Growing the Toolbox: Diverse Strategies for Public Interest Lawyers in Campaigns to Expand Access to Health Care for Low-Income People
Publication Date: July 2009
Publisher(s): Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law; Clearinghouse Review: Journal of Poverty Law and Policy
Author(s): John Bouman
Topic: Government (Public services and utilities)
Government (Public policy)
Health (Health services for low income people)
Social conditions (Public welfare and social services)
Keywords: Advocacy Campaigns; Health; Health Care
Coverage: United States
Abstract:
Successful advocacy campaigns for access to health care require lawyers to surpass traditional drafting, technical knowledge, and litigation tools. Influencing policymakers at the executive and legislative branches of government, not just the judiciary, calls for multiple and multiforum strategies as well as a variety of skills and capacities. The Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law demonstrated this multipronged approach by collaborating with community organizations during the FamilyCare campaign, with the media and key political figures during Memisovski v. Maram, and with national organizations in the Bell v. Leavitt case.