NurseWeek

Gore airs health care ad

By Keith W. Murrow
Health24News
September 12, 2000


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Washington (H24N). Vice President and Democratic nominee for president Al Gore released a new campaign advertisement for television over the weekend calling for a Patients’ Bill of Rights.

Borrowing a scene from the country’s thirst for reality television, Gore’s newest ad features a direct testimonial from the Malone family of Washington State.

The ad touts Gore’s success at demanding that the Malones’ health maintenance organization (HMO) pay for care for the family’s son Ian, who suffered birth defects due to negligence during delivery.

"He told the insurance company, ‘Don’t do this.’ Don’t cut this child’s coverage," Christine Malone, Ian’s mother relates in the commercial.

Gore met the Malone family while on the campaign trail in February, where they relayed a letter they had received from their HMO that said their son did not qualify for the private nursing care, because it was not "medically necessary," according to the Gore campaign. Ian’s doctors disagree with the HMO, telling the family their child would die without the private nursing care.

The Malone family’s HMO did eventually agree to provide Ian with private nursing care, but only if his condition did not change.

The ad promises in its closing remarks that "all families need protection from HMO abuses; [Gore is] fighting for a real Patients’ Bill of Rights."

The thirty-second ad will air in select markets through the elections.