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Lobby Day was a success
Hundreds of students and dentists gathered in Washington D.C. March 20-22 to discuss issues affecting the profession, hear from prominent speakers and receive training on how to lobby their lawmakers. Since Lobby Day, we’ve seen several members of Congress show their support for the bills we discussed. Check out 2022-23 Council on Advocacy chair, Ariana Motavalli's, recap of why the meeting was meaningful to her.
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ASDA advocacy leaders recognized at Lobby Day
ASDA’s Legislative Liaison of the Year Awards recognize outstanding legislative liaisons for motivating and organizing their chapter’s advocacy efforts. Here is what advocacy means to them. Congratulations to these advocacy leaders!
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ASDA National Legislative Liaison of the Year
Brad Mobeck, Los Angeles ’24
To me, advocacy is educating ourselves on what we need, at the political level, to best perform dentistry and best serve our patients. Hand skills and patient management are very important in dentistry, however, government and state policy are also important to our field. A word I associate advocacy with is action. As we take time to learn about ASDA’s issues and legislative priorities, it’s important for us to then lobby and teach about what we learned. Everyone should get involved in advocacy! The more people that educate themselves on the policies that affect our profession and lobby, the more voices and representation we have. Lobbying can be as simple as writing a letter to local members of congress through ASDA Action. Lastly, advocacy is exciting. When I participated in Lobby Day last year, I felt very fulfilled, excited, and wanted to do more to learn and contribute to lobbying for all dental students. Try learning more about advocacy because you might surprise yourself with how fun and thrilling it truly is!
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Districts 1-3 Legislative Liaison of the Year
Adam Yang, Harvard ’25
To me, advocacy is about service. It is about stepping up to fight for our patients who do not have a voice, for the recent grads who are struggling with student debt, and for the dental students who have never been involved in politics. I was blessed with the opportunity to work in the government and public service sector before dental school. Thus, I have always viewed it as my duty to use my policy knowledge and passion to help the broader dental community and to inspire my peers to follow suit. It is my hope that we will continue to promote more inter-school/district collaboration to bring more awareness to political issues that affect dentistry and more appreciation for the longitudinal value of our association's lobbying efforts.
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Districts 4&5 Legislative Liaison of the Year
Aisha Jenkins, Meharry ’24
Advocacy to me means using your voice or platform to speak out in support of any decision, situation, or cause that is important to you. I believe other students should get involved in advocacy so that they too can have their own opinions and voices heard. By coming together as future dentists and health care providers, many of our concerns relating to the future of dentistry can be heard, met, and understood.
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Districts 6&7 Legislative Liaison of the Year
Linzi Ralph, Kentucky ’23
To advocate for something, you need to have a clear view of what or who you are advocating for. Goals of advancing the overall health and wellness of the public, by empowering dental professionals with the knowledge that their professional organization has not only their best interest at heart, but that of the community as well. This dental community is one that I hope to continue to advocate for even after I change my membership status from student to dentist. Therefore, I believe all dental students should understand what ASDA represents, and with that understanding feel compelled to advocate for our professional community.
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Districts 8&9 Legislative Liaison of the Year
Mandy Amberg, Nebraska ’23
I love being involved in ASDA Advocacy because it has allowed me to stay informed on pertinent topics and educated me on the important role we can play in shaping the future of dentistry. I love that there is a place in advocacy for everyone to make a difference - changes can be made to issues that you are passionate about on a local, state, or even national level. I think that it is important for all of us to get involved in advocacy to help make our profession better for students, dentists, and our patients; and, because, if not you, then who?
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Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act passed House of Representatives
On April 4, the Ensuring Lasting Smiles Act (ELSA), H.R. 1916, passed the House of Representatives by a procedure called “suspension of the rules.” This process is typically used to pass non-controversial bills and requires a two-thirds majority vote. This exciting victory for ASDA and organized dentistry demonstrates the power of our efforts and unified voice. ASDA has supported this bill, which will ensure children born with a congenital anomaly or birth defect receive the medically necessary services to breathe, speak and eat normally, since 2019. Most recently, ASDA and the ADA lobbied for this bill at Lobby Day 2022. The bill passed with 310 in favor, and 110 opposed. Curious about how your representative voted? Use ASDA Action’s scorecard feature to find out.
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President Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget released
President Biden submitted his proposal for fiscal year 2023, which will begin on October 1. It includes $2.7 billion to the Federal Student Aid office, improved customer service at student-loan service programs, ensuring successful transitions when borrowers need to switch student loan companies, and enacting improvements to the income-driven repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs. After continued calls from lawmakers urging the administration to extend the freeze on federal student loan payments ending May 1, the Biden administration announced they are extending the freeze through August 31, . During this time, borrowers won’t be required to make payments, and interest rates will remain at 0%.
Why is this important? ASDA’s F-4 policy on student debt supports initiatives to reduce the burden of debt for dental students.
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Illinois passes bill on facial anomaly surgery coverage
Similar to ELSA, the federal bill mentioned above, HB 4349 is a state-level bill that would require insurers to cover all surgeries for facial abnormalities such as cleft lip and palate up to age 19. Typically, medical insurers only cover the first surgery, if at all, and often fail to recognize the necessity of multiple procedures as the patient ages. This bill passed both houses of the Illinois legislature and has been sent to the governor for his signature.
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