Cover the Uninsured Week 2007 Highlights
- More than 3,300 events took place in all 50 states
- Nearly 2,000 events provided enrollment opportunities for families
- Nearly 200 national organizations supported the Week
- Television news coverage reached more than 5.5 million viewers
- More than 880 local organizations participated nationwide
- 3.6 million Cover the Uninsured Week materials were distributed
Cover the Uninsured Week, the nation's largest campaign to draw attention to the plight of America's 45 million uninsured, took place at a critical juncture in the health coverage debate this year—as Congress undertook the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). SCHIP provides health coverage to 6 million American children whose parents work but are not offered or cannot afford health care coverage, and needs to be reauthorized by Congress in 2007 in order to continue.
To build support for SCHIP, Cover the Uninsured Week narrowed its focus to highlight the need to cover America's uninsured children. Convening diverse groups from across the political spectrum, the Week demonstrated widespread support for the program through a powerful combination of strategically timed media events, paid television and print advertising, and thousands of local events designed to provide enrollment opportunities for uninsured families. The result: a nationwide mobilization to get America's kids covered.
All told, more than 3,300 events took place before and during the Week, including 1,898 enrollment events, 533 health fairs, 135 campus events, 95 interfaith events, 90 community forums, 87 small business seminars and 38 news conferences.
To amplify and provide support for these activities, Cover the Uninsured Week built a sustained paid and earned media effort beginning in February and continuing through May. The campaign benefited from a $3 million investment by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation in TV and print advertising in support of SCHIP reauthorization, which included research-based TV and print ads in regional markets and on national cable.
In a national press conference in Washington, DC in March, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley joined Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey in highlighting the vital role SCHIP plays in keeping America's kids healthy and the need to sufficiently fund the program to cover even more children.
Starting in March and continuing through the Week, the campaign received nationwide media attention, which carried our message to opinion leaders and provided support for on-the-ground activities. Print publications covering the Week included the Associated Press, USA Today, Albany Times-Union, Albuquerque Journal, Battle Creek Enquirer, Catholic News Service, Buffalo News, Charlotte Observer, The Charleston Gazette, The Clarion-Ledger (Mississippi), The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Daily Iowan, The Daily Oklahoman, Des Moines Register, Deseret News (Utah), Detroit Free Press, Indianapolis Star, Modern Healthcare, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Salt Lake Tribune, San Antonio Express-News, Times-Picayune (Louisiana), and Tucson Citizen. The Week received national television coverage on C-SPAN and local television coverage in more than 80 markets nationwide, reaching more than 5.5 million viewers.
The 2007 effort once again benefited from a broad base of support, including 18 National Partners, 188 National Supporters, and 13 members of the National Interfaith Advisory Board. These groups helped promote the importance of SCHIP reauthorization by actively engaging their networks in the effort. Many built Cover the Uninsured Week into their organization's calendars, timing their own coverage activities to take place during the Week. Hospitals were once again a champion of the effort, mobilizing their members through enrollment events, system-wide conference calls, frequent listservs and encouragement from organizational leaders. The faith community encouraged discussion of the issue in prayer and study, promoted involvement through wide-reaching listservs and provided congregations of many faiths with enrollment opportunities. Members of the business, labor and medical communities also actively promoted the Week and tied their coverage activities to the goal of this year's effort. Collectively, the promotion and leadership from these constituencies added an important diversity of voices to this timely and relevant point in the national health coverage dialogue.
While Cover the Uninsured Week 2007 has come to a close, the campaign continues to build support and demand coverage for America’s uninsured children. September 30, 2007 is the deadline for Congress to reauthorize SCHIP and ensure that the program continues. Congress also has the opportunity to expand the program to cover even more of America’s kids. Visit Get Involved to learn how you can help.
Let's get America's kids covered!
About the Week
Led by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and some of the most influential organizations in the United States, Cover the Uninsured Week brings together business owners, union members, educators, students, patients, hospital staff, physicians, nurses, faith leaders and their congregants, and many others to speak out on behalf of the uninsured and demand that our national leaders make the issue of the uninsured their top priority. Each year, thousands of community-based activities are organized by a vast network of tens of thousands individuals and organizations that have built a national movement to cover America's uninsured.