With the 2008 presidential campaign heating up and the debate on universal health care coverage a strong voter issue, the Healthcare Education Project (HEP)—a joint initiative of GNYHA and 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East—released a television advertisement on May 15 to raise public awareness about the need to provide health insurance for all New Yorkers. The ad, which features a crowd standing in the rain with umbrellas to symbolize health coverage, is narrated by award-winning actress Blythe Danner and will run statewide for several weeks. Reflecting the intention to work on this issue nationwide, a New Jersey version of the ad is also running statewide in New Jersey. To view the ad, go to GNYHA's Web site, www.gnyha.org.

HEP is also conducting a statewide direct mail initiative encouraging New Yorkers to engage policymakers and to join the conversation on universal coverage.        

In a related effort, GNYHA and 1199 SEIU joined a number of health care stakeholders from around the country—including Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Allina Hospitals and Clinics, Catholic Healthcare West, and Daughters of Charity Health System—to create the Partnership for Quality Care (PQC). This national coalition of health care labor and management, launched on May 2, is dedicated to the reform and improvement of the nation's health care system, including universal coverage at the Federal level.

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