ACTS-CNY

In September 2007 after the extensive listening campaign in the congregations and associations involved with ACTS, health care became one of the issues chosen at the Issues Assembly.

After much research and development, the core issue that was refined and presented at the Public Meeting on November 18, 2007 was the 7500 children in Onondaga County who are without health insurance according to Dr. Cynthia Morrow, Onondaga County Health Commissioner. Dr. Morrow indicated that the children are qualified for the public insurance yet are not covered. At the Public Meeting, we received positive answers from potential allies from Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney, Congressman Jim Walsh, State Assembly members Al Stirpe, Joan Christensen, SEIU and others.

Since November, the members of the task force have been very busy establishing partnerships with various stakeholders. We have been blessed to have an Intern, Monique Brantley from Syracuse University who is helping with data analysis. We have also begun collaboration with the insurers who provide the coverage, the Onondaga County DSS office, the New York State Health Department, Syracuse Community Health Center, County Health Department, County Executive’s office, Governor Paterson’s office and have been meeting monthly. We have been receiving many calls asking to work with us to help solve this issue of children without coverage.

Our most recent meeting of the collaborative group was held on Thursday, March 20, at which there were representatives from all stakeholder groups. We discussed the barriers to enrolling families and the system as it exists now. The governor’s office can certainly help us and a letter is being formulated to him about our needs in helping remove some of the barriers. Amanda Nestor of the Onondaga County Health Department will work on a draft letter. We envision having something to report from the governor’s office by our banquet in May.

The goal of the health care task force is to have a system in place to identify the 7500 children, enroll them and prevent our children from falling through the cracks in the future. With the help of our partners, we expect to accomplish our initial goal and to have a foundation to explore future areas of concern in health care.

Linda Ervin