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Communications Tools
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Toolkits | Messaging | Presentations | Media Outreach | Social Media Outreach | Policymaker OutreachToolkits
- Super Committee Outreach Materials Community Catalyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Georgetown Center for Children and Families, and Families USA worked together to create a single document that includes links to communications tools and templates as well as policy resources to assist your Super Committee outreach efforts.
- Recess Guide to Defending Medicaid Medicaid is at risk - and so are the seniors, people with disabilities and children who rely on it for medical care. This guide provides ideas, templates, talking points and tools for activities to defend Medicaid during Congressional recess.
- Storybanking Guide This online tool includes tips, hints and examples to find stories, collect and vet them, and to share them with your audience.
- Sample Public Education Communications Plan This document outlines tactics and ideas and includes many of the templates and materials linked from this webpage. Use this to build a public education communications plan for your organization.
Messaging
- Talking Points: Promoting Racial and Ethnic Health Equity through Exchanges to Policymakers Health insurance Exchanges provide paths to advance racial and ethnic health equity. Communicating this opportunity to policymakers is vital for moving Exchange policies that will ensure Exchanges better serve a diverse population. This is companion material to our report: Promoting Racial and Ethnic Health Equity through Exchanges.
- from Herndon Alliance: Communications Tips for Educating and Engaging Women New research research shows that women are a critical - and winnable audience in efforts to build support for teh Affordable Care Act.
- Talking Points on Changing the Medical Loss Ratio Standard As the NAIC continues to discuss proposals to change the MLR definition, commissioners need to hear from advocates that removing broker fees will weaken the standard, decrease the rebates to consumers and make it more difficultto know how premium dollars are spent.
- Medical Loss Ratios and State Waivers: Background and Talking Points The Medical Loss Ratio standards provide important protections for consumers who are struggling under increasing health care costs. When states apply for waivers, local advocates need to weigh in immediately on this issue to ensure consumers get the most value for their premium dollars.
- from Herndon Alliance - Medicaid Polling This document compiles recent polling information showing public support for Medicaid. Advocates can use this with policymakers to help encourage their public support of the program.
- From national partners - Medicaid Messaging Guide and Defense Messages With national partners, we created this guide to help advocates garner support for Medicaid, and fight back against specific attacks on the program.
- Legal Challenges: Pivot back to law's benefits These talking points show, regardless of which legal challenge, advocates can use the opportunity to pivot and point to the benefits the law brings to people.
- From National Partners - Talking Points: Legal Challenges to the ACA These talking points can be used in response to questions that arise as the legal challenges make their way through the courts, and to pivot to the benefits of the law and current issues.
- A Year Later, the False Attacks Continue From the Center for American Progress, a document that hits back on false attacks on the ACA.
- From national partners - Messaging: Moving Forward…Protecting Our Care From our national partners, messaging for specific audiences including women, seniors, small businesses and young adults to help you engage your communities.
- From national partners - Fact Sheet: Moving Forward…Protecting Our Care This fact sheet includes messaging for general audiences and supporting facts and information about provisions in the ACA.
- From national partners - Moving Forward…Protecting Women’s Health Care This fact sheet includes messages to engage women and supporting facts and information.
- From national partners - Moving Forward…Protecting Small Businesses This fact sheet includes messages that resonate with small business owners and facts and supporting information to help engage this important audience.
- From national partners - Moving Forward…Protecting Young Adults To help engage young adults, this fact sheet includes messaging and supporting facts about provisions that resonate with this audience.
- From national partners - Moving Forward…Protecting Seniors Care This fact sheet includes messaging to engage seniors as well as information about the provisions that impact this constituency.
- From Herndon Alliance - Exchanges Messaging This includes big picture information as well as talking points to help engage your communities around Exchanges.
- From Herndon Alliance - Messages on Coordinated Care This includes big picture information and talking points about coordinated patient care.
- From Herndon Alliance - Messages on Payment Reform (Quality Care Pricing) This offers big picture framing and talking points for the tricky-but-worthwhile conversations about quality care pricing in your community.
- Talking Points to Fight Attacks on the Affordable Care Act Using specific provisions and stories from your community, this table can help you tailor messages to your network – and in your own outreach to your state or federal policymakers.
Presentations
- Template Partner Outreach Email Tailor this email to ask to your network to help create opportunities to educate the public about the health law, and to engage them in outreach.
- Template Presentation: How the health law helps you and your family Use this PPT to build a presentation that will resonate with different audiences. (Note: it has a lot of information and images and takes a little while to download).
- Top Five Activities for Citizen Advocates This one-pager suggests opportunities for members of the community to engage in supporting the ACA. Tailor this for your organization's efforts, and use the activities in our 'Building Core Messages' to engage your key audiences.
- Building Core Messages Use this tool to help build effective messages to engage your target audiences.
Media Outreach
- Template Reporter Pitch Email Use these template pitches to reach out to reporters with stories about consumers that have been helped by the law.
- Template Letter to the Editor Tailor this template Letter to the Editor or use it as a guide for members of your network.
- Template Op-Eds Tailor our two op-eds (one with a personal story, one without) with local information and details to send to your newspaper.
- From national partners - Template Op-Eds From our national partners, this document contains template op-eds from the points of view of specific populations as well as more general options.
Social Media Outreach
- Twitter 101 This one-pager will help get you started on twitter and provides sample tweets for celebrating the ACA at one.
- Facebook 101 This one-pager will help you get starting on Facebook and figure out how to use it strategically in your public education efforts.
- Facebook Status Take some suggestions from our 'updates' to engage your network and your community around the ACA anniversary and beyond.
- Video Tipsheet This one-pager offers pointers and strategies so you can make your videos most effective.
Policymaker Outreach
- Recess Guide to Defending Medicaid Medicaid is at risk - and so are the seniors, people with disabilities and children who rely on it for medical care. This guide provides ideas, templates, talking points and tools for activities to defend Medicaid during Congressional recess.
- How to Build and Maintain Relationships with State Officials This document provides a guide for working with state officials and their staff and also shares best practices in developing and cultivating these relationships.
- Tips for Working With Legislators This outlines research to get to know your legislator as well as an outline for a successful meeting with members of your delegation.
- Template letter to legislator Use this template to help members of your community engage their representatives and share their stories.
