Table 3.
Marketing Appeals by Sponsor Type and Language in Enrollment Television Ads Aired January 1—December 31, 2018.
| Overall sample (N = 266,584) | English sample (n = 216,815) | Spanish sample (n = 49,769) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public (n = 65,713) | Private (n = 200,871) | Public (n = 49,822) | Private (n = 166,993) | Public (n = 15,891) | Private (n = 33,878) | |
| Marketing appeal and policy references | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) |
| Product appeals | ||||||
| Explicit reference to insurance | 40,835 (62.1) | 40,230 (20.0) | 37,077 (74.7) | 35,464 (21.2) | 3,758 (23.7) | 4,766 (14.1) |
| Brand/loyalty | 6,081 (9.3) | 44,255 (22.0) | 5,973 (12.0) | 36,222 (21.7) | 108 (0.7) | 8,033 (23.7) |
| Benefit appeals | ||||||
| Prescription drugs | 2,698 (4.1) | 94,245 (46.9) | 2,462 (4.9) | 74,484 (44.6) | 236 (1.5) | 19,761 (58.3) |
| Nonmedical benefits | 0 (0.0) | 70,432 (35.1) | 0 (0.0) | 64,233 (38.5) | 0 (0.00) | 6,199 (18.3) |
| Choice of doctor available | 184 (0.3) | 68,631 (34.2) | 0 (0.0) | 48,206 (28.9) | 184 (1.2) | 20,425 (60.3) |
| Access to specialists | 0 (0.0) | 44,513 (22.2) | 0 (0.0) | 38,832 (23.3) | 0 (0.0) | 5,681 (16.8) |
| Wellness programs | 96 (0.2) | 27,391 (13.6) | 96 (0.2) | 27,391 (16.4) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
| ACA-policy-related references | ||||||
| Financial assistance/subsidies/tax credits available | 40,185 (61.2) | 11,010 (5.5) | 31,469 (63.2) | 9,034 (5.4) | 8,716 (54.9) | 1,976 (5.8) |
| Mention of “Marketplace” | 9,344 (14.2) | 18,386 (9.2) | 9,146 (18.4) | 16,026 (9.6) | 198 (1.3) | 2,360 (7.0) |
| Mention of “government” | 1,799 (2.7) | 2,849 (1.4) | 1,704 (3.4) | 2,849 (1.7) | 95 (0.6) | 0 (0.0) |
| Mention of “ACA” or “Obamacare” | 0 (0.0) | 3,236 (1.6) | 0 (0.0) | 2,151 (1.3) | 0 (0.0) | 1,085 (3.2) |
| Avoiding penalties | 0 (0.0) | 886 (0.4) | 0 (0.0) | 122 (0.1) | 0 (0.0) | 764 (2.3) |
| Lower cost plans cheaper/better than ACA | 0 (0.0) | 318 (0.2) | 0 (0.0) | 318 (0.2) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) |
Note. Statistical tests between English and Spanish samples were calculated using logistic regression with English-sample ads as the reference group controlling for ad length. All differences were statistically significant for non-zero cells at 0.001 except for branding/loyalty in the overall sample (p = .69) and mention of marketplace in the overall sample (p = .003). ACA = Affordable Care Act.