Reid campaign unveils health care TV ads

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid’s re-election campaign on Thursday unveiled three health care TV ads focused on Nevadans he said would be helped by insurance reform he pushed through Congress despite GOP opposition and uncertainty among voters about how it will affect them.

In one ad, a Las Vegas woman says her insurance wouldn’t cover $15,000 in bills because she had a “pre-existing condition,” high blood pressure that led her to faint on a hot day. Under the health care legislation, insurance companies could no longer deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.

In a second spot, a small businessman in Las Vegas says he’ll be able to take advantage of tax credits in the legislation to help reduce the cost of providing insurance coverage for his employees after his rates increased 22 percent over the last year.

A third 30-second ad centers on a senior citizen whose annual $5,000 in prescription drug medication will now be covered by Medicare after the law closed the so-called “donut hole” gap in such government health care benefits for 58,000 older Nevadans, according to Reid.

“The ads tell the real story about what health care reform means for real Nevadans,” Reid campaign manager Brandon Hall said at a news conference to unveil the 30-second ads.

Hall said the spots would run on broadcast and cable television statewide for at least three weeks starting now, but he would not reveal the cost of what the campaign called a “substantial media buy.” Outside political analysts familiar with ad rates said the buy would be at least six figures.

Reid, who is in a difficult battle to win a fifth term, hasn’t gained any ground from his initial TV ad campaign that cost seven figures and focused mostly on his biography as a man from rural Nevada who hasn’t forgotten his roots, although he’s now the most powerful senator in Washington.

In the three new TV spots narrated by Reid, the Democrat again touches on his humble roots.

“I grew up in a family that couldn’t afford a doctor,” Reid said in the commercial featuring Las Vegas businessman Ron Nelsen, who owns a company that installs overhead doors. “So helping businesses like Ron’s provide coverage for families like yours is personal.”

Along with the new ads, the Reid campaign also launched a website – www.NevadaHealthFacts.org – about the health insurance legislation to explain how changes will affect people and to debunk what the campaign called lies, deceptions and scare tactics by opponents.

Even as Reid released his news ads, he and the new health insurance law were being criticized by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

“I’d point out that Harry has already spent at least $2 million in paid TV advertising and his approval hasn’t moved an inch,” Cornyn said at a breakfast in Washington sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor. “It’s an interesting political strategy though.

“Instead of actually listening to your constituents when an issue as important as health care is being debated, and calibrating your position based on what you hear from the people you’re elected to represent, Harry instead rammed through a bill that more than 60% of his constituents said they opposed. And now he thinks that fancy campaign commercials will suddenly change their minds,” he added, referring to polls showing a majority of Nevadans don’t like the law. “It’s really quite arrogant.”

Contact Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.