State efforts to cover the uninsured could be pivotal in promoting federal action to insure the more than 46 million Americans without coverage, according to experts.
At a panel discussion hosted by the Alliance for Health Reform and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation last week, Pam Dickson, deputy director of RWJ's health care group, said change at the federal level is often based on models that have been shown to work at the state level.
"[T]he energy and passion that states are investing in coverage send a strong message to Washington about the absolute priority of this issue across the country," Dickson said.
Enrique Martinez-Vidal, acting director of the State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) Program, an RWJ-sponsored program that helps states expand insurance, said Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont are in the process of implementing comprehensive reforms, while many other states are continuing to work towards enactment of reforms.
Martinez-Vidal said states are hopeful they can forge ahead to address the issue of the uninsured and are looking to other states for lessons on success and implementation.
"A couple lessons that we've seen is that most states that have been successful have built on previous efforts and previous financing mechanisms," Martinez-Vidal said. "Some of the needed ingredients that we see are leadership, the opportunity, readiness to act and some funding sources."
Joy Johnson Wilson, health policy director for the National Conference of State Legislatures said there is a movement of excitement among state legislators over healthcare with a main focus to shore up the State Children's Health Insurance Programs.
"We've had our challenges over the last few years and I think that certainly Massachusetts, but even the Vermont and Maine experience, have really energized other states to start moving forward undaunted by the challenges that still face us," Wilson said.