Grassroots

The National Association of Health Underwriters represents the interests of 20,000 health insurance professionals throughout the country. NAHU's strength in the health care reform debate is directly proportionate to our service to our members. Members have come to know and respect our knowledge of health care issues and the complexities of market reforms.

Coordinated grassroots advocacy is key to our continued presence in the health care debate. Our ability to mobilize our members in every congressional district throughout the country is our top tool in being an effective voice in government. Our success in the health care arena is dependent on the continual efforts of NAHU members to get involved in their state's politics and federal politics.

NAHU has provided the following tools and techniques that are necessary to effectively influence your elected officials through grassroots advocacy.

Operation Shout!

NAHU's legislative success is based heavily on our ability to show legislators how important issues are to our membership. When health care issues come to the forefront of the political debate, it is vital to our legislative efforts that elected officials know where NAHU members stand. In order to achieve this, NAHU relies on YOU to email your federal and state legislators through Operation Shout!. Operation Shout allows NAHU members to directly contact their state and federal legislators with their concerns, support or opposition to policy questions.

In addition to e-mailing elected officials, Operation Shout! provides a variety of other resources to our members to aide in grassroots advocacy. Operation Shout! allows for members to view political background information, links to federal and state-level government websites, media information, voting records, bill summaries, election candidates and more! In order to take full advantage of all that Operation Shout! has to offer we have provided the following user guides to help you navigate:

Operation Shout! User's Guide

Are You Talking To Your Legislators? - National Association of Health Underwriters (Power Point Presentation).

If you are interested in using Operation Shout! for your state or chapter, please contact your State Affairs Director or Danielle Jaffee. We'd be happy to help you compose your letter and email it out to your membership.

In-District Meetings

Even though a number of NAHU members descend on Capitol Hill during Capitol Conference to lobby on NAHU's key issues, it is essential for members to attend in-district meetings too.

Scheduling meetings with your State Legislators and Congressmen's offices in your home district is the best way to impact the health care reform debate. Health care is an issue on both the federal and state stage, meeting with Representatives at every level is vital. There is no better way to build relationships with Representatives and staff then to meet with them in-person.

Congressman and Senators return to their home districts several times a year during Congressional recesses and set aside time to meet with their constituency to discuss issues of importance. We encourage all our members to take advantage of this time and set up appointments with their offices. Look for information about when Congressional recesses are taking place in the Washington Update email, or contact djaffee@nahu.org.

State legislators also have district offices that you can contact to set up a time to meet with them and their staff, throughout the year.

The NAHU Government Affairs department is always here to help your chapter organize an in-district meeting. If you need help getting materials together, contacting offices, or just getting started, we'd be happy to help you throughout the process.

Tips on ensuring an effective meeting:

• Contact your legislator's office and ask to speak with their scheduler to set up a meeting. Call member's district offices, in the case of Congressmen and Senators you may be referred to their Washington, D.C. office even if you are setting up an in-district meeting. If you are referred, the main number for the Capitol Hill switchboard is 202-224-3121 and the switchboard can transfer you to any House or Senate office. You can also use Operation Shout! to look up office contact information for your Legislators.
• Invite colleagues, clients, and other NAHU members to attend the meeting. Hearing the same message from businesses, community leaders, and consumers is the best way to make an impact on a member and their position on health care reform.
• Meet prior to the meeting with anyone attending to plan out a strategy. Use this time to map out what you will be discussing, what points you want made, and the focus of the conversation. Make sure to designate a group leader to deliver the key message. This step is the best way to ensure a focused and organized meeting.
• During the meeting make sure to focus on NAHU's principal issues. Ask the member directly for their help in supporting NAHU's position and try and get a clear sense of where the member stands.
• Leave behind NAHU handouts and information so that office has the message in writing. Please reference NAHU's online store to order brochures and review PDFs of our materials. Also reference NAHU's issues page where you can find issue summaries on some of the top policy issues in health care. These issue summaries contain a concise description of the issue, NAHU's position, and talking points.
• After the meeting, every participant should write an individual thank-you note expressing your appreciation to the legislator, any staff member present at the meeting, and any staff member that helped facilitate the meeting.
• Following the meeting, make sure to go to NAHU's feedback forum and enter information about your meeting. Reporting grassroots activity is essential for NAHU to measure problems, concerns, and support.

Grasstops

Sometimes NAHU needs to act quickly on a particular piece of legislation and needs members to make personal phone calls to their elected officials. In such urgent situations, NAHU needs the help of members who know their elected officals personally and can contact them at a moments notice.

If you are related to, friends with, or have another personal connection with a member of Congress, governor, state legislator, or insurance commissioner, NAHU needs to know! Please fill out NAHU's Grasstops form.

Coordinated grassroots and grasstops advocacy is the key to making an impact in the health care policy debate. NAHU's success in contacting legislators and being part of the debate is dependent on making our presence known on every level.

Adopt-A-Candidate

NAHU's "Adopt-A-Candidate" program is designed to provide our members the tools needed to become active in the political campaign arena in order to further NAHU's philosophy and agenda.

Candidates running for office can serve as a great resource to helping NAHU spread our philosophy and agenda to the American public. Talking to candidates prior to them being elected opens many doors for NAHU's positions and policies. Not only will it help us create and nurture a working relationship when they do take office, but it will also give us the opportunity to help shape the candidates health care reform positions.

If you are interested in learning more about the Adopt-A-Candidate program please read through our guide that gives an overview of steps and procedures for NAHU members to "adopt-a-candidate."

• NAHU's Adopt-A-Candidate Program

Additional Resources

• Legislative Resources - Learn about additional legislative resources that are available to NAHU members.
• Federal Legislative Process - How is a bill drafted? How does a bill become law? This document will go step-by-step through the federal legislative process.
• Grassroots, Grasstops and You - All Politics Is Local - National Association of Health Underwriters (Power Point Presentation).

For more information, please contact Danielle Jaffee.

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