New TV Ad Hammers the Insurance Industry and Their Premiums Run Amok
As Congress Faces Historic Vote on Health Insurance Reform This Week, New TV Ad Hammers the Insurance Industry and Their Premiums Run Amok
Joint Effort from AFSCME and Americans United for Change Part of Major $11 Million Final Push from Pro-Reform Coalition, Sending Message to Congress: “Stand With Your Constituents, Not Big Insurance – and We’ll Have Your Back”
Click Here to View “Accountable”
***Click Here to Download Broadcast Quality Version***
Washington DC – With a critical vote expected this week in the U.S. House on historic health insurance reform legislation, AFSCME and Americans United for Change announced a new television ad spotlighting sickening premium hikes on individuals and small businesses as high as 75 percent as a closing argument for why Congress should stand with their constituents and not the greedy insurance companies making record profits. See script below for “Accountable” which will air Wednesday through Friday on CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, as well as Thursday and Friday on CBS during the NCAA tournament in the Washington DC area – aimed squarely at lawmakers. The $200,000 effort is a part of a major $11 million final push from a coalition of pro-reform groups, beating back the smears and misinformation from the insurance industry and sending a clear message to Members of Congress: “If you stand up for your constituents, not big insurance, we’ll have your backs.”
AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee: “Don’t be fooled by the insurance companies, the Chamber of Commerce and the GOP operatives. If we fail to defeat the insurance companies, Americans will look back at this week as the one when we lost the best chance in generations to pass a bill to help working families deal with health care. Congress owes us all an up or down vote. It’s time to rein in the abuses. It’s time to control skyrocketing costs. It’s time to tell the insurance companies: Your time is up.”
Tom McMahon, Acting Executive Director, Americans United for Change: “After more than a year of debate on health care reform, Members of Congress face a very simple choice this week: either stand with the big insurance companies that don’t see anything wrong with raising premiums by up to 75 percent, or stand with the families they represent that can’t afford them. Either stand with the big insurance companies or your constituents that went bankrupt after they got sick and soon after saw their coverage dropped. Either stand with your constituents, or the big insurance companies that consider domestic violence or having had a C-section to be “pre-existing conditions.” What’s it going to be?”
Americans United for Change is also currently on the air with nearly half a million dollars in TV and radio ads encouraging African-American voters to tell their U.S. Representative, “Stand with us, not big insurance.” Click Here for More Information:
http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/press/releases/stand_up_for_us_not_big_insurance/
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“Accountable” Ad Back-Up Americans United For Change TV (:30)
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SCRIPT |
FACTS |
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ANNCR: Health insurance companies just announced more huge rate increases – some as high as 75 percent
CG: Los AngelesTimes: Blue Cross Dramatically Raising Rates: Policyholders are incensed over rate hikes of as much as 39%
San FranciscoChronicle: Health Insurance hikes stun small businesses: California: Some Face premium increases exceeding 75 percent
ChicagoTribune: Individual health insurance soaring: Illinois consumers to pay up to 60% more, data show
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ANNCR:Health Insurance companies are out of control. They deny our claims, drop us when we’re sick, and pay their CEOs huge bonuses.
CG: Insurance Companies Are Out of Control
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Denying Coverage: “…the most numerous jobs are low-paying positions that are tasked with helping to deny peoples’ claims for coverage.” [Wendell Potter, former Vice President of corporate communications at CIGNA, Congressional Testimony, 9/16/09] Rescissions: “Executives of three of the nation's largest health insurers told federal lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday that they would continue canceling medical coverage for some sick policyholders, despite withering criticism from Republican and Democratic members of Congress who decried the practice as unfair and abusive.” [Los Angeles Times, 6/17/09]
Hugh Bonuses: All of BlueCross BlueShield’s (Health Care Service Corp.) top 10 executives “saw total compensation jump at least 48% — it more than doubled for six of them — thanks to large bonuses... Humana Inc. CEO Michael McCallister, whose pay was $6.5 million including stock options… UnitedHealth Group Inc. CEO Stephen Helmsley, who received $3.2 million including stock options,” dwarfed by Aetna CEO Ronald Williams' who received $24.3 million. [Chicago Crain’s Business, 3/15/10]
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ANNCR: They refuse to cover people who have “pre-existing conditions”…leaving families in financial ruin …at the same time taking record profits.
CG: Their policies leave families in financial ruin
$12.2 billion in profits for Big 5 Health Insurers in 2009
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Do Not Cover Pre-Existing Conditions: “According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 21 percent of people who apply for health insurance on their own get turned down, charged a higher price or offered a plan that excludes coverage for their pre-existing condition.” [CNN, 5/14/09] Families in Financial Ruin: “…an estimated 1.5 million Americans will declare bankruptcy. Many people may chalk up that misfortune to overspending or a lavish lifestyle, but a new study suggests that more than 60 percent of people who go bankrupt are actually capsized by medical bills.” [CNN, 6/5/09] Insurance Executives Cash In. “Executives and shareholders of the five biggest for-profit health insurers, WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group Inc., Aetna Inc., Humana Inc., and Cigna Corp., enjoyed combined profit of $12.2 billion in 2009, up 56 percent from the previous year. It was the best year ever for Big Insurance. The record was broken while the industry spent millions trying to defeat comprehensive health reform legislation in Congress even as it pretended publicly to offer support.” [“Big Insurers Break Profit Records,” Health Care for America Now, Feb. 2010] |
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ANNCR: Time to hold the insurance companies accountable. If the Insurance companies win… we lose. Tell Congress to pass health insurance reform now. CG: Time to hold the insurance companies accountable
If the insurance companies win, we lose
Call 202-225-3121
Tell Congress to pass health insurance reform NOW
Paid for by AFSCME & Americans United for Change. |
The Senate health insurance reform bill prohibits insurers from rescinding coverage except in cases of fraud and prohibits individual and group health plans from placing aggregate dollar lifetime limits on coverage. It also requires insurers to report the proportion of premium dollars spent on clinical services, quality, and trends on premium increases The bill requires a temporary national high-risk pool to provide health coverage to individuals with pre-existing medical conditions. The bill also limits deductibles for health plans in the small group market to $2,000 for individuals and $4,000 for families. [Wall Street Journal, 2/23/10] |