"Seven months before the core provisions of President Obama’s health care law are to take effect, most television advertising that mentions the law continues to come from its opponents. Since the law’s passage in March 2010, critics have spent a total of about $400 million on television ads that refer to it, according to a new analysis by the Campaign Media Analysis Group at Kantar Media, which tracks such spending. Supporters have spent less than a quarter of that — about $75 million — on ads that cast the law in a positive light, according to the analysis. The biggest advertiser in support of the law has been the Department of Health and Human Services, which has run educational ads that mention it. Most of the negative ads have come from Republican outside groups, including Crossroads GPS, which was founded by Karl Rove and other top Republican strategists, and the National Republican Congressional Committee. Spending on ads that mention the law dropped steeply after last fall’s presidential election — only about $4 million has been spent since then, according to Kantar, including $2.5 million on ads that are critical of the law and $1.5 million on ads promoting it. Recent negative ads have come from Republican political candidates like former Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina, who won a special election for a House seat last month, and from conservative advocacy groups like Americans for Prosperity. In North Carolina, Americans for Prosperity has a new 30-second ad celebrating “a new day” in North Carolina politics because of “a fresh crop of leaders” who are “bringing conservative reforms.” Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, won election there last fall, giving the party full control in the state for the first time in more than a century. “The threat of Obamacare? Minimized,” the narrator says. Like a number of other Republican states, North Carolina has declined to expand Medicaid as called for under the law. Some of the recent negative ads have next year’s elections in mind. The Kentucky Opportunity Coalition, an outside group, ran an ad last month in Lexington and Louisville praising Senator Mitch McConnell for opposing the health care law. Mr. McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, is up for re-election in Kentucky next year. “It’s already causing layoffs,” the narrator says of the law. “Higher premiums are next. Mitch McConnell saw it coming. Leading the fight against Obamacare.” The analysis also counted several recent ads by Newsmax, a conservative media company, promoting the “Obamacare Survival Guide,” a book published by an affiliate of the company. Those ads have run around the country, according to the analysis, at a cost of more than $1 million. Elizabeth Wilner, vice president of the Campaign Media Analysis Group, said it was “extremely unusual” for a law to remain the subject of political ads for so long after its passage. She also questioned whether all the advertising has significantly swayed public opinion. Polls by the Kaiser Family Foundation have consistently found Americans to be evenly divided on the law, known as the Affordable Care Act, with slightly more opposing than supporting it. “You could say all the spending on negative ads about the A.C.A. has kept it from becoming more popular,” Ms. Wilner said. “But it certainly hasn’t dramatically changed people’s opinions about it.” The law will require most Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty starting in January. The federal government and a number of states are rushing to finish building insurance marketplaces, known as exchanges, where millions of Americans are supposed to be able to buy coverage starting in October. Democrats are worried about potential backlash in next fall’s midterm elections, particularly if there are any problems with the exchanges or other aspects of carrying out the law. Mr. McConnell recently predicted that the law would be the biggest issue in Congressional races next year. But Ms. Wilner said she expected to see more Democratic spending on ads embracing the law — or at least its popular elements — leading up to November 2014. “We know, given what’s coming with the implementation of the law, that it could potentially affect more voters’ decisions in 2014 than it did in 2010 or 2012,” she said. “We will see more Democratic advertising about it, I’m sure. Democrats have to talk about it. It’s being implemented, they can’t ignore it. They’ve got to try to look at the bright side of it.” In all, the Health and Human Services Department has run about $46 million worth of ads referring to the law since March 2010, according to the analysis. It spent about $1.4 million on one ad during open enrollment for Medicare late last year, for example, that told viewers to “check out the preventive benefits you get after the health care law.” The department is planning to begin a broad outreach effort this month that may include more television advertising. Meanwhile, the California Endowment, a private foundation, is running television ads promoting the law in Spanish in that state."
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 17:43:19 +0000
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