Nurses Launch National "CheneyCare" Campaign - New Print, Online Ads Jumpstart Petition Drive for Guaranteed Health Care
Washington, DC – The California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) launched a national campaign today in favor of what the group has dubbed “CheneyCare” – guaranteed, publicly-funded health care for all Americans.
The campaign was inspired by the success of the group’s Iowa ads declaring that Vice President Dick Cheney “would be dead” if he did not have publicly-funded health care, A new version of the Iowa ad asking Americans to sign a petition for “CheneyCare” will run today in eight New Hampshire papers before going national in the New York Times, Washington Post as well as USA Today and leading political blogs on Monday.
CHENEYCARE ACTION ITEMS:
"All Americans have the right to the quality of care that our Vice-President, President and Congress already have," said Rose Ann DeMoro, Executive Director of CNA/NNOC and a vice-president of the AFL-CIO. “All the leading Democratic proposals fall well short of “CheneyCare”, keeping insurance companies at the apex of power and allowing them to deny care that can save lives. The Republican proposals are even worse.”
The ad uses recent headlines about Vice-President Dick Cheney’s latest heart procedure to point out the difference between the government-funded health care that the nation’s leading politicians enjoy and the precarious health care situation in which most Americans find themselves.
A news article about Cheney’s recent treatment for heartbeat irregularities provides the context with the headline: “If he were anyone else, he’d probably be dead by now.” The text highlights that factors such as the patient’s history and prognosis would likely lead to a denial of private insurance claims for most Americans, assuming that they had coverage in the first place.
The ad asks readers to go to www.CheneyCare.org and sign a petition in support of CheneyCare for all Americans. The blog ads cut to the chase, with the tagline: “CheneyCare for all.”
CHENEYCARE ACTION ITEMS:
The campaign plans to continue running ads in all the early primary states. Once the presidential candidates are chosen, the petition will be delivered to the both the Democratic and Republican nominees’ state campaign offices around the country.
CNA/NNOC has been critical of “universal health care” proposals by top Democratic presidential hopefuls Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Barack Obama and John Edwards, which continue to rely upon the wasteful inclusion of private insurance companies.
Earlier in the campaign season, CNA/NNOC teamed up with Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) to air television ads during Democratic presidential debates in Iowa and New Hampshire. The three "Speechless" ads featured regular Americans describing the costs, burdens and financial pressures that the current health care system is putting on them to one of the leading democratic candidates. They then ask the candidate what she or he is doing about it. The camera then cut to a cardboard cut-out of candidates Clinton, Obama or Edwards, with a voice-over that says, "The longer nobody talks about single payer, guaranteed health care for everyone, the longer we are going to wait to get it."
CNA/NNOC is part of the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care, a new umbrella group for labor, advocacy and health care professionals committed to working to pass legislation that will guarantee access to health care for all Americans.
About California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee: Founded in 1903, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee today represents over 75,000 members nationwide. It is the largest and fastest-growing organization of direct care Registered Nurses in the country and is dedicated to providing a voice for nurses and a vision for healthcare.
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