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HealthWatch Wisconsin Conference 2009 A Success!
The second annual HealthWatch Wisconsin Conference was a great success! Thank you to the 165+ attendees, speakers and representatives from throughout the state who joined us to help make it such an informative and useful event. Please click here to purchase conference materials.

Calling all Green Bay Packers Fans!!
Join HealthWatch TODAY for a chance to win indoor club seat tickets to future Packers games. Several drawings are held each season. Click here for more information.

“My Health Insurance Guidebook for Wisconsin 2008” Now Available
ABC for Health is excited to announce the new release of “My Health Insurance Guidebook for Wisconsin 2008.” “Now Wisconsin consumers can effectively fight back and challenge inappropriate denials of coverage by health insurance companies” said author and Public Interest Attorney Bobby Peterson of ABC for Health. This information packed guide will help families and professionals deal with the legal and health issues related to private health insurance. This useful publication helps families understand and assert their rights to care and coverage when an insurance company refuses to pay. The book also includes strategies and legal protections for families dealing with medical debt. For more information, click here.

Become a Member of HealthWatch Wisconsin:
The New Membership Year Runs July 1, 2009-June 30, 2010!

There has never been a better time to become a member of HealthWatch Wisconsin. Whether you are joining for the first time or renewing your membership, you are teaming up with an impressive new effort in Wisconsin that will work to focus and amplify the voices of heath care advocates across the state. Click Here to Register NOW!

Your membership fee of only $20.00 ensures that you are involved in assuring a more sufficient, competent, and coordinated public health workforce that will assist people in accessing health care coverage and services. If that is not enough incentive, joining HealthWatch Wisconsin also means:

o Green Bay Packers Tickets! Membership renders you eligible for the
Packers Tickets Prize Drawings, which happen several times each season!
o Comprehensive online and live trainings on health care coverage programs
o Detailed publications on advocacy strategies and tips
o Discounted registration for conferences and events
o A chance to meet your friends at our Annual Conference-at a great discount

	Congratulations Carola for being the winner of tickets to the November 16th Packers vs Bears game!
	Bobby presents Brenda with tickets to the August 11th Packers vs Bengals game. Congratulations Brenda!
	Bobby and Nora from ABC for Health draw for Packer Tickets

As a member of HealthWatch Wisconsin, you are now eligible to receive the HealthWatch Wisconsin Update, our bi-weekly email update that highlights the latest news, trends, and case tips related to health care coverage and financing. You will be kept current with links to the new HealthWatch Watch Dog, a bi-weekly talk show that spots policy issues and trends relevant to the public health workforce.

HealthWatch Wisconsin members can also participate in selected web-based, health care advocacy training programs designed to help families connect to health care coverage and services.

NEW IN 2008 FOR MEMBERS: By joining HealthWatch for the 2008-2009 membership year, you will receive a FREE PDF copy of the 2008 Edition of My Health Insurance Guide Book for Wisconsin. The comprehensive Health Insurance Guide Book (HIG) is designed to educate families and other service providers in Wisconsin about their legal rights related to health insurance and managed care. How many times have the families you served heard: "CLAIM DENIED." These two simple words can have a devastating effect on a family's budget and emotional wellbeing. A claim denial often means unpaid medical bills that can make recovery from an illness much more complicated and add an extra burden of stress on family members. Families are often too overwhelmed to fully understand their legal options to challenge these denials. The HIG includes information on:

	the major kinds of health insurance plans
	the legal protections afforded by state and federal health insurance law
	how families can pro-actively avoid coverage denials
	how to deal with coverage and claim denials
	special coverage strategies faced by families with children with special health care needs

JOIN HEALTHWATCH TODAY to get this valuable resource to better help the families you see every day!

Please click here to read the Press Release to announce the start of HealthWatch Wisconsin!

A powerful new collaborative public health effort is emerging in Wisconsin. HealthWatch Wisconsin, currently a project of ABC for Health, was funded by the University of Wisconsin Medical School Partnership Fund for a Healthy Future to transform the public health system by assuring a more sufficient, competent, and coordinated public health workforce that will assist people in accessing health care coverage and services. By training a broad spectrum of the public health workforce, HealthWatch Wisconsin will focus and amplify statewide efforts and strategies to connect people to health care and coverage.

By 2010, the statewide HWW organization, through training, technical assistance, collaboration, and coordination, will increase the capacity of at least 400 members of the public health workforce to assure access to health care coverage and services for Wisconsin's un- and under-insured populations. HWW will achieve this goal in the time allotted by following five strategies:

Strategy 1: HealthWatch Wisconsin Council - Establish a HealthWatch Wisconsin Council (HWWC), comprised of a faculty partner and local, regional, and statewide representatives of the public health workforce from all over the state, to facilitate coordination and a flow of information between and among local public health workers.
Strategy 2: Local Coalitions - Promote, develop, and sustain local HealthWatch coalitions through technical assistance, leadership training, and funding.
Strategy 3: Training and Education - HWW will transform the health care landscape by improving the public health workforce's capacity through trainings and interactive web-based educational materials, as well as pre- and post-training competency testing.
Strategy 4: Issue Identification and Tracking - Mine aggregate client counter data from ABC for Health, Inc., to identify issues and barriers to accessing health care coverage and services and develop education and outreach tools, coordinated through local HealthWatch coalitions, to help the public health workforce increase its capacity to serve the un- and under-insured, thereby transforming the health care system.
Strategy 5: Statewide Conference - Convene a statewide conference and training with key statewide stakeholders in the fall of 2007 to develop and promote a focused 2008 training agenda on access to care and coverage for people in Wisconsin.

HealthWatch Wisconsin will become self-sustainable as a membership-driven grassroots organization dedicated to improving access to health care coverage and services for Wisconsin families.

To view the HealthWatch Wisconsin statewide Coalition Network please click here.

Please check our website frequently for updates, developments, and postings. Please contact ABC for Health staff at 1-800-585-4222 with any questions or for more information.

Recent News

HealthWatch Wisconsin is pleased to announce its third season of Green Bay Packer Ticket Drawings! Click here for more information. To view last year's winners please click here

BadgerCare Plus Core Plan Updates Core Plan enrollment starts June 15. Click below for new updates: 1. DHS Powerpoint Apr-May 2009 2. DHS Webcast on Core Plan 3. DHS Core Plan Drugs and Services 4. DHS Core Plan crowd Out BadgerCare Plus for Children and Pregnant women will not change! For more information on covered services, click here

Publications are available for Sale! Click here for pricing information. Members receive many of these publications for FREE!

Advocate’s Training on the BadgerCare Plus Core Plan! Click Here to download a registration form.

HealthWatch Wisconsin Conference CD Available! Please click here to purchase conference materials.

Stay tuned for our next HealthWatch WatchDog Episode, Developing Statewide Coordinated advocacy in wisconsin! Click here for more infomation

1st Annual Dane County HealthWatch Picnic! The Dane County HealthWatch Coalition held it's first annual picnic at Tenney Park in Madison. Thank you to everyone who attended. Please click here to view pictures from the event.

HWW Welcomes Dunn County! Congratulations to Dunn County on the start up of their new HealthWatch Coalition. Click here for details!

Calling all Volunteers! Are you a student looking for some valuable, hands on experience? Are you a professional looking to work on policy issues and health care reform? Contact Brynne at HealthWatch Wisconsin for more information! (bmcbride@safetyweb.org)