Healthcare Leadership Council Unveils Ad Campaign Highlighting Personal Stories of the Uninsured

The Healthcare Leadership Council on March 7 kicked off an ad campaign aimed at expanding access to health insurance that spotlights the personal stories of individuals without health coverage. The campaign, titled "Uninsured America: Living on the Edge," will depict the "real-life stories of individuals whose lives are being affected by a lack of health care coverage" (HLC release, 3/7). The council's overall campaign focuses on "at least" three areas: enacting tax incentives to make private coverage "more accessible" for individuals and small businesses; expanding the number of people covered by Medicaid and CHIP programs; and providing information to consumers about existing programs and tax provisions they can use to procure coverage (HLC Web site). Mary Grealy, president of the Healthcare Leadership Council, said, "We usually speak of the uninsured in terms of numbers, but we need to remember that they are people -- oftentimes working families who get their health care from emergency rooms because they don't get the preventive and diagnostic care that comes with having health insurance." The first installment of the campaign profiles Thomas Skeen, a South Carolina chef who cannot receive medical treatment for stress fractures because he is employed by a small business that does not provide health coverage (HLC release, 3/7).