美国国家公共电台 NPR As Federal Government Cuts Obamacare Ads, Private Insurer Steps Up

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Open enrollment² for health insurance under the Affordable³ Care Act doesn't start for another six weeks. But the insurance startup Oscar Health launched an ad campaign today aimed at getting young people to enroll¹. The company decided⁴ to increase its ad spending after the Trump⁵ administration announced it was slashing⁶ its advertising⁷ budget by 90 percent. NPR's Alison Kodjak has the story.

ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE⁸: Oscar is plastering the New York subway system with posters urging people to get ready for open enrollment. One ad shows a pregnant woman holding her belly⁹ with a blue Band-Aid on it that says, we are covered. Oscar vice¹⁰ president Sara Rowghani says the company is stepping up in part because the government is pulling back.

SARA ROWGHANI: Particularly in this year of uncertainty¹¹, I think it's very important for us to be in market early and reassure¹² customers, reassure, you know, the 22 million folks that are insured that it is really important to get covered.

KODJAK: Rowghani says the early message focuses on reminding people about open enrollment. The ads include the dates open enrollment starts and ends with the Oscar logo much less prominent.

ROWGHANI: We're really communicating this message of getting coverage¹³. Get covered.

KODJAK: The company declined to say how much it's spending on the ads but did say it's a multimillion-dollar campaign. It'll run in six states where Oscar does business and be on TV, radio and in subways and on buses. But advertising from private insurers won't be able to match the power of the advertising by the federal government, says Lori Lodes, who ran the ACA outreach under the Obama administration.

LORI LODES: The reality is there's only so much that issuers, that advocates, that folks can do from the outside because the government is a trusted - historically has been a very trusted messenger.

KODJAK: Trump's Department of Health and Human Services says it's cutting the advertising budget for open enrollment from a hundred million dollars down to 10 million. And it will cut back on grants for navigators by about 40 percent. Those are the people who help customers sign up for a health plan. Agency officials say that most customers are already aware of the Affordable Care Act and that the outreach isn't as effective as when the law was new. The plan is to eliminate expensive television advertising and instead focus on email and text message outreach. Lodes says that's a bad idea.

LODES: Television not only was the No. 1 driver of enrollment, but it made all of those other channels of communication that much more effective.

KODJAK: And at a hearing earlier this month, several state governors said they too were worried about the cuts. Montana Governor Steve Bullock was one of them.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

STEVE BULLOCK: The idea that we'll cut 90 percent of the education dollars and 40 percent of the navigator dollars when what we need to do is draw these people in doesn't make sense.

KODJAK: Oscar is the first insurance company to step in and try to make up for the government's advertising cuts. Whether others join them and whether they're effective will only be clear when open enrollment ends next year. Alison Kodjak, NPR News, Washington.

1 enroll   

v.招收；登记；入学；参军；成为会员（英)enrol

参考例句：

• I should like to enroll all my children in the swimming class.我愿意让我的孩子们都参加游泳班。
• They enroll him as a member of the club.他们吸收他为俱乐部会员。

2 enrollment   

n.注册或登记的人数；登记

参考例句：

• You will be given a reading list at enrollment.注册时你会收到一份阅读书目。
• I just got the enrollment notice from Fudan University.我刚刚接到复旦大学的入学通知书。

3 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

6 slashing   

adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Slashing is the first process in which liquid treatment is involved. 浆纱是液处理的第一过程。 来自辞典例句
• He stopped slashing his horse. 他住了手，不去鞭打他的马了。 来自辞典例句

7 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

10 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

11 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

12 reassure   

v.使放心，使消除疑虑

参考例句：

• This seemed to reassure him and he continued more confidently.这似乎使他放心一点，于是他更有信心地继续说了下去。
• The airline tried to reassure the customers that the planes were safe.航空公司尽力让乘客相信飞机是安全的。

13 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。