Ocean State Action is a founding member of HealthRIght, and OSA's Executive Director Peter Asen is a member of HealthRIght's Executive Committee.

Even as Congress battles over how to overhaul the nation’s health-care system, a little-known Rhode Island coalition is moving ahead with its own home-grown reform plan for this state.

The group, called HealthRIght, got a significant boost recently with a $50,000 grant from the Rhode Island Foundation, which will enable it to move forward drafting proposed legislation.

What’s the point of state-based health-care reform when the Congress is already acting on it?

The answer, says Dr. Nick Tsiongas, who is spearheading the effort, is that HealthRIght’s proposal can build on any national changes — and possibly achieve in Rhode Island what’s politically impossible in Washington.

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