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For my work on Monday, 10/28/2013 I had three fairly straightforward assignments.  First I updated a coalition informational sheet about the ACA.  The document offered a guide for women when choosing a healthcare plan under the new act, and we wanted to add to it a section on the materials necessary for actually registering – things like social security numbers, tax information, etc.  Having been given both the original handout and the necessary new information, this simply meant reformatting the original document to make space for the new information and then adding that information in a consistent format. 

This kind of work, simple as it is to perform, is still very satisfying for the intentions that it represents.  By preparing and distributing this information, my organization is able to involve itself in the interests of the community in a direct and important way.  Having already reached an internal and community consensus that affordable healthcare is a legitimate pursuit for our organization with the interests of the community – a consensus formed by conferences, summits, engagement with direct service organizations, and informal discussions with the community (e.g. tabling), among other methods – getting to provide a clear guide for how individuals can utilize its benefits feels very honest and honestly helpful. 

My second task was one I have done numerous times in the past: creating a spreadsheet with contact information from postcards that community members people have signed, as well as updating an existing spreadsheet with data for how may postcards were collected from different events.  The postcards in question are cards that express support for an anti-human trafficking bill currently making its way through the PA Senate, and are addressed to the senator representing whoever has signed the card.  This then becomes the last part of this task – based on the address provided by whoever has signed the card, I look up who their senator is and write in their information so the postcards can be delivered.

The first two components of this work have clear organizational rationale – keeping track of how successful we are at getting people to sign the postcards is an indicator both of community interest and the effect of this advocacy method on the front of public education (as opposed to the effect it may have on the legislative process).  Likewise, maintaining contact information allows the organization to build up the number of people it is in communication with in the community, which is useful for feedback, accountability, public education, and advocacy.

The last component – addressing the postcards – brings the process into the dynamics of the particular efficacy of this action.  Still on the side of public education, the postcards seem in many ways to have a positive effect.  From my experiences tabling for the organization, people are often shocked to hear about the reality of human trafficking in Pennsylvania, and are then very interested in signing a card, as well as taking information and signing up to receive further updates.  On the legislative side, I don’t know what the effect is.  We send in many of these postcards, but ultimately that is just a small drop in the bucket of the amount of correspondence of this nature that a legislator receives; the difference ours makes may be negligible; I don’t know.  But simply for the impact these postcards have on community awareness and interest they are a positive action.

My last task was to go through healthcare.gov – the enrollment site for the ACA – in order to assemble a spreadsheet of what plans are offered in each of the counties served by the organization, both for individuals and individuals with children (in Pennsylvania, unlike other states, the plans offered vary by county).  Ultimately, the data I collected will be used to compare what benefits are offered by each plan, and from that compile a guide for women outlining what benefits are most crucial for women’s health and where they are offered.  While the actual work in this case got fairly repetitive – as it turns out, the counties we serve have nearly identical offerings – I was happy to contribute to the beginning of another small initiative that is ultimately very helpful to women in our communities (very similarly to the document I worked on in the beginning of the day).

Overall, my work this day brought back to mind the reactions I had to the essay on Arendt and Foucault.  In seeking to blend creativity and thinking outside institutions while also acknowledging real needs and the positive effects that existing institutions can still offer, the ACA is a good case study.  Universal, more affordable healthcare is a wonderful goal, and constitutes a major legislative and social step forward in our country – even with the massive backlash is has had and continues to experience.  The ACA is unquestionably a product of our political institutions and as such reflects both many of its flaws and more positive aspects; but in terms of the ACA’s real effect on people’s lives, it is something we should absolutely be embracing as enthusiastically as we are.  In this way, while the way we advocate and engage with the institutions responsible for affecting and implementing the ACA should perhaps be rethought in some ways, also spending time making sure that the benefits the ACA offers are taken advantage of is critical.