AAP News Vol. 15 No. 5 May 1999, p. 12
© 1999 American Academy of Pediatrics
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Wyoming chapter wins big SCHIP victory for state children

Luann Zanzola

Wyoming AAP members used familiar tactics — but on a slightly different scale — to win their long battle for children's health insurance.

The main tactic? "Just personal contact," said Robert Prentice, M.D., FAAP, chapter president and a general pediatrician in private practice at Cheyenne's Children's Clinic. "No formal committees. No Kiwanis or Lions Club. We were talking with the legislators directly."

As to scale, the Wyoming AAP chapter has only 42 members to cover the state's nearly 98,000 square miles. When it comes to advocacy efforts, Dr. Prentice observed, "We don't have committees; we have people."

As Gov. Jim Geringer in March signed H.B. 100 into law, Wyoming became the 49th state to approve funds for Title XXI, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). It provides about $40 billion in federal matching funds over 10 years to states that offer health care to uninsured children of low-income working families.