It’s Time to Talk Health Care with Your Legislators

By Lynne Ide |

November 6 is over and election results are in.

There is an abundance of post-election analysis out there. Pundits, pollsters, politicians, think tanks, media outlets and advocates all have their spin on what this means for you and me.

Now it’s time to start talking with your incoming state legislators about what YOU want.

They will be sworn in on January 9, 2019 – along with Governor-elect Ned Lamont. There is good reason for you to reach out to them between now and January.

Don’t just let your state senator and representative retreat behind the walls of the Capitol and the inner workings of the legislative process. They were elected to work for you.

Contact them. Introduce yourself (if they don’t already know you). Let them know that you care about health care and that you want action up in Hartford. Tell them you want to start a conversation with them about what our state can do to help.

Here are a few suggestions to get started:

Let them know why you care about health care. Make it personal. Are you stressed by the cost of health care? Do you or someone in your family struggle to get the care they need or pay for medications? What is your health care story?
If you have specific suggestions about what policy solutions you’d like to see, be sure to share them. And ask them to respond to your ideas – what do they think?
Ask them if they have any plans to work on health care. If they say No – let them know that does not work for you and ask them if they need help connecting to resources that can help them. If they say Yes – ask them what they are planning and let them know there are organizations like Universal Health Care Foundation of CT that can be a resource.
Be sure to let them know you want to continue talking with them about this important issue and discuss a plan for follow up with them. Ask the best way to reach them.

You can find the list of who won in each state senate and state representative race here.

Let us know how it goes. We want to know what legislators are saying to you. It will help us be more effective advocates – and we might be able to help with follow up.