January 2000 • Volume 6 • Number 1
Into the fray!
Voice your concerns this election yearLa Jolla, California
With local and national election campaigns heating up, you have the chance to make your voice heard on health care and other issues.
Some nuts and bolts to get you started:
Access the Web sites of candidates to learn their positions.
Contact local offices of parties, candidates or current lawmakers to see when they'll hold town meetings. Raise health-related questions at the meetings and share your views.
Remember, candidates often need the support of the medical community to get elected.
These ideas and others bubbled to the surface at AAFP's State Legislative Conference Nov. 12-14 in La Jolla. Additional advice and success stories shared at the meeting:
"The key to your relationship with your legislators is to have a relationship with your legislators. They'll think of you when things come up, and you'll be right there to help them," said AAFP President-elect Richard Roberts, M.D., J.D., of Madison, Wis., who admitted he's a political junkie.
"In any letter or contact you have with your legislator, make this point: 'This issue is going to affect your constituency; it will improve health care for our people.' You'll get your legislator's attention," said Rose Mary Hatem Bonsack, M.D., of Aberdeen, Md., a former member of the Mary-land Assembly and former AAFP director.
"The state senator or representative may later come to Washington," said AAFP Director James Martin, M.D., of San Antonio. "I'm not saying that they should be in our pocket, but that they should hear our concerns."
The Texas AFP honors legislators at dinners in their hometowns. The legislators meet area FPs, paving the way for future contacts.
Tennessee AFP Past President Jim King, M.D., of Selmer e-mails action alerts to physicians when key votes come up in the state legislature. "We e-mail our doctors, then have them call legislators," said King. "Recently, a big vote was coming up at 1 p.m., and I e-mailed 1,000 doctors in the state at 9 a.m. When I called my legislator's office at 10 a.m. and told the receptionist who I was, she said, 'Vote no!' I said, 'You got it.'"
Note: The next State Legislative Conference is Nov. 17-19 in New Orleans.
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2000 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
FP Report | Headlines |AAFP Home | Search