One of the most aggressive and forward-looking groups under the APMA umbrella is the Podiatry Political Action Committee (PPAC). It is appropriate that the word “Action” is an integral part of its name, because taking action is what PPAC is all about.
This month, PPAC will surpass its goal of $500,000 for 2005—and, amazingly, there are still three months remaining before the close of the current campaign.
Raising more than half a million dollars through voluntary contributions from an association as small as ours is a remarkable achievement, and yet a dedicated portion of our membership has been doing it with amazing regularity. This kind of generosity and commitment to supporting PPAC speaks volumes about PPAC’s supporters, whose names you see published every month in the pages of APMA NEWS. These are the members who clearly view the support of PPAC as a duty—a tangible way to make things better, through political action, for practitioners today and for those who will follow in the years to come.
The sad reality, however, is that a mere 19 percent of APMA’s membership is currently commited to PPAC, yet all members—and even nonmembers of APMA—reap the benefits of effective political action. Can you imagine the impact that APMA could have in Congress if every member of APMA made a commitment to PPAC? The result would rock Capitol Hill.
Contributors who make up the 19 percent are seeing their money put to good use. More than ever, podiatric medicine is a regular topic of conversation in the halls of Congress, and through the growing number of home fund-raisers being held to support congressional candidates with views favorable to our profession, members of APMA are forging important friendships with individual members of Congress. These “charter champions,” who host home fund-raisers, are out to “connect the dots” between podiatrists all across the nation and their senators and representatives. I am proud to identify myself as one of PPAC’s “charter champions,” and I urge you to join me in the endeavor.
The reason for all of PPAC’s activity is our legislative agenda: the “laundry list” of political issues critical to APMA. Topping the list is the passage of legislation to define podiatrists as “physicians” in the Medicaid law. Such legislation would ensure that Medicaid recipients have uninterrupted access to services from podiatrists and would also relieve state podiatric medical associations from the burden of guaranteeing that podiatrists are not excluded from Medicaid at the state level. Since this legislation was reintroduced into the current Congress, more than 121 representatives and 15 senators have signed on as cosponsors.
This is an issue that should inspire 100 percent of APMA’s membership to get on the PPAC bandwagon. Besides providing financial support, all APMA members can help by visiting, writing, and calling their senators and representatives, requesting their support for House bill HR 699 and Senate bill S 440—our Title XIX bills. APMA makes it easy to contact your representatives through our eAdvocacy Web site at www.apma.org/eadvocacy. There, you can also review other issues being lobbied by APMA, view legislation that is being tracked by APMA, learn who the members of Congress are that represent you, and find out where they stand on issues of importance to you and podiatric medicine.
I commend the work of Trustee Ronald D. Jensen, DPM, chair of our Legislative Committee, and its members: Trustees Michael J. King, DPM, Matthew G. Garoufalis, DPM, and Ross E. Taubman, DPM; Richard Altwerger, DPM; and Thomas S. Godfryd, DPM, who is also the visionary and long-serving chair of PPAC.
I heartily congratulate Dr. Godfryd, Faye Frankfort of the APMA staff, and the entire PPAC team on their outstanding achievement of once again surpassing the $500,000 mark. And I strongly urge the 81 percent of our members who do not contribute to PPAC to do so. As Chairman Godfryd often says, “Those who don’t do politics will ultimately find politics done to them.”
© 2005 American Podiatric Medical Association