At the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, advocacy refers to our efforts to influence the public and private sectors to make life easier for people with MS and their families. Most of our advocacy is directed toward the public sector: federal, state and local units of governments. All of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's public policy advocacy relates to medical research, health care, long-term care, health insurance and disability issues.
Sometimes, our advocates need to approach members of the private sector, such as businesses, to obtain the needed results. Private sector advocacy includes actions like urging a healthcare insurer to fairly cover MS treatments, asking a long-term care facility to initiate age-appropriate programming for people with MS, or requesting a local employer remove physical barriers to facilitate the hiring of people with disabilities.