EpandMedia’s Len Epand directed two 60-second radio ads airing throughout Florida this summer that fight an insurance industry effort to win legislation placing stringent caps on medical malpractice awards. The legislation would limit the public’s right to win proportionate restitution when victimized by malpractice.
Commissioned and written by Jay Marlin of Washington D.C. agency Squier Knapp Dunn Communications, the spots make vivid for the listener how big insurance companies are more interested in improving their already significant bottom lines than in protecting the public from negligent doctors and medical providers. One spot, “Millions,” was customized for various Florida counties such that each version thanked the respective State Senator for fighting against such caps to protect their constituents. Caps are seen as encouraging a dangerous laxness in the medical profession, should malpractice no longer carry serious consequences.
The second spot, “Lie,” compares the claims of the insurance industry with that of the tobacco industry, the executives of which infamously lied to Congress about what they knew of their products’ deadly effects.