Prosthetic Coverage on the Legislative Agenda in Many States

By Morgan Sheets

Legislative sessions com­menced all over the country in Jan­­­­uary. For many states, the sessions included a strong focus on access to healthcare. This is helpful to the ten states where a prosthetic coverage bill has been introduced.

In preparation for lobby days, campaign committees all over the country gathered testimony for legislative hearings and worked to expand their activist bases in order to support their state's bill.

In Pennsylvania, they just finished the "10 in 10" initiative, an effort where activists across the state who are working on the parity issue tried to increase their numbers by each gathering ten signatures over the course of ten days. The initiative was a great success. Several other states are working to launch "10 in 10" in their own states.

Committees in many states, including Oregon and Connecticut, are working with the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) to bring activists to the Capitol to meet with their legislators. And in Virginia, they are planning a day of education in order to help raise awareness about orthotic and prosthetic care.

In addition to the ten states with bills this session, another 11 states are working to introduce their own bills in the near future. This brings the total number of campaigns to 21, a huge increase from the eight states that were working on parity at the beginning of 2006.

We have a great deal of work ahead of us, but with the continued commitment of our members and industry partners, we will continue to succeed!

Morgan Sheets is the national advocacy director for ACA's APPLL initiative. She can be reached at APPLL@amputee-coalition.org. For more information, go to www.amputee-coalition.org/advocacy/index.html

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	Connecticut Amputees Rally for Prosthetic Coverage - April 2008 Progress on Parity
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Table Of Contents - February 2007

	SURGICAL SOLUTIONS, TECHNIQUES, AND TRENDS Osseointegration: Infection Solutions Feature
	Ertl Procedure: A New Beginning Feature
	The Prosthetist’s Role in Early Patient Assessment Feature
	Bringing Inspiration One Step Closer to Reality Perspective
	New Exercise Chair Provides Pleasant Way to Increase ROM Innovations
	Merely Inconvenienced Education Update
	Sports News Sports
	You Lost My Alignment! Shop Talk
	Five Questions for Ingrid Frank, CP Face to Face
	Prosthetic Coverage on the Legislative Agenda in Many States Progress on Parity
	Got FAQs? Got FAQs?
	From the Editor: What I’ve Learned... Viewpoint