Coverage of Affordable Care Act

Publication No. 21

Research and Reporting on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 

Role

Researcher, reporter and photographer

Impact

This collection of research and reporting on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is noteworthy because of the historic nature and importance of health reform as well as the vital need to enhance understanding and awareness among citizens, regardless of their stance. These articles brought much-needed attention to unreported and underreported aspects of health reform. They also provided customized content relevant to African Americans.

They are an outgrowth of my initial coverage of the inaugural three-day arguments at U.S. Supreme Court and later challenges there. In both cases, I was one of just a few African-American journalists credentialed to cover the proceedings. My work has appeared in a variety of publications and websites before, during and after the hearings, which have also been highlighted in my classes at Howard University as well as with high school students in the Urban Health Media Project under our $300,000 Kellogg grant.

My research and preparation also included participation in a National Press Foundation webinar, seminars sponsored by the Association of Health Care Journalists and Kaiser Health News, along with a White House town hall and briefings with the Secretary of Health and other cabinet members. I conducted some of the reporting with support from the Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, a project of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA)  and New America Media, with funding from the Silver Century Foundation.

The components of this compilation have had widespread distribution, including:

• BlackAmericaWeb.com, the companion site for the Tom Joyner Morning Show, the No. 1 nationally syndicated radio programs with nearly 8 million listeners and 1.5 million unique visitors monthly on its website
• Afro-American Newspapers: 12,767 in print; on the web, 7,070 daily unique visitors and 35,350 page views
• National Newspaper Publishers Association: circulates to 200 member newspapers
• TheGrio.com, formerly a division of MSNBC: 654,399 unique visitors monthly and 1.5 million page views
• New America Media, a multi-language coalition of 3,000 ethnic publications and websites
• Picked up by other outlets such as El Hispanic News, International Examiner for Asian Pacific Islanders in Seattle, TheBlackDaily.com and BlackHealthMatters.com.

Here are representative samples of follow-up articles to the initial coverage:

• “What the Affordable Care Act provides for breast cancer” http://thegrio.com/2013/10/03/what-the-affordable-care-act-provides-for-breast-cancer/, Oct. 3, 2013
• “Affordable Care Act Returns to Supreme Court,” http://fierceforblackwomen.com/2015/03/04/supreme-court-weighs-challenges-to-affordable-care-act/
• “Uninsured Rate Down 35% — Largest Drop in 4 Decades,” http://fierceforblackwomen.com/2015/03/16/uninsured-rate-down-35-largest-drop-in-4-decades/
• “Health Advocates Praise Supreme Court Vote for Obamacare” http://fierceforblackwomen.com/2015/06/25/health-advocates-praise-supreme-court-vote-for-obamacare/
• “How Obamacare Improved the Nation’s Health” http://afro.com/obamacare-improved-nations-health/

This collection meets criteria No. 10 set forth on page 10 in Appendix A of Recommendation 305-2015as an Exemplary Creative/Professional Activity:

Criteria No. 10. Authorship of works such as articles, reviews, commentaries, multimedia, and/or other creative projects published or broadcast locally, nationally or internationally in newspapers, magazines, popular or industry-specific media (e.g., PR Tactics, JAE, Folio, AJR, CJR etc.) or on the Internet if they demonstrate high standards in the practice of the discipline. This can include:

• A collection of short reported pieces about a single subject or a substantive collection on diverse subjects.

Physicians from the National Medical Association gather on the steps of U.S. Supreme Court to show their support for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. (Photo: Yanick Rice Lamb)