Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield has criticized recent ads by Ohio gubernatorial candidate Lee Fisher that paint the company as a health-care villain.
Recent Fisher ads feature a Piqua woman who led a grass-roots battle to push Anthem to return coverage to some of the 20,000 seniors who were going to be dropped Jan. 1 from the company's Medicare HMO.
Ads for the Democratic candidate lance Anthem for planning to drop the seniors and chastise Republican candidate Bob Taft for accepting campaign contributions from Anthem executives. Anthem claims the ad is misleading.
"The use of the Senior Advantage issue for partisan political purposes does a disservice to the Anthem associates who fought to balance the needs and interests of our members while making a difficult business decision," the company stated.
Anthem says it has "consistently gone above and beyond its legal obligations" to give notice of the termination and offer seniors alternative coverage options.
Mr. Fisher's campaign spokeswoman, Judy Barbao, said: "There are probably 20,000 seniors out there who would disagree with Anthem's assertions."
Riley touts Qualls
Education Secretary Richard Riley was in Cincinnati on Friday to campaign with Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, Democratic candidate in Ohio's 1st Congressional District.
They toured the Head Start program at Tryed Stone Baptist Church in Bond Hill. The two sat surrounded by about 25 pre-schoolers and read stories for about half an hour.
Afterward, Mr. Riley said the budget agreement worked out with congressional Republicans is "very good for education."
The Clinton administration did not get the $5 billion it wanted for school construction. Mr. Riley said the administration would press for the money in next year's budget.
Campaign Notebook is compiled by staff of The Cincinnati Enquirer and runs Tuesday-Saturday.
