AMA Launches Advertising Campaign to Lobby for Coverage for the Uninsured |
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Written by U.S. Insurance News
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Monday, 21 January 2008 |
The American Medical Association isn't leaving any doubt where it stands on the issue of the uninsured. In fact, it wants to firmly plant in voters' minds that they should vote with the uninsured in mind.
The AMA recently launched the second phase of its Voice For The Uninsured campaign with a multimillion dollar broadcast, print, and online advertising push. Throughout the year, the association will invest heavily in advertising and events surrounding the upcoming presidential election to urge action to cover the uninsured.
"By November, millions of Americans will have heard the AMA's concern that one in seven of us is uninsured, and they will have heard our call to voters to cast their ballots with the issue of the uninsured in mind," said Dr. Samantha Rosman, AMA Board Member and Boston pediatrician.
Beginning in early January, television ads will air on cable news and entertainment broadcasts and print ads will run in U.S. News & World Report. Over the next few months, national print ads will run in news and healthy-lifestyle publications, such as Newsweek, Time, and Men's Health. Additionally, online ads will appear on news Web sites.
The AMA also will make its case with voters through healthy-lifestyle events and
mobile billboards, MySpace and Facebook profiles dedicated to the uninsured, and the launch of the Voices music tour-a series of concerts across the country to bring awareness of the uninsured.
In sponsoring all these events and paying for these advertisements, the AMA is putting its money where its heart is. Dr. Rosman explained that obtaining coverage for the uninsured is a top priority for the association's members, who, she said, see the consequences the uninsured face firsthand.
"These patients live sicker and die younger," Dr. Rosman said. "The uninsured
often miss needed preventive care and put off seeing the doctor until their health problems reach crisis proportions, leading to more difficult and more costly conditions to treat."
Dr. Rosman added, "The AMA plan expands health insurance coverage to all patients, regardless of income or health status."
Launched in August 2007, the first phase of the AMA's Voice For The Uninsured campaign reached millions of voters through advertising and event sponsorship in Washington, D.C., and the early primary states. Uninsured patients related their personal stories with the AMA through the Voice For The Uninsured Web site and many signed a petition supporting the AMA's proposal.
- U.S. Insurance News
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