FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 17, 2007

Powerful Healthcare Partnership Launches Television Ad Buy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 19, 2007
CONTACT: Kate Navarro-McKay, 646-246-5906

Powerful Healthcare Partnership Launches Television Ad Buy
Urging Congress & President to Fully Fund SCHIP

As SCHIP Renewal Deadline Looms, Partnership for Quality Care Calls for
Health Coverage for More than 3 Million Uninsured Kids

Washington, DC -- The Partnership for Quality Care (PQC), a unique labor/management coalition of America's health providers and caregivers, today launched a television ad campaign (http://www.facts-online.org/qualitycare/new_ads.html) calling for a renewal of and increased funding for the hugely successful State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover millions more uninsured children. SCHIP is a federal program that helps states offer low-cost insurance to families that earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but are unable to find affordable health insurance. The new ad, part of PQC's ongoing "Cover Kids Now" campaign, will run in the Washington, DC television market.

The SCHIP Program is set to expire on September 30, jeopardizing the healthcare of more than 6 million children already covered by the program. Both the Senate and House of Representatives passed legislation earlier this summer to renew the program and increase its funding to cover at least 3 million more children, but to become law these bills must be reconciled and the President must sign a final bill.

The new PQC ad shows an infant in a crib reaching for but failing to reach a mobile made up of medical instruments. The voice-over indicates that healthcare for over 3 million uninsured children will remain "just out of reach" unless Congress passes and the President signs a bill to fully fund the program. Viewers are directed to a PQC Web site, www.CoverKidsNow.org, where they can contact Congress and the President, and advocate for funding to cover millions more children. PQC is also running print ads urging Congress and the President to renew and fully fund the SCHIP program, as well as contacting activated constituents to send e-mail to their legislators and the President through the Cover Kids Now Web site.

According to recent census data, in just the past year more than 600,000 children have lost their health insurance, bringing the total number of uninsured children to 8.7 million. This increase over the prior year marks a change from 1999-2004, when every year fewer children were uninsured than in the prior year.

"SCHIP has been exceptionally successful, helping millions of children receive the preventive care that keeps them healthy, and we believe it should help millions more uninsured children," said George C. Halvorson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals and PQC Secretary. "As this campaign illustrates, the PQC is an unprecedented coalition of providers and workers who have come together to solve the crisis of healthcare in our nation, The PQC supports guaranteed healthcare for everyone in America, not only because it is the right thing to do, but because it is the smart thing to do."

This summer, Congress took the first step to renew SCHIP and fund it to cover millions more children," said Dennis Rivera, leader of million-member SEIU Healthcare, and PQC Chairman. "Now it is time for Congress to put together a final bill that covers millions more children, and for the President to sign it. It will be a victory for Washington, for millions of uninsured children, and for the healthcare workers who struggle every day in our broken healthcare system to provide the highest quality care to every child."

"Last year, more than 600,000 children joined the ranks of the uninsured. Every day our providers see children in emergency rooms for complications that could have been avoided with more cost-effective and timely care," said Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) President Kenneth E. Raske. "I can think of no more important goal than making sure every child in the United States has health insurance, and funding SCHIP to reach millions more children will be an important achievement."

Since its May 2007 launch, the PQC has focused on the reauthorization and expansion of SCHIP to cover millions more uninsured children. PQC launched its Cover Kids Now campaign in July with a nationwide, seven-figure print and TV ad campaign to increase awareness of the SCHIP program and the proposed tobacco tax to support it.

To date, the PQC's Cover Kids Now SCHIP campaign has included:

• Television: sponsored a seven-figure television ad buy supporting funding for SCHIP to cover millions more children and a tobacco tax increase;
• Print Media: print advertisements in Time, Newsweek, The Washington Post, Roll Call, and The Hill supporting SCHIP and an increased tobacco tax;
• Action Website: generated thousands of emails to Congress through CoverKidsNow.org website;
• Activated Constituents: PQC let its activist constituents know if their members had supported SCHIP, and asked them to send their thanks;
• Grassroots Activities: sponsored public events with members of Congress on SCHIP nationwide, including: South Carolina; California; Florida; Rhode Island; Oregon; California; Washington; Wisconsin; New Jersey; and Pennsylvania.;
• Partner Organizations: joined with other advocacy organizations in letters to Congress, paid media, and press events in support of increased funding for millions more children in SCHIP;
  

"Every person has a fundamental right to healthcare of the highest quality," said Lloyd Dean, CEO of Catholic Healthcare West. "This historic partnership supports full funding of SCHIP because we believe it is a first step toward meaningful reform of our healthcare system and ensuring that affordable, high-quality healthcare is available to everyone-especially children, who are often amongst the most vulnerable in our society."

"The mission of the Daughters of Charity Health System is to provide excellent healthcare, and especially to serve and advocate for the poor,” said Robert Issai, President and CEO,

Daughters of Charity Health System. "As we see so many more children becoming uninsured, SCHIP can help contain the crisis, and bring millions of uninsured children the healthcare they so vitally need."

The Ads can be seen online at: http://www.facts-online.org/qualitycare/new_ads.html

The Cover Kids Now campaign can be found at: http:/www.CoverKidsNow.org

Launched in May 2007, the Partnership for Quality Care is a unique nationwide organization, a labor-management partnership of healthcare providers and healthcare workers. It includes more than 1 million workers, as well as public, private, religious, teaching and nonprofit hospitals and integrated health systems caring for more than 45 million patients annually.

The PQC will work in 2007 and 2008 at the federal, state and local levels to advance reliable and affordable access to health care coverage for everyone in America within a reformed health care system that aggressively promotes improved quality and efficiency.

With an initial budget of at least $5 million, this unprecedented healthcare partnership will educate communities and elected representatives across the country through events, direct mail, grassroots and online organizing, media, and more.

As part of this reform effort, the PQC has released its Joint Principles for a Reformed American Healthcare System. Those principles are to:

1. Ensure universal health care coverage for all Americans.
2. Improve the quality and efficiency of health care services by adopting clinical best practices and promoting organized systems of care.
3. Establish a stable, equitable, broad-based, and predictable health care financingn system.
4. Promote affordability and address rising health care costs by advancing
opportunities to achieve the greatest value for our health care dollars.
5. Provide meaningful individual choice of providers and plans while promoting
preventive care, protecting consumers from the costs of major illnesses, and
improving the management of chronic conditions.
6. Achieve greater reliability in health care coverage, including improved portability of coverage and continuity of care.

The PQC’s members are: 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East • Kaiser Permanente • Greater New York Hospital Association • Catholic Healthcare West • Daughters of Charity Health System • Service Employees International Union • SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West

For more information, please consult http://www.pqc-usa.org.

Ad Script: "Out of Reach" :30
An infant lies in bed, reaching for a mobile. On the mobile hang various medically related objects--a stethoscope, liquid medicine measure, bandages, etc.

VOICE OVER: Last year alone, 600,000 children lost their health insurance. Now, the Children's Health Insurance Program is about to expire. Fully funding SCHIP would cover over 3 million more kids. That means immunizations and regular checkups...the right start for a healthier life.

VISUAL: In the last shot, the baby tries to reach up and grab one of the objects spinning overhe...but it is just out of reach.

VOICE OVER: Call Congress and the President today and urge them to renew and fully fund the children’s health program. Unless they act, healthcare for 3 million uninsured kids will remain just out of reach.

VISUAL -- Paid for by the Partnership for Quality Care (with PQC logo)

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