Consumer Voices for Coverage: Strengthening State Advocacy Networks to Expand Health Coverage

The Foundation's program, Consumer Voices for Coverage: Strengthening State Advocacy Networks to Expand Health Coverage, was designed to support state-based consumer health advocacy networks to increase their capacity to participate in health care reform efforts with key stakeholders, such as businesses, hospitals, insurers, providers and government officials.This grant is one of ten in the Foundation's Coverage Team's target states that will support consumer organizations to work with their states to implement coverage provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). More specifically, the Maryland Citizens' Health Initiative (MCHI) aims to protect the state's Medicaid programs from major budget cuts and provide new funding necessary to ensure that the state Medicaid program is poised to implement expanded Medicaid eligibility and enrollment that will occur under the ACA in 2014. The purpose of this project is to build on the 2010 Consumer Voices for Coverage proposal by: (1) ramping up efforts to advocate that new alcohol tax revenue is allocated toward Medicaid to prevent cuts to the program and facilitate continued eligibility expansion; (2) creating a diverse leadership team with a health equity focus that is qualified and motivated to provide technical assistance to increase coalition representation from communities of racial and ethnic minorities and engage in Maryland's ACA implementation process; and (3) building a diverse coalition of advocates to generate public support for a tobacco tax increase to fund ACA implementation. No RWJF funds will be used for the purposes of lobbying.

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Grant Details

Amount Awarded $250,000.00

Awarded on: 9/13/2011

Time frame: 10/1/2011 - 9/30/2012

Grant Number: 69431