Majority of Illinoisans Don't Know About Health Exchange

Oct 1, 2013 7:34 AM

Illinois will launch an advertising campaign Tuesday to inform Illinois residents about the new health insurance marketplace that's at the heart of President Barack Obama's health care law.

Kelly Sullivan is chief marketing officer for the Illinois marketplace, where people can start shopping for coverage Tuesday. She says the Get Covered Illinois campaign will begin slowly with newspaper ads in 50 state markets. Radio and TV ads are planned for later this fall.

The ads show photos of smiling people on an outline of the state. The tagline is "Welcome to a new state of health."

The $33 million campaign gets underway as a new survey shows six out of 10 Illinois adults don't know about the marketplace. The survey was released Monday by the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund.