New Ad, Field Blitz Targets Undecided Voters With Information On Candidates' Health Care Plans

WASHINGTON, DC -- Today, SEIU announced a new, multi-state television and field campaign aimed at targeting undecided voters in the final weeks of the presidential election with information on the difference between the Obama and McCain health care plans.

On Friday, the Associated Press reported that while voters prefer Barack Obama's health care plan to John McCain's, many voters - particularly independents and seniors- do not have a clear understanding of the differences between the two proposals. SEIU's new effort - which incorporates advertising, mail, phone calls, and door-to-door canvassing - aims at providing undecided voters with detailed information about the candidates' health care plans.

Beginning Monday, SEIU will begin airing a new television ad, titled "Worried Sick," in two battleground states. The ad underscores the deep concerns working families have about health care - and how John McCain's health care plan would make a bad problem worse by taxing health benefits and denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. In addition to the ad, SEIU is engagingvoters directly in battleground states across the country:

SEIU members are knocking on doors and sharing a new, side-by-side comparison of the Obama and McCain health care proposals with voters;

SEIU's Americans for Health Care campaign is distributing aside-by-side comparison to voters; and

Nurses, home care aides, and other SEIU healthcare workers are using mail, phone calls, and internet technology to reach one million union and non-union healthcare workers with information about the candidates' plans.

"With the economy continuing to sour, more and more voters are taking a good, hard look at how the policy proposals offered by Barack Obama and John McCain are going to affect their families' bottom line," said SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger. "Health care is a criticalpart of that equation, and SEIU members are focusing all of their energy tomake sure that in these final weeks of the election, voters have the factsabout where the candidates stand on health care."

Over the past year and a half, SEIU members have made healthcare a central issue in the presidential election:

In March, 2007, SEIU and the Center for American ProgressAction Fund hosted the first presidential forum focused on health care;

In August, 2007, Barack Obama spentthe day working alongside home care worker Pauline Beck as part of SEIU's"walk a day in my shoes" program;

In April, 2008, SEIU launched its first ad of the general election, featuring nurses and other healthcare workers expressing their concerns about John McCain's health care proposals;

For four months, SEIU's Road to American Health Care bus tour traveled 8500 miles, holding events in 17 states that featured real people struggling to keep up with rising health care costs;

SEIU's report, "Making a Bad Problem Worse," details how John McCain's health care proposal would make it harder for average families to get quality, affordable health coverage;

SEIU has targeted key Senate andHouse races with mail, phone calls, and earned and paid media - including television ads - in order to help elect a pro-healthcare majority in Congress;

SEIU has helped host dozens of press conferences highlighting how McCain's health care plan would impact key groups, such as women and veterans, and helped release a Center for American Progress state-by-state analysis of McCain's proposal.

"Worried Sick" can be viewed at. The transcript follows:

Worried Sick (:30 TV)

Woman1: How did Sam's surgery go?

Woman 2: Good, thank God, but I don't know how we're going to pay the bills. We've got insurance, but it doesn't seem to covermuch. And he was out of work for two weeks.

VO: Worried sick about healthcare costs? John McCain's plan won't help. McCain's healthcare plan would raise taxes for many families and would deny coverage for pre-existing conditions like cancer.

Woman 2: And get this--McCain wants to start taxing our benefits.

Woman 1: Maybe you should send him your bills!

Graphic: Worried Sick? Get the facts at www.seiu.org

End Card: Obama for President

Written Disclaimer: Paid for by SEIU COPE,

www.SEIU.org, which isresponsible for the content of this advertising. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.

VO: SEIU COPE is responsible for the content of this advertising

Sources:

Center for American Progress Action Fund,"John McCain's Radical Prescription for Health Care," 7/2/08(http://thinkprogress.org/wonkroom/wp-content/uploa... and http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploa...)

Health Affairs Journal, "Cost AndCoverage Implications Of The McCain Plan To Restructure HealthInsurance," 9/16/0 "

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