future Work Together
Joan Alker, CCF