3211.0: Monday, October 22, 2001: 4:30 PM-6:00 PM |
Oral Session |
| "Power to the People"; A Tobacco Settlement Initiative Success in Arizona: A Tribute to Andrew W. Nichols, MD, MPH |
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| In 1996 the voters of Arizona approved the Healthy Arizona Initiative, a measure designed to increase the eligibility level for
the State’s Medicaid program to 100% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) from a then current 34% FPL standard. Because the state
insisted on a “capped” benefit expansion the initiative was not implemented. In 1999 the sponsoring
group for the 1996 initiative launched a new initiative campaign--“Healthy Arizona Initiative 2.” This new initiative maintained the same
beneficiaries as the original, but drew upon two new and fundamental realities. First, due to failure to implement the first initiative, the
voters in 1998 had passed a constitutional protection for all initiatives passed that year and thereafter and, second, the state then had
been awarded its share of the tobacco settlement (projected at $3.2 billion over 25 years for Arizona) and there was no clear policy how
it should be spent. Accordingly, the new initiative stipulated that the measures it was supporting would receive priority funding from the
tobacco settlement, that all settlement money would go to health. The signature gathering and voter support efforts for Proposition 204
were classic examples of citizen’s action in the face of a determined and well-financed opposition. The Healthy Arizona Initiative 2
Committee obtained 172,000 signatures and prevailed by a substantial margin in the November 2000 election, carrying every county in
the state. An initiative success had been achieved and “people power” had prevailed. The Healthy Arizona Initiative is now the law and
fully in effect. |
| Learning Objectives: At the end of the session the “learner” will: 1.) Know how tobacco control and other public health advocates in
Arizona organized to ensure that federal monies would go to public health purposes; 2.) Better understand how to attract supporters and
counter opponents for the benefit of the public’s health, as opposed to special interests and/or “general fund” uses; 3.) Become familiar
with the methodology of initiative design, development, passage, implementation and maintenance; 4.) Place the Healthy Arizona 2
Initiative in perspective with respect to other initiatives in Arizona and elsewhere, better knowing how to use this tool in other settings;
and 5.) Gain an appreciation of “people power” as a potentially successful means of achieving public health policy when traditional
methods, such as education and lobbying fail. |
| Discussant(s): | Catherine A. Nichols, MA |
| Moderator(s): | Alison Hughes, MPA |
| Organizer(s): | Christopher Knowles, MPA |
| Sponsor: | Medical Care |
| Cosponsors: | Socialist Caucus; Women's Caucus |
| CE Credits: | CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing, Pharmacy, Social Work |