Health-care ads frame state

The Fayetteville square, Pinnacle Mountain and a farm in Scott are among the Arkansas spots highlighted in an ad campaign, set to begin airing on television stations Monday, that will encourage people to learn more about the coverage options that will be available under the federal health-care overhaul law starting Oct. 1.

Representatives of Little Rock advertising agency Mangan Holcomb Partners showed samples of the ads, which are part of a $4.3 million public education campaign, to Arkansas Insurance Department staff members and others during meetings Friday to provide a preview of the campaign.

Featuring the slogan “Get in,” the ads are aimed at raising awareness of subsidized health insurance that will be available to more than 500,000 Arkansans through an exchange the state is setting up under a partnership with the federal government.

That includes 250,000 people who will be eligible for Medicaid under an expansion of the program passed by the state Legislature during this year’s session. The Medicaid-eligible residents will be able to enroll in a private plan through the exchange and have their premiums paid by the insurance program for the poor.

Many others with incomes too high to qualify for Medicaid will be eligible for federal tax credits that will cover part of their premiums through the exchange. Coverage under all the plans will start Jan. 1.

The campaign started Thursday with the airing of a program aimed at small business owners on the Arkansas Educational Television Network. The program will be available for viewing on the AETN website starting Monday.

The Insurance Department this week also set up a consumer-oriented website, www.arhealthconnector.org, and it plans to begin offering a smart-phone app that will provide updated information.

The television commercials show images of smiling couples, families and workers, sometimes standing near state landmarks, while a narrator gives a brief overview of the benefits that will be available. The narrator then encourages viewers to visit the Arkansas Health Connector websites.

“We wanted to be sure that there’s a familiarity about it, that you see it as being Arkansas,” said David Rainwater, a principal with Mangan Holcomb Partners.

The campaign will also include radio and newspaper advertisements, billboards and signs displayed at gas pumps.

Spanish-language ads will feature a different slogan: Un seguro para todos - insurance for all.

Former state Supreme Court Justice Annabelle Imber Tuck, a chairman of the steering committee helping plan the Arkansas insurance exchange, called the ads “simple, clear and sincere.”

“They’ve done an excellent job of showing that this is about Arkansas and Arkansans,” she said.

Front Section, Pages 7 on 06/29/2013

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