2017 Community Benefit Report CHAI_160088756_2018-11_2017 Community Benefit Repo | Page 22

2017 COMMUNITY BENEFIT REPORT
CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL COLORADO
Serving as a voice for kids
in Washington, D.C.
Medicaid covers 30 million kids in the United States and about 590,000 in Colorado. At
Children’s Colorado, nearly half of our patient population relies on Medicaid coverage. In
2017, major pieces of legislation to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA) were
introduced, including drastic cuts to Medicaid that would have fundamentally threatened
access to care for millions of children.
Children’s Colorado’s Government Affairs team quickly leapt into action to ensure that
any potential healthcare reforms would protect the unique needs of children — especially
those with preexisting conditions and those who access coverage through Medicaid. We
remained steadfast in our advocacy that any changes by Congress should not subject
children to harm through Medicaid cuts or other reductions in coverage.
We worked with internal and external partners to navigate the constantly changing
landscape as legislators introduced, debated and voted on new healthcare bills. We
stayed closely coordinated with hospital leadership on national efforts to speak up for
kids, while uniting leaders from across the state and across party lines in recognizing that
children and their families should not be harmed by efforts to repeal and replace the ACA.
Our advocacy efforts included:
• Activating our grassroots advocacy network to send 2,556 email messages
to Colorado's Congressional delegation
• Engaging team members and constituents to pen 1,600 handwritten postcards
we delivered to D.C.
• Collecting 26 stories from patients and their families about what having Medicaid
as insurance coverage meant in their lives
• Garnering coverage in 15 media stories, with articles and interviews in influential
outlets like NBC Nightly News, 9News, Channel 7, CBS4, CNN, The Denver Post, KOA
Radio and The Colorado Springs Gazette, among others
• Securing 5 meetings with editorial boards across the state, resulting in favorable
editorials in The Denver Post, The Colorado Springs Gazette, The Pueblo Chieftain and
The Daily Sentinel
• Making 2 multi-day, in-person visits to meet with the Colorado congressional
delegation in Washington, D.C., one of which included a patient and his family joining as
part of the Children’s Hospital Association’s Family Advocacy Day
Across the country, advocacy groups like ours came together to push for the defeat of
these harmful pieces of legislation, demonstrating the incredible impact advocacy can
have on shaping public policy.
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