Health Policy Grief

Not enough people will notice, but last week marked the passing of an era. The National Health Policy Forum, an important behind-the-scenes, never in-your-face, non-partisan educator of those who craft the nation’s health policies in Washington shuttered its doors. Financial support from those who understood the value of educating policymakers dried up. There was no way to keep going. Judy Miller Jones, National Health Policy Forum Founder & Director I was not there in the earliest years in the 1970s when it began, but was a real fan in the 1980s Reagan years when the health policy community was still small enough to fit into Judy Miller Jones’ living room, eating pizza and talking policy into the wee hours. Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, out of the glare of the public eye, trying to solve the nation’s problems. Yes, we did that. We really did that. Unless you were there, you would not know the impact and how it helped your life then…and today. Whatever anyone might have seen in the public eye as reported in the news and as danced in the politics of the day, behind the scenes, we were working together to try to make things better. That’s the way that it works; when it works, that is. The organization was founded because the ‘both sides’ of the Congress and the ‘both ends’ of Pennsylvania Avenue weren’t talking to one another. Judy created a safe space to do that. She made fried chicken at the start and met people with a meal and...
Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Advocacy Champions Policy Source Type: blogs