Sheets to Spearhead Action Plan for People with Limb Loss

Knoxville, Tennessee – The Amputee Coalition of America is proud to announce the hiring of Morgan Sheets as campaign director for the Action Plan for People with Limb Loss (APPLL).

The APPLL campaign will work with stakeholders, activists and coalition partners throughout the country to develop policy recommendations to address the healthcare needs of people with limb loss.

“With Morgan in place, the ACA will be able to offer strategic planning, guidance and assistance in parity legislation to grassroots activists and industry partners nationwide,” states Paddy Rossbach, ACA President/CEO.

ACA has grown to a point where it needs to expand its national presence. Therefore, the ACA national campaign policy office will be located in Washington, D.C.

“An office in Washington will provide the ACA with a higher profile and will allow us to advance federal legislation in the long-term,” adds Sheets.

Morgan Sheets is no stranger to state and federal advocacy efforts. She managed a national field program around women’s health issues and ran a statewide political organization involving access to care and equitable insurance coverage. Sheets also coordinated a national training program which included strategic planning, a mentoring program, nonprofit staff development, and training grassroots activists’ in organizational skills. Sheets states, “I am excited to join the Amputee Coalition of America and build on their amazing work in empowering amputees to improve their quality of life.”

Activists and those interested in supporting ACA’s parity efforts may contact Sheets by calling the ACA’s headquarters toll-free at 888/267-5669, directly at 202/302-4373 or via e-mail at msheets@amputee-coalition.org.

To learn more about APPLL, please visit the web site at www.amputee-coalition.org/aca_advocacy.html or call the ACA toll-free 888/AMP-KNOW (888/267-5669).

Taking Action on ACA’s Fight for Parity
By Morgan Sheets, ACA National Campaign Director

People living with the loss or absence of a limb are facing discouraging obstacles when trying to obtain prosthetic and orthotic care. Right now countless people with limb loss are being told that their insurance company restricts them to one prosthesis per lifetime or to $2,500 per year or less in prosthetic care. One way to resolve access and coverage issues is to push for insurance parity, that is, insurance coverage of appropriate prosthetic care. To take on the critical challenge of advancing insurance parity and ensure that people are given the care they need, the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) launched APPLL, the Action Plan for People with Limb Loss.

At the beginning of January, key staff met to finalize a campaign plan for 2006. The plan targets five state legislatures for the passage of parity bills in 2006. We will provide the necessary guidance and assistance to local groups to help facilitate their organizing, fundraising and communications efforts.

Over the next two years, we will continue to monitor state activity and provide assistance in up to 11 other key states. The goal is to pass parity legislation in these states by 2008.

As the campaign grows, we plan to hire additional staff to help meet fundraising and program goals. We will also offer on the ground staff support at the state level during key times in the campaign.

In addition to our efforts to pass state legislation, APPLL will work over the next few years to develop the capacity and infrastructure needed to launch a federal advocacy program.

The APPLL campaign will help provide ACA the platform to increase our national presence and significantly increase fundraising opportunities. Increased funding will help to further ACA’s mission as a whole and give us the opportunity to continue to expand our programs and services.

Coalition outreach will be critical to the success of APPLL. The ACA already has strong ties with many providers and like minded organizations. We will continue to expand these outreach initiatives and build our networks in order to strengthen and enhance the campaign.

Good news in the fight for parity
By Morgan Sheets, National Campaign Director

The efforts to win insurance parity took a huge step forward in New Jersey. On January 29th, the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee heard A1011, a bill that would require health benefits coverage for orthotic and prosthetic appliances. Chairperson, Assemblyman Neil Cohen indicated that the bill will move out of committee. An official vote will be held before it moves to the floor." Chairman Cohen said that the fiscal impact of the bill appeared to be "nominal" and that there was no reason to keep it from moving forward.

In 2004, Assemblyman Vincent Prieto,Assemblyman Brian P. Stack and Assemblyman Neil M. Cohen sponsored A2774 a similar bill to cover and reimburse care for people with limb loss. The bill never left committee. That makes the recent progress even more exciting.

This recent victory would not have been possible without the many ACA members in NJ who called and wrote to members of the Insurance Committee. Their actions truly made a difference.

We still have a lot of work to do, not only in New Jersey, but all across this country to get parity bills passed, but with the continued activism of our members, we are confident that we will continue to make progress.