Lobbying for RIte Care
4/9/08

RIte Care is Rhode Island’s Medicaid-managed care program for low-income children and families. It is considered one of the most successful public health insurance programs in America. Rhode Island is a leading state in services such as timely prenatal care for pregnant women in the country, has the lowest child death rate and has one of the ten best rates of children’s health insurance coverage. More than 110,000 people currently participate in the program, but a legislative proposal that was on the table in April would deny up to 15,000 individuals from participating.

Brown students, in partnership with the local advocacy group Ocean State Action, have been visiting the State House to assess legislators’ stances on changing RIte Care and to lobby for the preservation of the program’s funding. In April, I visited the State House with experienced second-year students, learned about the lobbying process, and encouraged AMSA members to consider attending the next lobby day. Since the lobbying event in April, cuts have been made to the program and there is more work for advocacy groups to do in defense of RIte Care. AMSA is just beginning to formally join this effort and hopes to increase participation among members next year.

From a June 1st, 2008 article in the Providence Journal:

“Among the 2,800 already removed from RIte Care, just under half are illegal immigrants. But the other half have the right to be here. And all of them are children.

Some, in fact, are very sick children. Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, the HMO that cares for about 60 percent of RIte Care enrollees, including 50,000 children, has tallied the number of its patients who were affected by the RIte Care change. Among those dropped from RIte Care are 54 children with asthma, 50 with attention deficit disorder and eight with diabetes. One is in the midst of treatment for bone cancer and has already lost a leg. One needs a ventilator to breathe and is currently living at the state-run Tavares Center. Several have cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, depression or sickle cell anemia.”

- KH