Tennessee Day at the Capitol Training
2015
Meeting with Elected Officials
Meeting Tips
Quick Tips:
– Be polite, brief and specific
– Be a good listener
– Respect the legislator’s right to disagree. This is
a process.
– If your legislator disagrees, don’t argue
– Be polite to administrative assistants and
support staff
– Don’t get upset if your appointment is cancelled
or your legislator is stuck in a committee
meeting
Your Meeting
• Introduction
– Everyone in the room briefly introduce yourselves
– Remind the legislator you are a constituent
– Tell him/her where you live (I live on S. Main Street)
• Make it Personal
– Share why these issues matter to you
• You’re a survivor, caregiver, etc.
• Make the Ask
– Ask for their support
Your Meeting
• Listen to their Response
• Follow-up
– Write a thank-you note after the meeting
– If they requested more information, make sure you or staff
get back to them
• Report Back
– Complete the report back process
– Fill out the evaluation form
The Issues
How Do You Measure Up?
2014 Edition
Improve Patient Quality of Life
Reduce Stress for Tennesseans with Multiple Prescriptions
Support HB475 (Shepard) / SB497 (Haile)
Patient Ease and Convenience Efficiency (PEACE) Act
•This bill has bi-partisan support
•Is “permissive”: Not mandatory
•Common Sense
•Encourages pharmacists and providers to
communicate, and work with patients to help
them make one trip per month for refills.
Support HB475 (Shepard) / SB497 (Haile)
Patient Ease and Convenience Efficiency (PEACE) Act
• For some patients with limited access to transportation,
making numerous trips to the pharmacy is a very real
barrier to getting the medications they need, and
increases the possibility that they will go without required
medication until they can get to the pharmacy;
• Protects cancer patients from delays and administrative
barriers;
• Ensures they have access to all medically necessary
and appropriate drugs can drastically improve a patient’s
quality of life.
Making the Ask
“Can we count on you to
support HB475/ SB497?”
Improve Quality of Life
Ensure Adequate Pain Management for Cancer Patients
•Addressing pain management is a critical issue to improving the quality of
life of cancer patients and those with other serious illnesses.
ACS CAN supports legislation that recognizes pain management, including
use of controlled substances, as legitimate medical practice and protects
patients in need of pain management.
•˜
Cancer Pain Control: Advancing Balanced State Policy (page 41)
Making the Ask
“Will you please help eliminate
cancer as a major health
problem when you place
your votes on pain
management issues this
session?”
Protect Legislation and Programs that
Reduce the Cancer Burden in Tennessee
• The Tennessee Breast and
Cervical Cancer Screening
Program provides life-saving screening to
uninsured, underserved and
underinsured women who are 40 years
old or older.
• The program is administered by the
Tennessee Department of Health and is
funded by a combination of state and
federal budget appropriations.
TN Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program
State funding for the Tennessee Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening
Program stands at $1 million annually
– About 14,000 women a year are
screened through the program.
– The need is much greater – only
16% of the 85,000 eligible women
in the state are screened.
– Every woman who is eligible for the
program deserves to be screened.
– Early detection saves lives.
Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening
Why is this program important?
– When breast cancer is
detected early, at a localized
stage, the 5-year survival rate
is 99%.
– When detected at a later
stage, the 5-year survival rate
drops to 24%.
Funding for Breast and Cervical
Cancer Screening (page 34)
– Evidence suggests that
women eligible for this
program
• have lower overall
screening rates,
• begin screenings later in
life,
• go longer between
screenings and are
challenged in getting
treatment if they are
diagnosed with cancer.
Protect Legislation and Programs that
Reduce the Cancer Burden in Tennessee
TennCare Tobacco Cessation Program
– Thousands of Tennesseans die
every year from smoking
– The cost of treating tobaccorelated illness is a burden on our
health care system.
– Because of the high number of
tobacco users on TennCare, the
state bears much of the cost for
treatment of tobacco related
illness.
Maintaining state funding for tobacco cessation services will
help smokers kick the habit and reduce health care costs.
Making the Ask
• “Can we count on you to preserve and protect
funding for Tennessee’s Breast Cancer and
Cervical Cancer Screening Program? that is in
the Governor’s budget now?”
• “Will you support continued funding
for Tenncare’s Smoking Cessation
program, too?”
Improve Access to Health Care
Broaden Access to Health Coverage for Low-Income
Tennesseans
• Adequate access to health coverage
is critically important to the American
Cancer Society Cancer Action
Network’s effort of eliminating
cancer as a major health problem.
• Tennesseans lacking health insurance
are less likely to get recommended
cancer screenings so are more likely
to be diagnosed with late stage
cancer, when it is more costly to treat
and patients are less likely to survive.
Improve Access to Health Care
• An estimated 36,580 new cancer cases will be diagnosed in
Tennessee this year and 14,080 people will die from this disease.
• One in two men and one in three women are expected to be
diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
• Hard-working, low-income families need the security of quality
health coverage to get life-saving care when they need it, without
facing huge medical bills.
Improve Access to Health Care
• ˜An estimated 363,000 Tennesseans would become eligible for
health care insurance coverage if the state accepted federal funds,
resulting in millions of taxpayer dollars being saved that are currently
spent to treat uninsured state residents in emergency rooms.
• ˜ACS CAN encourages state leaders to accept federal funds
available to help prevent and treat serious diseases such as cancer
and support Governor Haslam’s Insure Tennessee plan.
Making the Ask
“Will you please consider can help
eliminate cancer as a major health
problem if you are asked to support a
bill that expands access to health care
coverage in Tennessee?
Save Lives by Increasing Tennessee’s
Tobacco Tax
We need to build support among lawmakers to increase
Tennessee’s tobacco tax.
Tennessee’s tobacco tax is 62 cents per pack
of cigarettes.
11th lowest tax in the nation.
Tennessee last raised its tobacco tax in 2007.
The average state tobacco tax is $1.53.
Tobacco Excise Taxes (page 5)
Tobacco Tax Increase
Why raise the tobacco tax
in Tennessee?
• Raising the state tax on
cigarettes by a minimum of
$1.00 and by an equivalent
amount on other tobacco
products would:
Prevent at least 45,500
children from becoming
tobacco users.
•
š
š
•Save at least 28,900 lives
from premature death from
tobacco use.
•šGenerate a minimum of
$271.84 million in new,
annual tax revenue.
Tobacco Tax Increase
• Why is this important?
–
–
–
–
–
21% (73,700) Tennessee high school students smoke
7,600 kids become new daily smokers.
19% of adults smoke
9,700 adults die from their own smoking each year
Tennessee spends $2.16 billion on health care costs directly
related to smoking.
Why raise the tobacco tax in Tennessee?
A $1 increase in the tobacco tax would reduce youth
smoking by 7-8%
Making the Ask
• “May we continue to talk with you about
the cost of smoking to Tennessee and
raising the tobacco tax to cover it?”
What Did You Learn?
Our Issues
 HB475 (Shepard) / SB497 (Haile)
 Preserve Funding the Breast and Cervical Cancer
Screening Program
 Preserve Funding TennCare Smoking Cessation
 Expand Access to Health Care for Uninsured
Tennesseans
 Build Support for a Tobacco Tax Increase
See you in Nashville on
Tuesday, March 3!
Old Senate Library
State Capitol
8:30 a.m. CT