BREAKING NEWS: Health Plans Gearing Up Grassroots During August
Posted by The Campaign on August 02, 2009 at 8:55 AM
Politico's Playbook reports on health plans' grassroots efforts during the August recess.
From Politico's Playbook:
America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP -- the national association representing nearly 1,300 member companies providing health insurance coverage to more than 200 million Americans) is urging the industry's hundreds of thousands of employees to GO TO TOWN MEETINGS WITH MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN AUGUST TO CONFRONT THEM on House Democrats' top recess message -- that health-reform legislation is "health insurance reform to hold insurance companies accountable." The association's positive TV ad will continue into this week, but look for the spots to toughen up soon.
AHIP's director of strategic communications, Robert Zirkelbach, tells Playbook: "The American people want Washington to focus on solutions, not the same old divisive political rhetoric that hasn't worked in the past. Our industry has offered to completely transform how health insurance is provided today. We have stepped up to do our part to make health-care reform a reality. That's an INCONVENIENT FACT that some people have chosen to ignore. These attacks are politically motivated, and they ignore the significant commitment that our industry has made to the health-reform process. WE'RE GOING TO BE VERY ACTIVE. We have people on the ground in more than 30 states. There are thousands of industry employees WHO HAVE NOW HAD THEIR INTEGRITY CALLED INTO QUESTION. They want to have their voices heard as part of this."
AHIP IS TRACKING EVENTS MEMBERS OF CONGRESS ARE HOLDING, AND ENCOURAGING PEOPLE TO GO. Zirkelbach: "We have contacted all of our member companies and encouraged them to get involved. August is a great time because of the face-to-face interaction with members." Industry employees are getting ammo through Twitter and a six-week-old blog.
