Health Insurance Articles
Minority Groups Set Out To Launch Health Care Campaign Ads
2009-10-08
Several of the largest U.S.'s largest minority organizations are joining forces under the banner of a coalition called "Health Equity for All" in one last attempt to influence the outcome of the health care reform bill, which Congress will vote on at the end of October.
The Health Equity for All health care campaign is made up of six organizations, including The NAACP National Voter Fund, National Council of La Raza, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, The Campaign for Community Change, The United States Student Association and PowerPac.org. The groups will spend between up to $500,000 on TV advertisements and print ads, targeting lawmakers who represent the swing states of North Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida. These states all have sizable African-American and Latino populations. The senators targeted are Kay Kagan, D-North Carolina, Mary Landrieu, D- Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln, D-Arkansas and George Le Mieux, R-Florida. The ads will be aired on minority-oriented cable networks such as Black Entertainment Television and Univision. The ads will also be printed in African-American and Hispanic newspapers in the four states. The campaign was initiated after the latest U.S. Consensus reported that 31 percent of Hispanics, 19 percent of African-Americans and 11 percent of Caucasians were uninsured in 2008.
The group is hoping a comprehensive health care system can achieve four main goals. They want the plan to provide a public option to compete with private insurance companies, in addition to supplying health coverage to all U.S. residents regardless of their employment status or pre-existing health conditions. The group also requires the plan to be affordable to everyone and assure the highest quality of care for every citizen.
While the issue of health care reform affects everyone in the nation, it hits people of color the hardest, according to the president of PowerPac.org, Steven Phillips. "Inequalities in the health care system have a particularly negative impact on communities of color," said Phillips.
While some believe the Finance Committee Bill - a bill offering a $13,000 tax credit to the uninsured - will offer a resolution, Dr. Herbert C. Smitherman Jr., the assistant dean of community and urban health at Wayne University School of Medicine says it will not do enough "The average income of low-income families in my community is $12,000 per year, so [the tax credit] is inadequate" and will not solve the problem, said Smitherman.
As the health care reform debate enters its final phase, groups want to ensure that the voices of people of color are heard. According to Executive Director of the Center for Community Change Deepak Bhargava, "if Congress fails to deliver a robust public option that Americans want, its communities of color have the most to lose."
