By Dayanne Leal and the team at Health Care For All Massachusetts

On Sunday, the Patriots are going to win the Super Bowl.

Really, I don’t know why the Giants would even bother to show up.

And since a 4th banner in Gillette Stadium is inevitable, it’s worth asking to what can we credit this success?

Some point to the offense, led by the great Tom Brady. Others look to the previously unheralded defense or maybe the play of the special teams. And there is a camp that says the culture of class and professionalism that Bob Kraft created should be credited.

(Editor’s note: That’s Dayanne next to Tom Brady, his wife Gisele and son Benjamin)

At Health Care For All, we believe a big reason is the genius of Bill Belichick. And the genius of Mr. Belichick is not confined to the football field. To the contrary (and many don’t know this), he has been a long-time and outspoken supporter of kid’s health.

For evidence of this, we have picked out eight (in recognition of this eighth trip to the Super Bowl by the Patriots) quotes from Coach Bill, cleverly disguised to make them appear to be pigskin-related and delivered at post-game press conferences.

But we know the truth: he was really talking about making sure that kids have health coverage.

1. “I don’t know what normal is. You can go back and look at the past few years. There are always going to be changes.”

The normal in Massachusetts is that all kids through age 18 can qualify for health coverage regardless of family income or immigration status. We are proud that more than 99% of children are covered. 

2.  “This won’t be good enough. It wasn’t good enough today. It won’t be good enough against anybody else, either.”

The work goes on. 99% is good. Great even. But what about the few who aren’t covered? We’re working hard to make sure that they have access to care too. 

3. “The experience level they bring, there’s no question there is a value to that… In the end, for me, it’s more about having the best players that we can have on the roster. I think you have to look at it that way. You have to be cognizant of the overall makeup of your team, but you try and get the best players you can.” 

No one organization can get to the remaining kids who aren’t covered. Just like the Patriots, HCFA put together a strong squad as part of its “got coverage? Health Coverage for Kids and Teens campaign”. We partnered with faith-based and community organizations, and collaborated with ethnic media to get the word out and reach across the state. 

4. “You can play hard. You can play aggressive. You can give 120%, but if one guy is out of position then someone’s running through the line of scrimmage and he’s going to gain a bunch of yards.”

There are several important players in the game of making sure children access the health coverage they need. Community-based organizations like Health Care For All and many others have been the Most Valuable Players (MVP’s) to the success of Massachusetts. Some 66 organizations from across Massachusetts stepped up and accepted the challenge of focusing their efforts on enrolling kids who weren’t covered already. 

5. “On a football team, it’s not the strength of the individual players, but it is the strength of the unit and how they all function”.

The team of 66 was successful beyond our most optimistic goals. We had hoped to enroll 500 uninsured kids – instead, 1,479 children got coverage in only one month! HCFA and its partners carried the ball and pushed it over the goal line, nearly tripling the “score” they set out for.

“Pat” the Patriot loves kids and kids love the Patriots!

6.  “It’s hard to win when you give the ball away.”

All too often, newly insured individuals will go for a needed doctor visit or to pick up a prescription, only to find that their coverage has disappeared. Coverage is not a one-time thing. After you get it, you need to renew it every year. The work doesn’t stop once you get children enrolled – as matter of fact, enrolling people is hard work, keeping them covered is even harder. That’s HCFA’s next frontier in kids’ coverage work: making sure that the kids who have insurance keep their coverage from year to year. This time, the name of the game is coverage retention and we have innovative strategies to make this happen. Check out the got coverage? Campaign website for more details. 

7. “There are certainly areas that you can improve in and develop more consistency (in).”

Things aren’t perfect and there are changes to be made that will make things better. We are lucky to have not only a strong advocacy community, but also a Legislature that has prioritized children’s health.  Just like the Pats, we are working together to make sure that all kids have coverage and that all kids keep their coverage. 

8. “We’ll worry about next week next week.”

We’re in it for the long haul. Next week, next month, next year – we’ll be here working for the kids. HCFA isn’t interested in just putting up good numbers for one year. Over 99% coverage of kids is only something to be proud of if we can keep it going. The Patriots have brought home three (about to be four) Lombardi trophies since 2002 – we’re in the midst of our own dynasty of kid’s coverage here too. 

Massachusetts has made the choice to defend children’s health, has made a commitment to do the work and has embraced creativity to make it happen. We couldn’t be more fired up if we had our own end zone militia to celebrate our success!

Go Patriots, it’s your patriotic duty to jump, play and get covered.

Go Pats! Go kids!

(To vote for the Patriots and New England kids, post a comment on this blog with “Go Pats” in the text.  Tweet out the blog or like it on Facebook to get your friends to help put the Patriots over the top.)