Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/313716
ByCarlaK.Johnson The Associated Press CHICAGO A new analysis finds the nation's health care overhaul deserves a place in advertising history as the fo- cus of extraordinarily high spending on negative polit- ical TV ads that have gone largely unanswered by the law's supporters. The report, released Fri- day by nonpartisan ana- lysts Kantar Media CMAG, estimates that $445 million was spent on political TV ads mentioning the law since the enactment of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. Spending on negative ads outpaced positive ones by more than 15 to 1. Outside of Social Secu- rity and Medicare, "no other law has come close to these amounts, much less within such a short period of time," said Elizabeth Wilner of Kantar Media. "It speaks to the intensity of the oppo- sition among the ACA's po- litical critics" and their be- lief that the health care is- sue will benefit their party in this year's elections, she said. As the November mid- term elections approach, the picture looks much the same, Wilner said, although a few pro-Democratic ads are countering with mes- sages supporting the health law and a few pro-Repub- lican ads have gone from a flat-out call for repeal to a message of replacing the law with "free-market solu- tions." In the 2014 congressional races, 85 percent of the anti- Obama ads were also anti- "Obamacare" ads, the anal- ysis found. In some compet- itive races, 100 percent of the pro-Republican TV ads aimed at Democrats con- tained anti-health law mes- sages. Over the four years, an estimated $418 million was spent on 880,000 negative TV spots focusing on the law, compared to $27 mil- lion on 58,000 positive spots, according to the analysis. Nearly all of the spending was on local TV stations, in races ranging from state of- fices such as treasurer and governor to Congress and the presidential election. The analysis is the first at- tempt to quantify the spend- ing, said Robert Blendon of the Harvard School of Public Health, who wasn't involved in the Kantar research. "That is an extraordi- nary amount of money," Blendon said. "It's not just $20 checks." Blendon said the advertis- ing assault on the law draws on lessons Republicans learned during the Clinton administration about har- nessing "the ambivalence themiddleclasshasaboutbig reform" to win midterm elec- tions. More than other issues such as immigration, opposi- tion to the Affordable Care Act unites Republicans and independent conservatives. The Kantar system cap- tures and counts ads and spending in all 210 TV mar- kets and on national broad- cast and cable; then analysts code the ads for content and messages. With 8 million Americans choosing health plans on the new insurance markets, Democrats now have the op- portunity to talk about the law's benefits, said Demo- cratic pollster Celinda Lake. "It's easier to pivot to real positives about the law. You can say, 'Do you want to can- cel 8 million people's insur- ance?'" The analysis also counted other spending last fall and winter on health law TV ads by insurance companies, states and the federal gov- ernment, which increased the total to $700 million. "Within the span of the enrollment period, nearly as much money was spent on ads trying to sign people up for coverage as was spent over the past four years on ads trying to scare peo- ple away," Wilner said. But now that the enrollment pe- riod has ended, "they've left the field, and absent any big push by the law's political supporters, the critics have it to themselves again all the way to this fall." ACA ADVERTISING PoliticalTVadsonhealthlawtotal$445M,studysays AMERICANSFORPROSPERITY—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS This framegrab image from a video shows a political ad against Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, D-N.H., stating the Affordable Care Act is not working. By Pauline Jelinek The Associated Press WASHINGTON The top offi- cial for veterans' health care resigned Friday amid a fire- storm over delays in care and falsified records at vet- eran hospitals. Veterans Secretary Eric Shinseki says he has ac- cepted the resignation of Robert Petzel, the depart- ment's undersecretary for health care. Shinseki had asked for the resignation, a department official later said on condition of ano- nymity because he was not authorized to speak for at- tribution. The announcement came a day after both men were grilled at a four-hour hear- ing of the Senate Commit- tee on Veterans' Affairs, where lawmakers and vet- eran groups expressed ex- asperation of long-standing problems at the department. Meanwhile, House Re- publicans scheduled a vote for Wednesday on legisla- tion that would give Shinseki more authority to fire or de- mote senior executives and administrators at the agency and its 152 medical centers. Whenseniorleadersinthe VA "fail the men and women who have put their lives on the line for our country, they deserve a pink slip — not a bonus," House Speaker John Boehner said Friday. While some Republicans in Con- gress have called for Shin- seki to resign, Boehner is not among them. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Vet- erans' Affairs Committee, wrote the bill before a former VA clinic director told his committeelastmonththatup to 40 veterans may have died while awaiting treatment at the Phoenix VA center. The whistleblower also said the hospital kept a secret list of patients waiting for appoint- ments to hide delays in care. "VA's widespread and sys- temic lack of accountability is exacerbating all of its most pressing problems, includ- ing the department's stub- born disability benefits back- log and a mounting toll of at least 31 recent preventable veteran deaths at VA medi- cal centers across the coun- try," Miller said. Reports of long waits for appointments and process- ing benefit applications have plagued VA for years. The agency has shortened back- logs but the Phoenix prob- lems have triggered an elec- tion-year firestorm. Pres- ident Barack Obama on Wednesday tasked his dep- uty White House chief of staff, Rob Nabors, to review VA health care policies and procedures in light of new reports about Phoenix and other VA facilities. "As we know from the vet- eran community, most vet- erans are satisfied with the quality of their VA health care, but we must do more to improve timely access to that care," Shinseski said in a statement Friday. He thanked Petzel for four de- cades of service to veterans. Petzelwasscheduledtore- tire this year, and Shinseki last fall had convened a com- mission to recommend can- didates for presidential ap- pointment to be the new un- dersecretary. VA is required by law to convene a commis- siontoseekandreviewcandi- dates for the position. It was unclear what Petzel's exact retirement date was to be. In his position, Petzel oversaw what officials say is the largest health care deliv- ery system in the U.S. The VA operates 1700 hospitals, clinics and other facilities around the country. They employ about 300,000 peo- ple and serve about 6.5 mil- lion veterans and other ben- eficiaries each year. Shinseki on Thursday told senators he was "mad as hell" about allegations of severe problems and said he was looking for quick results from a nationwide audit. He has rejected calls for him to resign. VETERANS Top VA health official under fire resigns CLIFF OWEN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki speaks with the news media on Capitol Hill in Washington on Thursday a er testifying before the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing to examine the state of Veterans Affairs health care. 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