[NYTr] Cancer Society will push for health care reform in ads

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via SF Chronicle - Sep 17, 2007
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/17/MNMFS7DDT.DTL

Cancer Society will push for health care reform in ads

by Mike Stobbe, Associated Press

(09-17) 04:00 PDT Atlanta--The American Cancer Society this week will
take its biggest step ever into the politics of health care reform,
spending $15 million in advertising on behalf of Americans with too
little health insurance or none at all.

The cancer society - the nation's richest health charity, in both
donations and volunteers - traditionally focuses its advertising on
encouraging Americans to quit smoking or get a screening test.

But this year's campaign will feature television commercials that
portray the challenges of uninsured and underinsured cancer patients,
accompanied by a call for people to do something about it.

The change comes after cancer society officials concluded that
insurance-related problems have emerged as one of the largest obstacles
in their goal to cut cancer death rates by 50 percent and incidence
rates by 25 percent from 1990 to 2015.

"We're not going to meet our goals if the health care system remains
unfixed," said John Seffrin, the cancer society's chief executive.

Starting today, three commercials on network and cable channels will
run until Thanksgiving. Ads will be placed in magazines and on Web
sites as well.

The cancer society is not endorsing any particular reform plan or
candidate. Even so, it's an unusually pointed campaign for the
philanthropy, and for organizations like it.

The American Heart Association's chief executive, M. Cass Wheeler,
envied the cancer group's resources and applauded the new campaign.

"Heart and stroke patients are going to benefit from the good this
advertising campaign is going to do," Wheeler said. His organization
spends $10 million each year on advertising, and focuses it on exercise
and other prevention measures for patients.

The Atlanta-based cancer society, with 2006 revenues of $1 billion, has
been stepping up its political activity in recent years.

In 2001, it formed a sister organization, the American Cancer Society
Cancer Action Network (ASC CAN), to lobby and work on government health
policy. The Cancer Action Network pushed for legislation that would
give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration the power to regulate
tobacco, and last year fought a bill that would have enabled small
businesses to form health insurance pools across state lines without
guaranteeing coverage of certain cancer tests.

Now it's putting together petitions and voter guides, organizing
political forums and rallies, and in May will begin a nationwide bus
tour promoting health care reform.

Despite the fact that many cancer patients are 65 and older and are
covered by the federal Medicare program, cancer society officials
estimate that at least 55,000 of the 1.4 million people diagnosed with
cancer each year have no health insurance. Hundreds of thousands of
others have coverage but end up financially distressed by uncovered
bills, they say.

Inadequate coverage is a major impediment to cancer patients getting
the medical care they need. Studies show that women with health
insurance get annual mammograms at twice the rate as women who don't,
and cancer death rates are higher for people without coverage.

The cancer society joined the heart association, the American Diabetes
Association and AARP in leading rallies designed to get the attention
of presidential candidates. The rallies were held in Iowa, New
Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina - four early sites of key
presidential primaries and caucuses - and all focused on the general
issue of providing quality health care for all Americans.

Others groups have efforts, too.

The American Medical Association recently announced a "Voice for the
Uninsured" campaign with advertising in early primary states. Families
USA and the Federation of American Hospitals are organizing a series of
hourlong presidential forums. The Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease,
an 80-organization group formed earlier this year, is placing
reform-focused billboards in and around airports and this month used
college cheerleaders to voice chronic disease messages outside a
presidential candidate debate in New Hampshire.

Some experts predict health reform will be a more potent issue in 2008
than any time since 1992, when it helped carry Bill Clinton to the
White House.

Large increases in insurance costs in this decade have caused employers
and others to become more interested in systemwide reform, said Ken
Thorpe, an Emory University health policy professor.

"Many big businesses have come to the realization they can't solve this
problem on their own," he said.