Full Speed Ahead in the Fight for Parity
By Morgan Sheets  Over the past couple of years, the Amputee
Coalition of Americas (ACA) advocacy department has built a
national campaign from the ground up, lobbied lawmakers, created
resources, and provided day-to-day technical assistance for each of
the state bills.
We are currently advancing prosthetic parity in more than 30
states. There are seven laws on the books (Colorado, Maine, New
Hampshire, Rhode Island, California, Massachusetts, and
California), and we are putting the final touches on the language
for a federal parity bill to be introduced in Congress in 2008. We
could not have made such great strides in such a short period of
time without the hard work of activists all over the country.
Albertha Jackson-Smith is one of those tireless activists. She
is part of the small but hearty group of volunteers who is pushing
for a bill in the Maryland legislature. Jackson-Smith was inspired
by her son, Lorenzo Smith, who lost his leg after a car speeding on
the wrong side of the road veered onto the sidewalk and struck him
on his way home from middle school. Because of restrictions on his
health insurance coverage, doctors estimate that his parents will
spend an average of $15,000 or more per year for the next seven to
ten years in order to provide him with prosthetic care.
He is just one example of the thousands of young amputees across
the United States whose health and quality of life are being
impacted by insurance regulations that have restricted or even
eliminated coverage for prostheses. We have already seen the
difference that parity bills can make in the lives of families like
Lorenzo's.
As we celebrate the New Year, we have a lot to look forward
to. We just put out a new edition of our advocacy newsletter, and
we launched our enhanced online action center with new resources
for both state and federal campaigns. We continue to depend on the
dedication of our sponsors, our coalition partners, and most
important, our hard-working activists.
Morgan Sheets is the national advocacy director for ACAs
Action Plan for People with Limb Loss (APPLL) initiative. She can
be reached at APPLL@amputee-coalition.org; www.amputee-coalition.org/advocacy/index.htm 
Table Of Contents - January 2008
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