State of Our Coalition: 3 Ways CHF is Building a Stronger Advocacy Network to Increase Health Funding

President Biden delivered his first State of the Union address March 2nd. While State of the Union speeches have become Washington’s version of the Academy Awards with special guests, paparazzi, flood lights grazing the Capitol, and giddy news correspondents reporting from Capitol-facing rooftops and balconies, this year’s mood was much more somber – the security fence surrounding the Capitol complex was back up, the chamber was half-filled, and the focus was on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yes, even in this tense environment, President Biden declared, “the state of our union is strong.”

I am sure fellow CHFers were following (and tweeting) along with the President’s speech. I suspect many of you were listening for a mention of your organization’s priority program, such as the Cancer Moonshot, mental health, COVID-19 testing, insulin pricing, and pandemic response. 

Likewise, when the FY 2022 omnibus was finalized later in March, we all anxiously looked for the funding increases we fought so hard for. There were highs and lows in the final bill, and while our organizations were focused on individual pieces of health funding and policy, as president of CHF, I want to report that the state of our coalition is strong because together we are building a stronger advocacy network to increase health funding. Here’s how:

Education & Advocacy – We have never lost our focus to increase health funding for all Function 550 programs. We have created educational programs for both our members and congressional staff to better understand the budget and appropriations process and we are coordinating advocacy activities for our members to share our messages and provide greater access to congressional offices. This includes:

  • Our CHF newsletter with updates on all things health funding, scoops on new developments, and opportunities for member organizations to promote your organization’s activities.

  • Real time analysis of legislation and budget proposals. This month we shared analysis of the SOTU, the FY 2022 omnibus and now the President’s FY 2023 budget request.

  • Our signature Budget Bootcamp as well as a new program in April on how to work with Congress and federal agencies on report language.

  • Conversations with appropriators and their staff.

  • A CHF Hill Day in May for our members to discuss the importance of sustained, robust, public health funding.

  • Collaboration with the Campaign to Invest in America’s Workforce, the Coalition on Human Needs, and Committee for Education Funding to advocate for a robust 302(b) allocation in the FY 2023 Labor-HHS bill.

  • Timely press statements on health funding developments.

  • Up to date information for our members on appropriations deadlines.

  • Toolkits for advocacy, social media, and communications to make our member organizations advocacy easier.

Membership Recruitment – CHF is a trusted policy advisor. CHF is the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit alliance working to preserve public health investments in the interest of all Americans. Our members together represent more than 100 million patients and consumers, health providers, professionals, and researchers. Together we are a powerful voice, but we are launching a membership recruitment initiative to increase our membership and our collective volume to increase health funding. More details coming later this spring and we look forward to working with you to recruit your colleagues and greater diversity of member organizations and organizations representing underrepresented minority interests into our fold.

Membership Services – We also want to help our members by providing professional development and networking opportunities. We will continuously offer opportunities for member engagement, participation on committees and task forces, as well as social events to gather and network with each other. We also will continue to share job links in our newsletter. For many of us, CHF has been a cornerstone of our careers in health policy. We have developed friendships and made professional connections that have helped us sharpen our skills and experience and advance positions.

These 3 pillars:  education and advocacy, membership recruitment, and membership services are keys to our success in increasing health funding. Together, I believe we are much stronger than our individual organizations and together we can make a difference. look forward to working with you and I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave me a comment below.

Noah Hammes