New TV Ad: Iowans Should Demand Choice in Health Care Reform
New TV Ad Features Local Iowa Nurse and Champions Choice of Public Health Insurance Plan
*** Watch the TV ad airing across Iowa: http://www.HealthCareforAmericaNow.org/Iowa ***
Washington, DC – In anticipation of Monday’s White House Regional Health Care Forum in Des Moines, IA, Health Care for America Now (HCAN) – the nation’s largest health care campaign – debuted a new TV ad today which will remind Iowans they should have the choice of a public health insurance plan as part of real health care reform in 2009 so they are no longer at the mercy of private health insurance companies. Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Finance Committee, told President Obama at the White House Health Summit that he was against giving Americans the choice of a public health insurance plan.
First, Senator Grassley signed on to a letter to President Obama earlier this month arguing against giving everyone the choice of a public health insurance plan, and then he stood up during the White House Summit’s Q&A session and reiterated his opposition. Just after President Obama said, “Every idea must be considered. Every option must be on the table,” Senator Grassley spoke out against giving everyone the choice of a public health insurance plan, preferring to deny his constituents in Iowa an alternative to private health insurance companies’ greed and bad practices.
The new TV ad called “Iowa Health Care Choice” was shot and produced in Iowa and features Des Moines, IA registered nurse Teresa Cooley reminding Iowans that private health insurance companies have been in control for too long, making decisions that doctors, nurses, and patients should be making for themselves. Cooley asks fellow Iowans to contact their Members of Congress and tell them they want the choice of a public health insurance plan.
“Iowans should be able to choose between a private and public health insurance plan, and it should be their choice, not Senator Grassley’s,” said Richard Kirsch, National Campaign Manager for Health Care for America Now. “We ask Senator Grassley to put the health of Iowa families before the profits of insurance companies. A public health insurance plan option would help lower cost and guarantee quality for everyone in Iowa and in America.”
An editorial in Tuesday’s Des Moines Register titled “Focus on facts in Health-care debate” took Senator Grassley to task for not telling the truth, saying letters like the one he signed to President Obama “perpetuate myths in what should be a fact-based discussion about reforming this country's health-care system.” The editorial points out private insurance companies are beholden to stockholders and profits while government-run programs have a vested interest in prioritizing quality of care. It also emphasizes there is no such thing as a free market in health care “when people are unable to ‘shop’ for care by comparing prices and quality. There is no true competition when workers rely on their employers to choose their health-insurance coverage.”
For example, Iowans have little choice for health care coverage now. Wellmark has about a 52% market share in the state, and with that kind of oligopoly power, Wellmark effectively sets the rates, controls the market, and drives up cost.[1] In markets with less insurer consolidation than in Iowa, premiums are 12% lower.[2]
“Nurses like me are on the front lines of the fight for quality, affordable health care every day. We see too many patients who are facing skyrocketing health care costs and still struggling to get treatments covered,” said Teresa Cooley, a registered nurse from Des Moines. “We’ve given the private market more than enough time to solve the crisis, and they’ve only managed to make it worse. It’s time all Iowans had the choice of a public health insurance plan.”
“Iowa Health Care Choice” will air statewide throughout Iowa from Saturday through Tuesday to coincide with the Regional Health Care Forum in Des Moines. It is also available online starting today at http://www.HealthCareforAmericaNow.org/Iowa.
Ad Script:
On Camera:
Teresa Cooley, RN
Des Moines, IA
PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES HAVE BEEN IN CONTROL FOR TOO LONG. THEY DECIDE WHO CAN SEE, WHAT'S COVERED, AND WHAT'S NOT.
WHAT IF YOU HAD A CHOICE? KEEP YOUR PRIVATE INSURANCE OR JOIN A NEW PUBLIC HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN WITH GOOD BENEFITS AT A PRICE YOU COULD AFFORD SO THAT WE'RE NOT AT THE MERCY OF PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES MAKING DECISIONS YOU AND I SHOULD BE MAKING FOR OURSELVES.
TELL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS THAT YOU WANT A CHOICE OF A PRIVATE OR A PUBLIC HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN.
Full Screen: Health Care for America Now logo
Paid for by Health Care for America Now
http://www.HealthCareforAmericaNow.org/Iowa
Read the local press release from IowaCAN.
[1] 2006 Market Share Reports: For the Top 125 Accident and Health Insurers by State and Countrywide, National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 2007
[2] "Consolidation in The Pennsylvania Health Insurance Industry," Testimony by David Balto of the Center for American Progress Action Fund before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, July 31, 2008
Health Care for America Now (HCAN) is a national grassroots campaign of more than 850 organizations representing 30 million people dedicated to winning quality, affordable health care we all can count on in 2009. Health Care for America Now and its principles for reform are supported by President Obama and 190 Members of Congress.
Health Care for America Now (“HCAN”), a section 501(c)(4) issue advocacy organization, is a broad coalition of nonprofit and political organizations that are working to promote quality, affordable health care for all Americans. HCAN and each of its members conducts and funds only activities appropriate to its tax and election law status. This statement was not funded or endorsed by HCAN’s 501(c)(3) members.
