FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 18, 2007

Seven-Figure Nationwide Television Ad Buy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 18, 2007
CONTACT: Kate Navarro-McKay, 646-246-5906

Washington, DC -- The Partnership for Quality Care (PQC), a unique labor/management coalition of America's health providers and caregivers, today launched a seven-figure television ad campaign (link to TV ad) calling for an expansion of the hugely successful State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) that would be funded by increasing the federal tax on cigarettes. SCHIP is a federal program that helps states offer low-cost insurance to families too affluent to qualify for Medicaid, but unable to find affordable health insurance.

The PQC ads-- which are airing across the nation-- encourage House Members to take leadership on increasing the tobacco tax to fund children's health. In the Senate, there has been a bipartisan agreement to fund a $35 billion expansion of SCHIP with a 61-cent increase in the tobacco tax.

The PQC is the only advocacy organization airing nationwide ads that not only support SCHIP's expansion to cover millions more uninsured children, but also clearly advocate for a solution in financing its expansion.

The powerful ad is a montage of children, parents and healthcare providers explaining that an increased tobacco tax will not only help SCHIP cover more uninsured children, but also decrease smoking--especially among kids. Viewers are directed to a Web site, www.CoverKidsNow.org, where they can contact their elected representatives and advocate for an expansion of SCHIP and a tobacco tax increase.

Recent polls have demonstrated high public support for increasing the federal tobacco tax to support health insurance for children, and increased tobacco taxes have been demonstrated to reduce the rate of smoking. SCHIP, which Congress must reauthorize this year, insures more than six million children annually.

"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. "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."

"As healthcare workers and providers, we think less smoking and healthier kids is a win-win," said Dennis Rivera, leader of million-member SEIU Healthcare, and PQC Chairman. "The PQC wants to ensure that everyone has access to healthcare of the highest quality, and SCHIP has done that for millions of children. Using an increased tobacco tax to finance the reauthorization of this program, as was done when SCHIP was first created in 1997, will also have the added benefit of decreasing smoking, especially among our youth."

"There are almost nine million uninsured children in the United States, and 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 protecting and expanding SCHIP funding is a critical step towards achieving that goal."

Since its launch in May, 2007, the PQC has focused on the reauthorization and expansion of SCHIP to cover millions more uninsured children. PQC's print and TV ad campaign, Cover Kids Now, is a nationwide effort to increase awareness of the SCHIP program and the proposed tobacco tax to support it.
PQC member organizations have:

• jointly met with members of the House and Senate in support of an increased tobacco tax to fund SCHIP;
• joined with 66 other advocacy organizations in a letter to Congress in support of an increased tobacco tax to fund SCHIP; and
• 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.
  

"Catholic Healthcare West believes that every person has a fundamental right to high-quality healthcare," 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. "SCHIP will help millions of children obtain the healthcare they so vitally need."

To view the television ad, please click on: http://www.facts-online.org/qualitycare/ads.html

To view the print ad, please click on: http://www.box.net/shared/static/xsv2ec71n9.pdf

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

About the PQC

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 financing 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.

TV Ad Script:

"Montage"
:30

Kid #1: Today 9 million kids….
Kid #2: ….Just like me….
Kid #3: …and me…
Kid #4:……and me….
Kid #1:…… do not have health insurance.
Kid #2: And every year….
Kid #3… one and a half million
Kid #4… one and a half…
Kid #1:….million…
Kid #2: …kids just like me….
Kid #3: …and me…
Kid #4:……and me….
Kid #1: start smoking.
Mom: There is a solution.
Dad: Tell Congress to expand health insurance for kids by raising taxes on cigarettes.
Nurse: That will mean better care for kids,
Doctor… and fewer smokers to care for.
VO: Log on today and cover kids now
GRAPHIC: www.CoverKidsNow.org

Paid for by the Partnership for Quality Care
[To view the television ad, please click on: http://www.facts-online.org/qualitycare/ads.html]