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. 2022 Dec;79(6):798-810.
doi: 10.1177/10775587221101295. Epub 2022 Jun 16.

Health Insurance Ad Messages Targeted to English- and Spanish-Speaking Populations in a Period of Limited Federal Investment in Marketplace Outreach

Cynthia Pando  1 , Margaret Ellen Tait  1 , Cydney M McGuire  1 , Sarah Perez-Sanz  1 , Laura Baum  2 , Erika Franklin Fowler  2 , Sarah E Gollust  1
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Health Insurance Ad Messages Targeted to English- and Spanish-Speaking Populations in a Period of Limited Federal Investment in Marketplace Outreach

Cynthia Pando et al. Med Care Res Rev. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Federal funding cuts to enrollment outreach and marketing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace options in 2017 has raised questions about the adequacy of the information the public has received, especially among populations vulnerable to uninsurance. Using health insurance ads aired from January 1, 2018, through December 21, 2018, we conducted a content analysis focused on (a) the messaging differences by ad language (English vs. Spanish) and (b) the messaging appeals used by nonfederally sponsored health insurance ads in 2018. The results reveal that privately sponsored ads focused on benefit appeals (e.g., prescription drugs), while publicly sponsored ads emphasized financial assistance subsidies. Few ads, regardless of language, referenced the ACA explicitly and privately sponsored Spanish-language ads emphasized benefits (e.g., choice of doctor) over enrollment-relevant details. This study emphasizes that private-sponsored television marketing may not provide specific and actionable health insurance information to the public, especially for the Spanish-speaking populations.

Keywords: Affordable Care Act; advertising; health insurance; health insurers; language.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Analytic Sample Flowchart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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