Maryland Chapter
Grassroots
Be an Advocate for Arthritis in Maryland
The Arthritis Foundation, Maryland Chapter maintains a grassroots network to impact state and federal issues of importance to people with arthritis. The Public Policy & Advocacy Committee watches state legislation from January to April during the legislative session. When bills are presented that impact people with arthritis, the committee takes action by writing letters or calling on network members to write, call fax and e-mail their legislators. Issues frequently include: the cost of prescription medication, Medicare matters, parking and other disability concerns. You can help by joining the network effort.
Or, call us at 410.654.6570 x 239 or send email to info.md@arthritis.org.
The Arthritis Foundation Public Policy Office in Washington keeps us abreast of national issues that require our attention too. We lobby yearly for increased funding for arthritis research at the National Institutes of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Diseases. In 1998 the Arthritis Foundation urged Congress to allocate $10 million in the budget for the Centers for Disease Control to fund the National Arthritis Action Plan. That money is now being shared with State Health Departments to underwrite costs for state initiatives. In Maryland we are gathering data on the prevalence of arthritis in our state. As that data is analyzed the State Health Department, the Arthritis Foundation and other partners will gather to discuss effective methods and programs to meet the needs of Marylanders with arthritis.
How You Can Help
The Arthritis Foundation promotes government and private sector action to improve the lives of the 43 million Americans living with arthritis. But we need your help to get more government funding for arthritis research, to encourage early diagnosis and comprehensive treatment, and to improve access to quality health care for everyone with arthritis.
Visit www.arthritis.org/advocacy/ for tools you need to become informed about the issues and to make your voice heard. You will find issue "backgrounders," Arthritis Foundation position statements, as well as links to other Web sites that may be helpful.
Become An Advocate -- Join the Arthritis Foundation Advocacy Network
Arthritis Advocacy Priorities -- Read about the issues
Contact Congress -- Quickly locate your legislators and send a message
Contact your Maryland state legislators.
Contact your West Virginia state legislators.
Public Policy And Advocacy Legislative Session 2003
The state session proved different and challenging as Governor Ehrlich took the helm. Additionally the legislative landscape changed as nearly one-third of the 188 members of the legislature were either newly elected or had won election in a newly defined district.
The Chapter Public Policy & Advocacy Committee added a couple of new members this year and moving forward we will add new board members. One of the biggest changes in the committee is s the way in which we work. We used to meet frequently and now we do most of our work on-line and through e-mail.
The goals for the session include naming three priority bills to support by activating our advocacy network, giving testimony in the legislature on those bills and visiting with our delegates and senators at a reception in January or February.
The first priority we named was HB 630/SB 386 Medical Assistance Program: Employed Persons with Disabilities Program. This bill returned from last year and had the widespread support of the disabilities community because it allowed a disabled person to return to work, full or part time and pay for continuing Medicaid insurance rather than risk being turned down by an employer's insurance. DHMH will implement the Employed Persons with Disabilities Program by July 1, 2005. Limitations will apply.
The second priority was HB 1093 Maryland Medical Assistance Program- Pharmaceutical Products-Access, Coverage, and Cost-Saving Protections and Programs. This bill suggested guidelines regarding the development of a Medicaid formulary and asked that a representative therapeutics committee be set to consider formulary decisions. This bill came out late in the session and failed to pass.
After the close of the session, committee representatives visited with the new secretary of the Department of Health, Nelson Sabatini. The purpose of the visit was to seek funding for the Arthritis Prevention and Control Act which was passed during the 2002 session. While he could promise any new monies from his state health budget, he recommended that we write to Governor Erlich asking him to leverage some federal funds to help fund the important arthritis bill.
Other activities: The reception in Annapolis was planned for February 17 but the largest snow of the season closed the entire city for the day.
Eight people from the Maryland Chapter visited with Congressional representatives on March 4 after attending the National Advocacy Summit in Washington, DC. Two-hundred advocates from around the country shared information about: Needing more funding for the NIH to support arthritis research and Needing funding from the CDC to support arthritis activities in the states in cooperation with the state health departments.
