Yes on Proposition 45 ads are going to the airwaves
With just over a week until election day, backers of Proposition 45, the health insurance rate regulation initiative, are putting their ads on television.
Though corporate opponents have used a $55-million campaign war chest to flood the airwaves, Consumer Watchdog, the Santa Monica activist group that put the measure on the ballot, has only $1 million to spend on TV and radio spots.
Consumer Watchdog has reported raising only $2.5 million, according to the California secretary of state’s office.
The TV ads, set to air beginning Monday in the Los Angeles market, show marching, animated bank notes and warn voters that “health insurance companies have unleashed armies of money to mislead you about Proposition 45.”
The initiative is needed, the ad says, to keep insurers from being free to raise rates as much as they please.
The radio ads, which began airing in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday, pose the question: “When did health insurance companies ever spend $55 million against a ballot measure to protect you?”
Proposition 45’s other main supporters include trial lawyers, nurses, state Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones and the California Democratic Party.
The No on Proposition 45 campaign, which is led by health insurance companies, hospitals, business groups and some labor unions, called the Consumer Watchdog message misleading.
The new Obamacare health insurance program, known in the state as Covered California, contains many features that control insurance costs, said Robin Swanson, a spokeswoman for the anti-Proposition 45 group.
The campaign against the voter initiative is feeling confident, based on the latest polling that shows support for the measure faltering, Swanson said.
Results of a Public Policy Institute of California poll released this week showed that 39% of likely voters supported Proposition 45, down from 48% in favor in September.
Nearly half, 46%, said they would vote against the initiative and 15% were undecided. The poll had a 4.6% margin of error.
Twitter: @MarcLifsher
