Legislative Tools

NAHU's legislative efforts would not be possible without the chapter legislative chairs who oversee all of our legislative and regulatory activities at the grassroots level. NAHU's government affairs staff has developed the following resources to help legislative chairs execute their duties effectively and to help them build strong supporting teams within their chapters.

Legislative Chair Guidebook
This newly developed manual was designed to help our volunteer leaders understand the responsibilities associated with managing their chapter's legislative team and to provide them with the tools they need to do the job successfully.

Legislative Chair Training Sessions - NAHU's government affairs staff conducts four training teleconferences annually for our state and local chapter legislative chairs on the following topics:

• Basic Legislative Chair Training
• Grassroots Activity
• HUPAC and State Political Action Committees
• Advanced Legislative Chair Training

Guidelines for Hiring and Working with a State Lobbyist
NAHU strongly recommends that each state chapter hire a professional lobbyist. For those chapters that have already done so, it is imperative that you have a system in place to manage your representation effectively. These guidelines will help you achieve these objectives.

Speaking with One Voice
One of the most common government affairs problems our chapters face is how to proceed when a legislative committee cannot come to a consensus about how to handle a particular issue. The NAHU Legislative Council and Board of Trustees have developed guidelines on “Speaking with One Voice” for our chapters to use in addressing this issue.

Legislative Chair Reporting Form
A legislative chair serves as the primary link between the chapter and the NAHU government affairs staff, the Legislative Council and the Board of Trustees. For state legislative chairs, the most important way to communicate with national is consistently attending monthly regional legislative teleconferences. NAHU would like legislative chairs to complete this reporting form each month prior to their regional teleconference and submit it to the NAHU staff member assigned to their state and their regional legislative chair.

Grasstops Reporting Form
Each legislative chair must make it a priority to develop an up-to-date list of members who have a personal connection with a member of Congress, governor, state legislator or insurance commissioner and share this list with the NAHU staff. NAHU's Grasstops Reporting Form can help you do this.

State Legislative Defense Fund Application
NAHU knows that a chapter's government affairs efforts can represent one of its most significant expenses. We also know that, on occasion, political events can transpire in a state that may require chapters to spend an extraordinary amount on legislative matters. To help chapters that have a need for financial assistance due to an emergency legislative situation, the NAHU board of trustees created the State Legislative Defense Fund. When completing your application, please note that the approval process for a SLDF application can take several weeks, as the Board of Trustees meets monthly. However, we recognize that in certain cases an expedited review may be necessary. If you would like to request an expedited review or if you have any other questions about this application process, please contact the NAHU staff member assigned to your state.

Communicating with Your Chapter and Policymakers

One of the most important responsibilities that state and local legislative chairs have is keeping the members of their chapters informed and interested about legislative and regulatory matters that may impact the association. It's also important to be proactive and educate policy-makers and the media about the business of insurance. NAHU has developed some presentations that you can use as a template for sharing legislative information with your chapter and policy-makers:

• Operation Shout Presentation
  This one-hour presentation explains the basics of NAHU's grassroots communications tool, Operation Shout.
• Federal Issues Presentation
  Contact NAHU to get copies of and training on our federal issues power point presentation. It's always up-to-date and makes an ideal CE class. We can make the presentation fit your time needs and answer any questions you may have so that you feel comfortable delivering it.
• Health Insurance 101 Briefing Template
  A great way to establish your chapter as a resource for legislators, legislative staff, the media and other groups is to host a Health Insurance 101 Briefing at or near the Capitol. NAHU has developed this template presentation for you to use. To fill in the blanks for your state, consult NAHU's Health Care Coverage Options Database.

Position Statements and Issue Summaries

NAHU encourages all of its state chapters to develop policy position statements on specific issues or bills, as we do at the national level. NAHU's national position statements and issue summaries can be found here.

Policy Resource Materials

Legislative chairs can access the following sources for NAHU-developed policy resource materials.

• Health Care Coverage Options Database
  An online tool to help make American health care consumers aware of all of the coverage options available to them. The Database contains information about private health insurance coverage, as well as the many public and private programs available to help consumers obtain the medical care they need. Policy-makers, the media and other interested parties can also use the Database as a means of comparing health care coverage options for Americans on a state-by-state basis.
  
  
• Analyses of Current Issues
  Detailed analyses of all of the national public policy issues of priority to NAHU, including our position, the views of our opponents, and related resource materials.
  
  
• Legislative Charts and Analyses
  Charts and analyses that illustrate current trends on a variety of federal and state issues related to the health care industry.

The following resource materials specific to state issues, developed by NAHU and other organizations, are requested by our chapter legislative chairs time and time again:

• Analysis of State-Level Health Insurance Market Reforms
  This document identifies some of the key elements of successful health insurance markets, explain why these reforms are important, and give examples of why some state health insurance markets work and why others have failed.
  
  
• Small-Group Market Health Insurance Costs in Selected Mid-Atlantic States
  This study compares group health insurance costs for three fictional small-employer groups in selected Mid-Atlantic states and provides an analysis of each state's regulatory structure, which likely impacts cost.
  
  
• Individual Market Health Insurance Costs — This chart provides a national comparison of individual market health insurance costs and individual health insurance market regulatory factors for low-income families.
  
  
• Council for Affordable Health Insurance's Health Insurance Mandates in the States - 2005
  A state-by-state overview of all mandated health insurance benefit requirements.
  
  
• Rutgers University Center for Health Policy's Assessing Policy Options for the Non-Group Health Insurance Market: Simulation of the Impact of Modified Community Rating in the New Jersey Individual Health Coverage Program
  An overview of how community rating and guarantee-issue requirements have caused a death spiral in the New Jersey individual health insurance market.

Important Contact Information

• Legislative Council Roster
• Board of Trustees
• Staff Directory
• Database of Volunteer Leaders (Includes legislative chairs)

Internet Resources

State and local legislative chairs can obtain additional policy information from these sources:

• State Legislatures - See the Related Links section of the NAHU website under "Internet Sites of the State Legislatures."
• State Insurance Commissioners
• National Association of Insurance Commissioners
• National Conference of Insurance Legislators
• National Governors Association
• National Conference of State Legislators
• American Legislative Exchange Council
• National Association of Comprehensive Health Insurance Pools

Additional Information or Assistance

If you have questions or need more information, please contact the government affairs staff person assigned to your state: Adam Brackemyre (Regions 1 and 2), Megan Mamarella (Regions 3, 4, and 6) or Jennifer Hillert (Regions 5, 7 and 8).

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