Social policy advocacy skills edited

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Social Policy Advocacy Skills
Student’s Name
Department
Course
Professor
Date
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March 15, 2022,
The Honorable Park Cannon,
Room Number 58, House Office Building.
Atlanta, Georgia 30005.
RE: Support of bill Georgia SB338 Medicaid; postpartum coverage under Medicaid
from six months to 12 months following birth.
Dear Representative Honorable Park Cannon:
My name is Graham Madison and I am a regional advocacy group representative who
resides in the Atlanta district within your Georgia state. I am writing to express my support for the
recent bill Georgia SB338 Medicaid that aims to expand Medicaid for mothers from six months
up to one year after birth. The extension of the postpartum Medical coverage is profound for the
health of many citizens in the state and country at large. It is vital to acknowledge despite nearly
half of births being covered by the Medicaid program for the first six months, approximately 33%
of pregnancy-related death occurs up to twelve months thus the need to extend the Medicaid
coverage to at least one year. Substantial arrays of evidence and statistics retrieved from the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that the majority of the population affected
by the deaths include indigenous black women and 60% of the maternal deaths are avoidable by
extending the Medicaid coverage from six months to 12 months as proposed in Georgia SB338
Medicaid bill (Haley et al., 2021). However, only nineteen states have demonstrated the will to
extend the postpartum Medicaid coverage to maternal mothers up to one year without necessarily
adding more complex eligibility criteria. This further eligibility criterion has aggregated to
disparate access to the profound postpartum care across the state and nation with more preventable
deaths increasingly being reported. Therefore, Congress must enact mandatory and permanent
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support of the Georgia SB338 Medicaid bill extending the coverage to twelve months to ensure
more equitable health care is accessible regardless of zip code.
The advocacy groups have been on the frontline in support of the Georgia SB338 Medicaid
bill. In reference to the advocacy groups’ arguments, effective reproductive health care requires
access to fundamental health services before, during, and after pregnancy up to one-year duration.
The proponents articulate that the state has fallen short of the essential Medicaid coverage over the
past years and the government should make fixes by supporting the Georgia SB338 bill in order
to provide effective and complete medical coverage to the women who need it the most and prevent
the booming death cases across the Georgian state. It is important to acknowledge that the
advocacy group’s research has demonstrated that extension of the postpartum Medicaid extension
up to one year following birth is critical for birthing families, people, and communities that thrive
health-wise regardless of their zip codes. In essence, I join my counterparts in the advocacy groups
to express our support and argue the Congress to take this matter seriously and support the bill.
However, several proponents argue against the Georgia SB338 bill citing an increase in
government allocation towards the postpartum Medicaid budget. These allegations lack a solid
background and are derived by political differences in the congress considering the importance of
health to our mothers and children (Disalvo, 2018). Moreover, the state has enough capital
resources to support mothers and newborn care without stretching its expenditure. Consequently,
the proponents arguing against the Georgia SB338 should respect the American Rescue Plan Act,
which gives the Congress option to extend the postpartum Medicaid coverage to one year. I have
witnessed women struggle with postpartum depression following birth with an increased death rate
across the state. Therefore, the Congress representative arguing against the bill should reconsider
their stands and support mothers as they nature their new babies and recover from pregnancies.
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Sincerely,
Graham Madison
Street address 10th St Ne
Atlanta, Georgia 30005.
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Critical Analysis Paper on Georgia SB338 Support Advocacy Option.
The Georgia SB338 bill is profoundly aimed at solving the contemporary issues of the
increasing rate of abysmal maternity cases in Georgia among disabled and poor mothers.
Substantial statistics and data derived from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
postulate that approximately 35% of the cases can be prevented by extending the postpartum
Medicaid duration from six months to one year (Ranji et al., 2019). Through intensive research, I
have learned the bill is aiming at protecting mothers and babies at moments of extreme
vulnerability.
The major stakeholders supporting Georgia SB338 include Over 150 State Legislators,
Women’s rights groups, NARAL Pro-Choice Georgia advocacy group, and Atlanta Birth Centre
Inc. The power base of the stakeholders supporting the bill is retrieved from the determination to
provide better postpartum Medicaid to mothers and newly born babies the following birth thus
preventing death and depression cases among the poor and disabled population. Nevertheless, the
proposal’s opponents of the proposed bill are retrieved from the political differences in the
congress (Disalvo, 2018). The political barrier might be resolved amicably by congress by
focusing on the benefits the state policy would bring in upgrading the Postpartum Medical saves
of the general population. Through active participation in promoting the Georgia SB338, I
learned that my roles as a social worker range from building relations between different
stakeholders, building coalitions among organizations and advocacy groups with similar interests
to establishing strong and sufficient momentum to sway the legislation to support the bill.
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References
Disalvo, D. (2018). Medicaid Politics in New York: Vested Interests and Policy-Focused
Analysis. Political Science Quarterly, 133(2), 291–316. https://doi.org/10.1002/polq.12770
Haley, J. M., Johnston, E. M., Hill, I., Kenney, G. M., & Thomas, T. W. (2021). The Public
Health Insurance Landscape for Pregnant and Postpartum Women.
Ranji, U., Gomez, I., & Salganicoff, A. (2019). Expanding postpartum Medicaid
coverage. Women’s Health Policy Issue Brief.
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