Local meetings do make a difference. I have now been to half a dozen Capitol Hill visits, and although it is often difficult to meet Rep. Capuano personally in D.C., his health legislative aide knows me and seems to know when I’ve made contact in the district as well. The other thing that has helped my relationship with Rep. Capuano’s office is that I volunteered for his campaign. The Congressman and his staff always make time for me as their busy schedules permit.
Recently, during the healthcare reform debate, all of the Massachusetts delegation signed a letter about the Sustainable Growth Rate, and it was at one of these local events that I got him to sign on to that letter. The cliché is that all politics is local, but my experience is that the effort to meet locally bears fruit.
—William Harvey, MD, Division of Rheumatology, Tufts Medical Center, Boston