Champions of Change Blog

Unifying the Effects of the Affordable Care Act Across Communities

The ACA "WIN" program was developed by Cathy Glasson of SEIU Local 1199 Iowa. The concept and program was introduced to us at a Nurse Alliance of California meeting in July 2011. I was so intrigued that I and another nurse, Olga Desai of Local 1000, decided right then and there that we should try this as a joint project between our two unions. It really just sort of dawned on us that if we did it together, we might pull it off! Olga did the turnout and got the word out at her worksite in Delano, a town north of Bakersfield. When I mentioned this to other nurses, my colleagues and Nurse Alliance participants, they just ran with it! It turned out we had wonderful cross section of nurses, from the Operating Room, Emergency Room, Mental Health, Advanced Practice and Rural Health.

Every one of those nurses embraced the ACA program because they saw how it could make a difference for the patient population they work with day in and day out. We completed the SEIU Nurse Alliance Webinar Training and scheduled our first class in Delano, California, which is at the very edge of a very large county.  It was a small class but we reached out to Mental Health workers and Corrections Nurses with great success.

We were so excited, we immediately began looking at where we could expand the program. We help several classes, and in November 2012, we held a class with more than 100 Public Health nurses being educated on the ACA. 

Educate + Engage + Empower = Action

I have always had a deep sense that the power to impact injustice lies within the power to educate, engage, and empower those connected to the injustices. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a monumental national victory for all Americans. It is important to me to use the law’s full name because, when saying “Affordable Care Act,” it is easy to forget that this law doesn’t just tackle issues of affordability, but also addresses the much needed protection for patients from an unjust, discriminatory, and often greed-based system. 

This national victory is one that should be celebrated as the second anniversary rolls around. However, misinformation has quickly tainted the victory party. The need to educate diverse consumers on what has actually been accomplished is key. I find that educating others is most successful when done on a level that directly connects with the audience, which often means omitting complicated language.  It is also successfully done when we get back to the basics of shared human and social values. Shared values-based education is what starts the drumbeat for a movement and sets the pace towards progress. 

In health care justice, we share common values that our health care system should be affordable, accessible, and inclusive, reflecting respect and valuing the integrity of people.  It should be fair, just, accountable, and offer a high standard of quality. While we may not intimately know every section of the law, we can agree on certain things, like the fact that a change needed to happen.  We can agree that young adults should be able to pursue their American dream without worrying about accessing affordable care and that young children should not be turned away from care because they have a pre-existing condition. We can agree that a system that discriminates some cannot be called fair or just.  We can also agree that doing nothing or doing what we’ve always done is not an option that will lead to change. 

By getting back to a values-based way of educating audiences about the Affordable Care Act, we make the necessity to progress health care justice an “us” issue and not a “those people” issue. This idea of “us” means that everyone has locked arms and is moving forward together towards successful implementation.  What we say and how we say it when educating others has to lead back to our shared values. Often, by being in a defensive position, we answer the questions asked without addressing the person asking the question. They are a person connected to a community of people with whom they share information and experiences. They have had negative experiences with the health care system that need to be changed and positive ones that need to be built upon. Education is a powerful tool to bring awareness and support to a cause.