Vote with the uninsured in mind

With the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries both in the books, the race to the White House has officially begun. Elections in those two states traditionally mark the opening of the U.S. presidential election, although the heavy media coverage some candidates have received for the past several months essentially launched this election season some time ago.

With health care such a major issue in this election, that coverage has helped the AMA generate awareness of the need to expand health insurance coverage to more of the nation’s 47 million uninsured patients. Through the “Voice for the Uninsured” campaign, the AMA is focusing public attention on this problem while familiarizing presidential candidates and voters with our proposal to expand coverage for the uninsured (PDF, 32KB).

The AMA proposes to expand coverage and choice to all patients, regardless of health status and especially to those with low income, by leveraging the vast resources already devoted to health care. This would be accomplished by giving individuals tax credits inversely related to income, to be used only for the purchase of health insurance, and through reforms in the insurance market. Under this proposal, those who need health insurance most would receive financial assistance to purchase it, individuals would have choices so they could select the appropriate coverage for themselves and their families, fair rules would be promoted that include protections for high-risk patients, and individuals would have the responsibility to purchase and own health insurance once they have the financial means to do so.

The AMA recently produced a series of materials that explain this proposal in a fresh and concise manner to voters. These resources include a 10-page booklet on the three pillars of the AMA’s proposal (PDF, 1.04MB): helping people buy health insurance through tax credits or vouchers, individual choice of health insurance, and market reforms that protect high-risk patients. The series also covers strategies to address rising health care costs (PDF, 49KB), how the government currently helps people buy health insurance (PDF, 88KB), how tax credits or vouchers would affect households (PDF, 74KB), individual responsibility (PDF, 45KB), and the administrative costs of health care coverage (PDF, 93KB).

We’ve made great strides during the past several months in spreading the word about this proposal. The initial phase of the “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 shared their personal stories with the AMA through its Web site, and many signed a petition supporting the AMA’s proposal.

Just this week, the AMA kicked off the campaign’s second phase with a multimillion dollar broadcast, print, and online advertising buy. Television ads have aired this week on cable news and entertainment broadcasts, and this print ad (PDF, 32KB) appeared in the Jan. 7 issue of U.S. News & World Report. Over the next few months, ads also will run in daily and weekly news publications such as Newsweek, Time, and Men’s Health and will be featured on news Web sites.

In addition, the AMA will reach out to voters this year through healthy lifestyle events and mobile billboards. MySpace and Facebook profiles dedicated to the uninsured will be posted online. And the AMA will launch the Voices music tour, a series of concerts across the country designed to bring awareness to the uninsured crisis. This will be an extension of the Voices podcast series, which features musicians who share their music and stories about being uninsured. Three podcasts, which include interviews and live performances by Lowen and Navarro, Lisa Markley, and Brian Joseph, are online now.

Our effort to expand health insurance coverage received a boost last month when Congress passed legislation that extends the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) until March 31, 2009, along with additional funding to help states maintain their current enrollment in the program. Although Congress provided less funding for SCHIP than the level endorsed by the AMA, millions of children in low-income families will benefit. But there’s much more to be done to expand coverage to patients of all ages.

Each of us has a voice and a vote, so please cast your ballots this year—both in your state’s primary or caucuses, and in the general election in November—with the uninsured in mind. And please ask your patients to do the same. To help voters evaluate the health care proposals and platforms of each presidential candidate, the AMA has gathered links to the health care pages of each campaign’s Web site. If we make covering the uninsured a priority in this election, then together we can begin to provide coverage to those Americans who desperately need it.

The lighter side

From Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, I crisscrossed Iowa spreading the word about the AMA’s plan for covering the uninsured and our “Voice for the Uninsured” campaign. Leaders and members of the Iowa Medical Society and local medical societies joined me during many visits with business coalitions, other community groups, and the media.

Along the way, we met with Gov. Chet Culver for an hour to talk about covering the uninsured, Medicare physician payment reform, and a few other important issues. Moments after we walked into his office, the governor mentioned that he had seen our AMA billboards about covering the uninsured all over the place.

I’m glad the governor saw our signs—because I used all of my spare time in Des Moines driving our mobile billboard around the state capitol, as you can see in this photo.

Please send comments, questions, and replies to amaprez@ama-assn.org.